Today, we are going to talk about what
goes into the call to actions that you make in your videos
to really get your viewers to engage with your videos
and with your content.
That's coming up.
[TYPING]
Hey, guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer and it's Thursday,
which means that it's time for some YouTube Q&A,
but before we get into this week's question,
I want to thank all of you guys who contributed so generously
to my crowd funding campaign that I'm
doing right now for this workbook called
30 Days to a Better YouTube Channel.
As I continue to review more and more channels
for both little creators, as well as big companies.
I'm seeing that everyone is, basically,
making the same mistakes over and over again
and it's costing everyone viewers and subscribers
and trust that they're not able to build as quickly as they
otherwise would have been.
Click right here to go check it out
if you haven't heard about it yet
or there's a link in the description text below.
So on to our YouTube question for this week.
It actually comes from YouTube themselves,
and they are asking everyone, including you, this question.
What calls to action do you make to get your audience to engage?
I want to give you guys a little insight
into the call to actions that I make here on my videos.
But before I get to those, I think
that there's two things that every creator needs
to consider before they decide which
calls to action they're going to make.
And the first one is whenever you make a call to action,
you have to pitch it as if it's for the viewers' benefit,
right?
I've seen so many videos where they're like,
please subscribe me, give this a thumbs up, and comment below,
and like this on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
and whatever and Google+ and go buy our t-shirts.
Just, like, give me, me, me, me, me, me, right?
It's actually, like, try to give more value to me,
but instead, what you should be asking
is giving a call to action that is
for the benefit of the viewer.
So you can still make some of those call
to actions, like, hey, guys, subscribe to this channel.
But tell them why.
Why is it going to be valuable for them?
Or when they comment, why is commenting on your video going
to be valuable for them?
And the second thing that I think
is important although many people
will disagree with me is that I think you should just
have one or two call to actions and make them very focused.
Don't have all these different options
because what I have found not just in my own content,
but other people's videos as well is
that if you give your viewer too many options,
they just don't do anything.
Give your viewer a very clear path, a very focused action
that you want them take as a result of watching your video
instead of giving them tons of different options
that just feel overwhelming and they're not even sure which
ones they want to do, and by the time
you've gone through the whole list
they've forgotten what the first ones are.
It just doesn't work that well in my opinion.
In each of my videos, maybe you've
noticed, that I actually give two call
to actions in every video.
One is targeted for subscribers and the other one
is targeted to non-subscribers.
I always start my call to action that
is focused towards subscribers, which is to comment, right?
And I'll actually ask a question of you guys
to help facilitate the discussion, kind of help
kick start it and get it going.
For example, this video right here.
Do you think it's better to give just one or two really focused
call to actions or is it better to give them
a lot of different options?
What has your experience been?
Like that and then often, maybe you guys
have noticed that what I do to pitch why that's
valuable for you guys to comment down here
is because I will say, hey, a lot of you guys have
a lot of great feedback, a lot of great ideas and things
that I learn from every day.
And then I also say, and the rest of you guys, go down there
and read those comments that other people are leaving
because you will learn a lot from them, right?
So now, I'm trying to foster some sort of community.
This video isn't just about me.
This is about you.
And you guys can learn from other people who
are watching this video and everyone-- not everyone,
but a lot of people assume, like, oh, well, I
have actually something good to say
and if I know someone else is going to read it,
now it's worth me actually leaving the comment.
The second call to action I then make in my videos
is geared towards the non-subscribers,
and that is to subscribe, to join this Video Creators
community and become a part of it.
And then I usually tell them why I'm doing this content here
on Video Creators is because I really
believe that a lot of you guys have messages that could change
the world, and I want to help you guys spread that message so
that the people who need to hear what you have to say
can actually hear what you have to say.
That's the value proposition that I am pitching to you.
I want to help you master this platform called YouTube
and spread your message.
And by subscribing, hopefully, that will
be more likely to happen for you based
on the content and the advice and the things
we're doing here at Video Creators.
And so if this is your first time here,
I would love to have you subscribe for that very reason.
On Tuesdays, to take a look at online video news
and talk about the implications it has for us as creators.
See, guys what I'm doing here?
I'm actually pitching more value and telling
people, non-subscribed viewers what
they can expect when they subscribe to our channel.
Because sometimes I think it's important to communicate
not just why you do what you do, but what you do
and how you do that and how you propose to your viewers
that you're going to accomplish that value
proposition for them.
But you've got to do it quickly, right?
You can't go on for five minutes about this so find
a way to make it very short and succinct.
I know a lot of the subscribers usually
tend to start drifting away from my videos
about the point where I do that because they've
heard it before, but for the non-subscribed viewer,
you've got to remember that every single video that you do
is potentially someone's very first exposure to you.
And so I think that it's important for me
to do at the very end of all my videos very succinctly
because I don't know which one of my videos
are going to take off and do well
and which ones are just going to fall flat.
And usually the ones that I don't
think are going to do well are the ones
that end up performing well.
And I'm like, I'm glad I put my pitch in there
at the end for all the new people who
are seeing that video.
And then also on Wednesdays, we do some YouTube--
what do we do on Wednesdays?
We do tips and advice and suggestions and ideas.
And then on Thursdays, we do some YouTube Q&A just
like this where I answer a question from you guys
although this week and last week it was from YouTube,
but starting again next week I will go back
to answering more questions from you guys.
So thank you for subscribing and for becoming
a part of the Video Creators community.
And I will see you guys again next week.
Bye.