If you’ve been thinking for a while if you should start a YouTube channel and you’re
on the fence about it, let me tell you why you should absolutely start it… right now!
Ready?
Let’s do this!
Hi my lovely people, it’s Natalia and welcome back to my channel where I help you create
better content and grow on social media!
I’ve been on YouTube for almost 3 years now and I’m not exaggerating when I say
- it changed my life.
It’s such a versatile platform that can help you reach people around the world so
let’s dive into all of the reasons why you should start your own channel in 2024…
1.
It is evergreen One of the most important aspects when choosing
the right marketing channels for you and aiming for long-term success is including an evergreen
platform in your strategy.
Evergreen content is the kind of content that can be searched at any time and stays relevant
for a long time.
Sure, small updates may be required ever so often to keep the content fresh but overall,
it has a much longer shelf life than your average social media post.
This is the kind of content that you want to put your focus on since the return of investment
is that much greater.
No matter how attractive trending content is, it will never beat the evergreen model
long term.
YouTube is the perfect example here.
When you produce videos for this platform, you can optimize them for SEO.
It means that when people search for something like “How to grow on Instagram”, there
is a very high chance that they will land on the video that they are looking for.
Of course, it’s not easy to position your videos high in YouTube search as it requires
a good strategy and plenty of research.
Luckily, there are tools like TubeBuddy or VidIQ that can help you assess whether your
video idea has a chance of success.
Another big bonus that shouldn’t be underestimated is that your YouTube content is also searchable
on Google which can bring you a surprising amount of traffic.
Creating evergreen content for YouTube means that your old videos can still bring you a
lot of traffic too.
Provided that they’re of big value, are well-optimized, and are still relevant today,
they can serve new people for months if not years.
And ultimately, that’s how you play the long game and position yourself as an expert
in your field.
Apart from that, having loads of evergreen videos on your channel means your content
becomes super easy to binge, turning viewers into engaged subscribers and increasing overall
views on your channel.
2.
Monetization on YouTube We all know that social media platforms are
very reluctant when it comes to paying us, the creators.
We spend a ton of time creating content, promoting it, engaging on the platform but when it comes
to reaping the rewards of it... sometimes there are none.
This is of course slowly changing a bit, but when it comes to monetization, YouTube is
still at the very top.
It pays the most out of any platform out there.
There are two important metrics that determine your earnings on YouTube: CPM and RPM.
CPM means cost per 1000 impressions and it shows how much advertisers spend to show ads
on the platform.
You get a cut of what advertisers pay when an ad is served on your video which is usually
55%.
Your portion is reflected by RPM (Revenue Per 1000 views) and it can show you how attractive
advertisers find your video.
The bottom line is, the more that an advertiser pays for that ad, the more money you make.
The amount you’ll get paid on YouTube depends on a few factors that are worth knowing before
you choose YouTube for its creator program.
First is the niche you are in - if you are in tech, real estate, or finance, the CPMs
tend to be much higher.
The revenue from ads can also be seasonal so there may be periods of increased or decreased
ad spend which affects your earnings.
Watch time is another crucial metric on YouTube which shows how engaged your audience is and
influences your earnings since the longer they watch, the more mid-roll ads they may
see.
And finally, the audience demographics are quite important too.
If your audience is based in Australia, the UK, the US, New Zealand, etc., it may translate
to more revenue.
It’s also worth mentioning that apart from AdSense which will constitute the majority
of earnings when you’re monetized on YouTube, you also have other options on the platform
like super thanks, super chats, or channel membership.
3.
Selling your products on YouTube Alright, we've covered the native YouTube
monetization but there are also possibilities to promote and sell your own products on the
platform which shouldn’t be underestimated.
The best part is that you can directly link the products or services you offer right in
the description of the video which is less bothersome than sending people to a link in
bio.
Less clicking means less friction for people to actually buy from you.
There’s also the option to pin a comment to your YouTube video with an actual clickable
link which can help you convert further.
Apart from that you can use the channel art to bring your viewers to your Etsy store or
promote your digital product.
Whatever it is, it’s a great platform to market on.
Even if you don’t have your own offer, brand deals tend to be more lucrative here on YouTube,
especially with growing creators and you can also become an affiliate with a brand you
love and earn money this way.
There are plenty of YouTubers reviewing tech, baby products, camping gear, doing fashion
hauls, and frankly, thousands of other niches here, but they earn commission on the products
they talk about.
It’s a great way to boost your income without solely relying on AdSense.
4.
It doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have
YouTube is a platform where the number of subscribers doesn’t necessarily correlate
to your views.
Hear me out.
If you have 100k subscribers it doesn’t guarantee you 100k views.
Crazy right?
But it doesn’t even guarantee you 20%!
I know it might be very hard at the very beginning but after a few months of regular uploads
to your channel, YouTube will start pushing your content more widely.
The majority of views that you get are not from people who are subscribed to your channel.
That’s the bitter truth but in a way, it can also be a good thing too.
You don’t need a massive following to reach new viewers.
My own story is a great example of that.
I published my Canva tutorial in January 2021 with 68 subscribers.
When it started to take off at the end of February, I had around 1600 subscribers.
It was still a relatively small channel that was able to generate a lot of views across
the board with a strong strategy in place.
By the way, if you want to learn the exact framework I used, watch this video next.
5.
Great platform to get you traffic When you take all of this into consideration,
YouTube is a great platform to generate traffic.
Traffic that you can direct in any way you want.
Whether you want to get people on your subscribers’ list or focus the attention on your other
social media platforms.
Many creators are using evergreen platforms like YouTube to direct the traffic to more…
let’s say reach-challenged platforms such as Instagram.
It is known that people are not very keen to move from one platform to another but if
you provide different types of content elsewhere, they will.
As an example, you could create in-depth educational videos here on YouTube and show the behind-the-scenes,
process or the research on Instagram.
From my experience, it’s easier to build an Instagram account using YouTube than to
build YouTube on the foundation of Instagram.
You can use YouTube for traffic and then Instagram to nurture your audience further, build trust,
create deeper connections, and also sell in your DMs.
It’s a synergistic relationship so adding YouTube as your main platform can be super
beneficial.
6.
Showcase your personality Long-form video content that you post on YouTube
is fantastic at showing who you truly are.
Your personality, unique way of communicating, the way you express yourself visually and
energetically are so crucial to showing your true self in a way that doesn’t necessarily
translate on Reels or through captions.
It’s these idiosyncrasies that people will love you for.
Besides, I feel like YouTube is the platform where your thoughts and insights can really
flourish.
It’s so much easier to explore all the points and convey your ideas fully so that they’re
understood the way you mean them.
You’re not bound by some arbitrary limits like on Instagram Stories where sure, you
can show up authentically, but people are more likely to tap away if you’re talking
for too long.
TikTok is actually fantastic at showing your personality, but I feel like this long-form
component is not to be underestimated.
7.
Get more in-depth Speaking of letting thoughts flourish, there
is no better platform if you want to go in-depth on a topic.
Since YouTube has always been about longer content, people expect it here and are less
likely to get tired because of the length.
I mean, just look at the 2-3 hours + video podcasts here, the long tech tutorials, full
comedy specials, educational deep dives or documentaries…
if anything, the length helps here because the creators can fully explore the topics
and interest the viewers beyond the superficial.
There’s no need to get super succinct to fit all you want to say in under one minute.
It’s easier to explain the nuances, there’s time to speak about the sources and you’ve
got the chance to explain the process fully.
The ability to organize your videos into playlists helps your audience dive deep on a particular
subject that they’re interested in which makes your whole channel more bingeable.
And listen, I’ve mentioned super long content but even something like 15 minutes or so will
give you more opportunities to express yourself fully than a 1-minute TikTok.
Plus, don’t even get me started on our shortening attention spans and the dopamine cycle that
this short-form content serves.
I think we need to collectively retrain ourselves to enjoy long-form content for the sake of
our focus, cognitive abilities and just generally being more conscious and present in life.
That’s why personally, I’m passionate about being here on YouTube much more than
on other apps.
8.
Your experimental side hustle In 2020, I was burnt out, struggling with
the new reality of being stuck at home without the possibility to fly `to Poland to see my
loved ones.
I could see my friends losing jobs, and small businesses desperately trying to cope and
it was the final straw for me.
I had to change things.
My thought process was this…
I have the skills to help people get their side hustles to work so why not use them for
good when people are struggling?
I’ve always wanted to start a YouTube channel anyway, so why not finally do it now when
the whole world has come to a standstill?
So I started, completely imperfectly, tackling a brand new platform for me and doing it all
on the side with a full-time job.
But I was determined.
I had a strategy in place and even though there were new skills I had to learn like
video production or audio editing, I knew I could make it work.
So, I started experimenting and I still believe that was the key to my initial success.
Understanding who you want to help is one thing, but marketing and content creation
is a huge bucket to fill and I could’ve chosen so many different paths within it.
Instead of assessing which one would work best, I just created more broadly to see what
stuck.
When a piece of content does better than other videos, capitalize on it.
Check what works well on your channel and try to duplicate or refresh it.
If you're creating different styles of videos, see if any of these stand out and produce
better results.
The thing is, YouTube can absolutely be a side hustle for you and you can have fun and
test things out on the platform initially.
If anything, this joyful exploration of the content that fuels you and your audience is
what’s going to keep you from burning out on the platform.
9.
Infinitely creative
The thing that I love about YouTube the most is the fact that you can be infinitely creative
with your content.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s a plethora of different content formats that you can
create for example, on Instagram which helps you mix things up and get creative.
But I feel like YouTube is this blank canvas that gives incredible power to the creators.
You can tell elaborate stories, create vlogs, share educational videos.
You can get casual and publish less polished, daily-vibes content or produce cinematic masterpieces.
You can speak your mind and share your opinions, sit down and talk to the camera, opt for a
voiceover video with aesthetic imagery as B-roll, or say nothing at all and still provide
an immersive experience for the viewer.
And that infinite creativity, that comes with long-form video content, is not to be easily
dismissed.
Besides, you can also create playlists as I’ve just mentioned, hold lives, upload
Shorts and share posts to your community tab which is quite a variety, when you just look
at content types.
10.
Content source
I always recommend to all of my clients to have at least one long-form content channel
within their marketing strategy, and the main reason for this is that it’s so much easier
to create all of the different pieces of content for different platforms from that one big
piece of content.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be video, it can be a blog or a podcast but here’s
why I think YouTube is superior here, apart from all the reasons I’ve already talked
about.
Given that it’s a video platform adds that extra layer of versatility because you can
easily repurpose this one big video into a multitude of different content types for different
social media platforms.
First, the full video transcript can be turned into a blog post and the audio, in some cases,
into a podcast which is precisely why I think it’s the superior option in the long-form
content game.
Then, this one YouTube video can be chopped up into clips for Shorts, TikToks, Reels,
or Idea Pins.
You can take the talking points and create carousels from them, share a single graphic
with a checklist, or create a series of Stories based on photos with text & video on the subject
that you’ve covered in the YouTube video.
YouTube is such a solid source for recycling content and this ultimately translates to
fewer hours each week spent on creating original content across the board.
If you want to know how to repurpose content efficiently and get off that content hamster
wheel, check out the description box for my resources and watch this video next to build
a strong marketing strategy to create an efficient yet sustainable system for yourself.
Drop me a comment down below to tell me what you think, I’d love to hear your opinion
and subscribe for more content like this.
Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you… next time.