Today I want to answer one of your questions
about how do you get the ball rolling
with views in the first place?
If you are brand new to YouTube, you
have a brand new channel with zero subscribers,
how do you just get started with gaining exposure?
That's coming up.
[music]
Hey guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer.
And it's Thursday, which means is
time for some YouTube Q&A with you guys.
[? Creaza ?] wrote and asked this.
"How do you get the ball rolling with views in the first place?
I found that if you are new and upload a video,
even if someone types in the exact video title,
it still doesn't come up in the search.
People more popular with a similar title show up instead.
So, how do you get people to see your video in the first place?"
Great question.
This is actually something we talk about a lot
here at Video Creators.
So I will link up to a bunch of those different videos
and the description text below this video.
So you can go check those out and see
some of the other things that we've already
discussed that kind of answer this question.
But I wanted to give someone else an opportunity
to answer this question.
So I tapped the shoulder of Derral Eves, who is also
certified by YouTube and Audience Growth.
He's worked with a lot of great channels on YouTube
and has helped channels like The Piano Guys get
to hundreds of millions of views,
and even on his own channel, which I will link up below.
Or you can click right here to go check it out.
He does something similar to Video Creators.
But he talks about audience growth a little bit broader
than YouTube.
He has a lot of great YouTube content.
But he also talks about Facebook and Google+ and things like
that.
So go check out his channel.
But In the meantime, here's Derral to answer your question.
Now really, this is a great question.
And I know a lot of content creators on YouTube
feel the same frustration.
You put all this time and effort in producing awesome videos.
And it's really nowhere to be found in the search results.
And it's not getting any views or interaction.
And this can really be devastating
and really discouraging.
Now in the next few minutes I'm going
to show you my basic game plan for succeeding on YouTube.
It's really simple.
And this simple plan will really help
you get the ball rolling on views
and getting more people interested in your content,
and ultimately subscribing to your channel.
But first, we truly need to know why people actually
watch YouTube in the first place.
And I personally believe it's for three basic reasons.
Number one, someone they know recommends a video.
Number two, viewers seek out to be entertained.
It might be a music video, a funny cat video,
or something else.
Number three is the viewer searching out information
on a certain subject, or to be educated,
like how to play bass guitar.
Now let's break it down for the basic game
plan to really succeed on YouTube.
So here's the breakdown.
Step one-- do research.
Now don't just slap up videos to your channel.
Take some needed time and do some research.
Ask these questions.
What is your channel really about?
Who's your target audience?
Where is your target audience actually
congregating outside of YouTube?
Why would your target audience be
interested in your video content, and also your channel?
And how can you get the viewer, or potential viewer,
to subscribe and share the video?
Now step two-- recon.
Find out what blogs, forums, Facebook groups,
Google+ communities, websites, people that are really
interested in your content.
Now recon is really, really important.
Over 75% of my video views come from outside of YouTube.
Now think about that for a moment.
It's really important to do recon.
Step three-- video structure and production.
Now make sure you have a production
formula for your videos.
Shhhh.
Now, I'm going to share with you Tim's secret formula
for his video structure for his channel.
Now don't tell him I told you.
Tim's formula is really like this.
Make sure you hook the viewer in the first three
to seven seconds of the video.
Then you want to show a bumper.
Now this is optional, but it's really effective for branding.
Then next, you're going to actually going
to have your main content displayed,
and then engage the users, and have a great outro
and call to action.
Now wait a minute.
Now this is the same formula that I use for my channel.
Hmm.
I think I just gave away my secret formula,
my secret sauce.
Dang it.
Oh well.
Now, a special note-- this is really important for all of you
to know.
Different types of channels and target audiences
will have different types of video structure,
OK, and different formulas.
So do some research and see what formula works for your channel.
Now step number four-- upload that video and optimize.
You're going to go ahead and upload that video,
but make sure you do it to private.
Then you want to take time to optimize your title,
your description, your tags, transcribe the video,
and also do a custom thumbnail that really engages and catches
people's eye.
Once this is done, you can go ahead and set it to public.
Step five-- share that video.
Now we got Facebook.
We got Pinterest.
We got Twitter.
We got Google+.
We got Facebook groups, Google+ communities.
You really have that recon list.
All you need to do is get involved in those communities
and share your video.
Share it with them but do it better.
Don't spam them.
The world has enough spammers.
Make good, quality posts and embed you video,
or put a little video link.
Now the next step is an important one.
So you really need to understand this one.
Step six-- engage and interact.
Take time to comment on your video.
Also, comment on the video in all the
places where your video is being shared.
This is really important.
Why?
This gets viewers engaged and it actually
creates a community of your own.
Now step seven-- evaluate and adjust.
Now make sure you look at your video's analytics
and really evaluate how users actually
find you, what type of engagement's there,
and really track all the necessary things
that you need to so you can make adjustments for the future.
Now step eight-- look for collaboration opportunities.
Now wait a minute, this video is a collaboration video.
Huh.
I guess Tim and I practice what we preach, right?
Well, it works.
Honestly, most of you that create content on YouTube
would benefit by taking a little bit more time
to get to know your audience, creating a simple game plan
for your channel, and also for all your videos.
I have a game plan for my channel
and really have set a video structure and a schedule
for all my videos.
And it works really well for me.
And I can tell you, working with Tim the last few days,
and also being one of his first subscribers
through Video Creators TV, Tim knows his audience
and has a clear plan.
So if you're really looking for more views and visibility
for your videos, make sure you watch this video a few times,
take some notes, and create your own game plan.
Thanks, Derral.
That was awesome.
I want to add in a couple thoughts of my own
that I hope will answer your question concerning how
the search results work and why you
can type in your exact title and not have it show up
and have all the popular videos show up instead.
And that is because YouTube ranks-- they determine
how high in the search results your video will rank based
on how much watch time it has.
And watch time is simply just how much time
that video has accumulated from people who are watching it.
So if you watch this video for three minutes,
this video has accumulated three minutes of watch time.
So there's a couple ways to increase watch time.
Again, we've talked about some of that stuff here.
Links below to those videos if you want to go check it out.
But ultimately, what you are seeing at work
is that YouTube definitely values watch time higher
than they actually value like how perfectly optimized
your metadata is and how perfectly your metadata-- which
is titles, tags, and descriptions,
and caption files, some include that,
thumbnails-- how perfectly that relates to search query.
That is a strong correlation.
But even stronger is how much watch time the video
has accumulated, which is how Google determines
how valuable this video is.
And the longer people spend watching this video,
the more valuable Google thinks that this video is.
So very practically for you, that
means it's important to drive as much watch time to that video
as possible within the first week of it being published.
And that goes back to following all the best
practices that Derral just talked about
and others that are linked up below.
So go check all that stuff out.
You guys have got some research to do
if this is something that's interesting to you.
I would love to hear from you guys
about what tips, ideas, advice would
you have for [? Creaza, ?] or for anyone
else who might be in a similar situation.
Comment and leave those down below.
And also, while you're down there,
check out Derral's channel.
The link is in the description text.
I'm sure a lot of you guys will find his videos equally as
valuable as these.
So go check that out.
And if this is your first time here,
I'd love to have you subscribe.
Welcome.
Every week we do Q and A, just like this,
to help you guys out.
On Tuesdays, we take a look at online video news and talk
about the implications it has for us as creators,
as YouTube is constantly updating and changing.
And then on Wednesdays, we give you
guys some YouTube tips, ideas, advice, suggestions.
And Thursdays, we do basically what you just saw right here.
And I do all this because I really
believe that a lot of you guys have messages that can really
change the lives and influence people,
if those people could just find in here what you have to say.
So thank you for letting me be a part of you
guys who are building your audiences
and your channels for the purpose of changing lives.
Subscribe if this is your first time here.
And I will see you guys again next week.
Bye.