Hi, I'm Melissa, and I'm a partner manager at YouTube.
That means I work with creators every day
to help them optimize their channel
and grow their audience.
Today, I'm here with YouTube creator Mike Boyd.
We're going to be going into his channel
to talk about what's going well, areas of improvement
and also answering some of Mike's own questions.
But first, Mike, can you tell us a little bit more about your channel
and how it's going?
Yeah, so my channel is about learning new skills.
I try and pick a skill at random, one that I've never tried before
and I just try and conquer it as quickly as possible
and document that in a YouTube video.
And I think it's going OK.
One of the very first things that I notice
is that you actually have a fairly consistent upload schedule.
I try to upload as often as I can without losing my marbles
but I'm not as consistent as I would like to be.
One of the things that you might've considered
is introducing some sort of supplementary content
in between the videos that you've already been producing.
I'd like to diversify, but I'm not really sure how to do that.
One thing I think might do really well on your channel
is live-streaming content.
We find that folks really enjoy live streaming
because they get to see your most authentic self in real time.
Yeah, but it's because they can see my authentic self
that I haven't done it.
No, people have asked for live streams lots of times
so I know it's something that people want.
The only reason I haven't done it is because I'm scared.
Live streaming is a different beast, but I think it's something that I should try
because I haven't even tried it.
I think in general, introducing a new format to the channel
can be very scary, as you mentioned
so it's important to help best prepare your fanbase for this new format.
For example, if you're going to live stream, maybe mention it in one of the latest uploads
say like, "If you tune in next Tuesday
"I'll be doing a special treat: I'll be live streaming."
And I would actually argue that having this diversity of content
is what makes a very healthy, well-rounded channel.
OK.
Another thing I noticed is your traffic sources
which basically tells us how people are finding your content.
Your "Browse features" and your "Suggested videos"
are some of the top reasons why people find your videos.
One thing I noticed in particular
is that your "YouTube search" is a little bit lower than it could be.
"YouTube search," of course, means what exact words and titles and descriptions
are you associating with your videos that help make them more discoverable.
And so if we click here
we'll actually be able to identify all the top search terms people use to find you
the very first search term being a "mike boyd," which is great
because it means you have excellent brand recognition.
I noticed also that there's a lot of "how to" being searched on the channel.
Yep.
Can you tell me a little bit more about how you approach titling your videos
for example "learn to" versus "how to?"
I feel that titling it "how to" would be misleading
even though that would be better for search optimization
because it's not a "how to" video, it's more of a "this is how I did it."
If people are often associating your content or your channel
with "how to" content
maybe that's a perfect sort of format to dive into or to explore more.
So, your suggestion is perhaps look at actually making "how to" content
in addition to my standard stuff?
Exactly, a big part of this is just listening to your audience
and seeing generally what they like
and we can tell this through this report by seeing people are always typing in "how to"
so it might definitely be something you want to try.
One of the things that you're doing really well
are the thumbnails for each of your videos.
My wife's going to love you because she does the thumbnails.
And that's actually one of the changes that we made
me and my wife decided that we need to put more focus on thumbnails
you can see there's a consistent theme or look to our thumbnails
and it works.
I think that if you have good content that's not being discovered
try revamping the thumbnails
it's worked for me on a number of occasions.
So you went back and actually updated a thumbnail
after having uploaded it?
Yeah, so we sat down, had a look at the channel
and identified ones that we didn't think were so strong
and then reuploaded a new thumbnail
and we saw a little bump in watch time
after we uploaded it.
So, this little trough in the graph here
is when we uploaded it
and after that you can see a little rise in watch time.
I think that is most likely attributed to the thumbnail
because that is the date that we uploaded it.
Another thing I noticed when looking at your watch time
about 60% of the folks who are watching your content
are not subscribed
whereas 40% of those who are watching
are subscribed.
So, you're getting your content in front of new eyeballs
it's just a matter of reminding them
to hit that subscribe button or hit that bell notification icon.
So, a really quick takeaway is to make sure you include calls to action in your videos.
Something as simple as "Don't forget to subscribe to watch this new video"
can come off as a really strong and authentic call to action.
I've not done it for the last 20 videos
apart from the very last one which has a very subtle call to action
just reminding people that there's more of this stuff
so check it out and subscribe
but it does work.
In terms of growing your watch time
one of the first things I look for is
if you've curated your content into playlists.
So, right now, I'm hovering at...
I think about 50% of my stuff is placed into some sort of playlist.
Is that about the right ratio?
Actually, generally I'd recommend that
at least 90% of all of your videos
should be curated in a playlist.
I think because you have
such a large corpus of "learn to" types of videos
you can actually group it by topic.
For example, I'll learn quick videos based on sports
maybe everything related to food
very much topic-oriented.
Yeah, I've done three Rubik's Cube videos
and they should be in playlists
and it's something that I've just forgotten to do.
One of the great things about having a playlist
is you can actually assign it as a section on your channel homepage as well.
The idea here is you can showcase the diversity of content that you offer
and make it easily accessible for somebody to find and to watch.
OK.
One thing I noticed on your channel is that you tend to do quite a few collabs.
Yeah, I've done a couple.
So, when it really makes sense, when there's a lot of audience overlap
I've seen it really work well for the channel.
How do you best identify people that you want to collab with?
So there's a combination of things.
You can use your Analytics to identify your demographic
and then look for people who may be interested in that content
or you can listen to your audience.
My audience were huge fans of Chris Ramsay, a magician and puzzle-solver on YouTube
and for a while they were demanding a collaboration
and we did it, and they loved it.
When it comes to the actual collaboration itself
what are some best practices
to make sure people actually go from one video to the other.
For the blacksmith collaboration I did, he was teaching me how to blacksmith.
So people saw him working on my videos
saw the workshop, got an understanding of what he did
and then went and subscribed to him.
And that was the same on his channel.
When they saw me on his channel
they had an understanding of who I was and what I did
and therefore had a reason to go and subscribe.
Usually, if it does well for one person
it can also benefit the other person who's collaborating with you.
Totally.
One of the things I wanted to ask you whilst I was here was about Community posts
because I've never done one, I've always been scared of them
and worried it comes off as spammy or too much
or not what people signed up for
but I have seen creators use them in a positive way.
I'm just wondering, what are your thoughts on that?
The Community feature was created
specifically because we heard creators' feedback
about wanting to engage their audience in between uploads.
So it's a great way just generally to check up and see how your audience is doing
ask them a question, post a picture, a GIF, or whatever it may be.
I think it's generally up to you how much you want to use Community.
I think it's very similar to your upload schedule.
A big part of this, too, is just generally listening to your audience.
You'll know whether or not they like it based on how much they engage with it.
Are they liking your post?
Are they commenting
and actually responding to the questions you're prompting?
I think, for me, it's a useful thing to use
because the Community tab might help me to smooth out those inconsistencies
by giving them something to update them
like "I am making a video, it's just this one's taking a bit longer."
Great, well I hope this was useful for you today.
Certainly was.
Based on what we talked about
do you feel like you have a few main takeaways?
Yeah, there's lots to think about
but I'm definitely going to look at creating another form of content
based on what people are searching for
also, experiment with live streaming
see how it goes
and also look at using the Community tab at least once
to see how people respond
so I can give them an update in between long periods of no uploads.
Great!
Now that Mike was able to figure out some concrete action items for his channel
we want to hear from all of you.
Let us know in the comments what you learned
and what you want to implement on your own channel.
And if you're interested in how channels get partner managers
check out this resource.
Be sure to subscribe and check out more awesome videos
on the YouTube Creators channel.
Bye!