The popularity of social media stars has taken a huge surge for the positive over the last few years. Social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube have taken regular everyday people and transformed them into mini celebrities.
Often these celebrities are now famous and well known than media personalities. Some of the more popular and well-known YouTube channels, such as PewDiePie have in excess of 50 million subscribers, and regularly command over 5-10million view per video they release. These YouTubers are earning over £1million a year, and some in to multi millions a year. Not everyone of course can achieve these types of numbers, but it’s possible.
With such an audience and followers business and brands will naturally follow. Not only are there advertising opportunities aplenty, but if your channel has enough subscribers, you’ll find businesses knocking your door down (literally!) to endorse and promote their products. This type of social media star are also known as Influencers – as they can influence the buying habits of their followers by promoting, reviewing or trying a company’s products.
For an advertiser this type of endorsement is way more effective than a standard advert. It’s the same reason celebrities and movie stars are often given thousands of pounds of clothes, gadgets and accessories for free every year. A brand having their latest fashions worn by the latest celebrity of the moment can lead to a huge surge in sales, and profit ….. so
How do you get started with your own YouTube channel?
Starting a channel is extremely easy, but the challenge is having something to say – but why YouTube, why not Facebook or Twitter?
The reason why YouTube is the best platform right now is the surging popularity and the ability to earn money through the YouTube advertising programme. This means YouTube will manage all adverts on your channel and you’ll earn money for each advert shown.
Other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are much harder to earn revenue from. You can use these platforms to build an audience, but you then need to have a product or service to promote to your audience.
It’s also generally considered ‘easier’ to build an audience and views on YouTube than it is on the other platforms. Although it’s considered easier, it’s not necessarily easy. You’ll not become a YouTube star with 20 million views overnight, but if you have something to say that people will watch and share, then over time you could earn yourself some good extra money and a regular income.
The other advantage of a YouTube channel is how regular earnings can be and how long you can earn for. Your videos can be watched every day for years. Some people who created and published videos 5 years ago or more are still receiving thousands of views from those videos and are still earning money every month. It’s a great side hustle, but also a great opportunity for passive income too.
We’re putting together The Ultimate Guide to Starting a YouTube Channel – we’re fine tuning the details around this new guide, to bring you the very best step by step guide in setting up your own YouTube Channel and how to earn a great side hustle income. For now checkout this guide by Google à https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1646861?hl=en-GB
What type of channel should I create and what videos should I make?
This is really going to depend on the individual. Some things to ask yourself are:
What are you passionate about?
What could you create a video about that other people would want to watch and share?
Could you teach people something you know?
The range of channels and the topics they cover where videos or channels have in excess of 500,000 views are simply staggering. They range across so many topics and subjects. It’s worth doing a little research first. If the video topic you are considering is over saturated with many YouTubers, then it’s going to be challenging to expect YouTube to rank your content or show your videos to their audience.
Publishing your YouTube videos is, absolutely, free. The only cost to you is your time to create the videos and then upload them to YouTube. You can do all this with your mobile phone. So even if your topic has been covered multiple times to you, there’s no harm in trying.
Do I need expensive video editing software to create a YouTube channel?
No, you don’t. Expensive video editing software is not essential. It’s possible to create good looking YouTube videos with just a mobile phone.
Although expensive software isn’t needed, there are still some important guides to follow when creating any video.
Film your video in High Definition. Set your camera or webcam to 720p or 1080p high definition. The higher quality your video the more engaging it can be
Check your lighting. If you are filming yourself indoors then you may want some well positioned lighting. You don’t again need special lighting equipment, lamps with high watt bulbs can work just as well
Video intros and outros. You may have noticed on many YouTube videos some catchy animated intros. These can work great and make your videos stand out with a professional touch. These need not take hours and hours of time, or become expensive. There are lots of low cost templates you can or even have a custom intro template made for you from a marketplace such as Fiverr.com where a custom intro for your channel could be created for around £10
Length of Video. If you have lots to say, don’t’ cram everything in to one video. Very short videos will struggle to connect with an audience, but very long videos have many switching off before the end and as such lose engagement. By looking at the highest performing videos on YouTube they are often between 10-20 mins. Long enough to keep the viewer engaged but not too long that you lose their attention. Keep videos short, sweet and to the point. If you have lots to say say it over several videos.
