I have worked with hundreds of YouTube creators,
and I have seen a lot of them make a lot of common mistakes
over and over again.
And want to share with you guys what some of those mistakes
are so you can make sure you avoid them on your channel
so that your channel can grow as easily as possible
and reach the goals that you have for it.
That's coming up.
Hey guys, my name is Tim Schmoyer,
and this is Brian and Jacey.
And we've been working on a channel
together for a little while.
What channel is that?
What are you guys working on?
It's called Lifetree Family, and we make videos
every Tuesday and Thursday about how
to grow together as a family.
This has been awesome.
It's been a lot of fun to be a part of that with these guys.
And so what are some of the common mistakes that we've
kind of worked through but you guys have also seen
is one that could be really easy for new creators to make.
Yeah, one that we have to constantly remind ourselves
is where do we want to take our audience?
We want to give them-- we want to put them
on a journey of bringing their family closer together.
We want to make sure that we're giving them steps to do that.
So through a call to action, a practical tip.
But it's easy for us to kind of forget about that.
I mean like, why did we make that video again?
Well I think, yeah, as creators, we like the creation process
and so we make the video, and then
we kind of forget what's the goal of the video.
What is it supposed to accomplish
for the channel, for the viewer, for me as a creator?
A lot of those things.
So having that next step clear is really good.
That's a really big one, but what else?
We've really had to focus on how we're
going to promote our videos.
So at first we kind of had this idea
like, we're just going to make all of these videos
and put them up on YouTube.
But we really needed to focus on our promotional strategy.
So how are we going to get more subscribers?
How are we going to enhance our search so that more people are
finding our videos?
See, I think a lot of creators just when they're starting out
they're like, my videos are so awesome they'll just
perform based on nothing else than the merit of the content,
right?
Everybody's going to watch.
Everybody will watch my videos.
And sometimes that happens, but it's
nothing you want to bank on.
It's better if you go into it with an actual strategy
of a goal on a plan of this is how we're going to grow,
and this is how the videos are making play into that strategy.
A big one also that I've seen guys
is that a lot of creators, they go
into their channel forgetting two really important things--
one, who is the channel for, that's the target audience.
And also what is the value proposition of the channel?
What value does this content propose
to deliver to that target audience
over and over and over again?
Because a lot of creators are like, oh, I like Pewdiepie,
I'm just going to make gaming videos, or I like Shay Carl,
I'm going to do family vlogging.
And they go into it just understand
what the content is, but without knowing the who should care
and why they should care.
And just doing the content just because you like makeup beauty
tutorials without knowing who it's for and why they care
will really stifle the growth of your channel.
So you really want to integrate those two things
very intentionally and to all of your content.
Tim, you've really challenged us as we've
been developing our channel on that value prop,
because a lot of times, we're reaching a very similar
audience to what a lot of other channels might be reaching.
It's like, what makes us different?
Why should people listen to our channel
and subscribe to our channel?
And so it's really about the why.
Maybe our story, and how that's woven in.
I think that ties into where we want
to take our audience as well-- that journey.
Because it's a journey that we're on
and we want to bring them with is that it comes down
to our story and the why.
Yeah.
And I think those are two things that
have helped to make your channel stand out
is a combination of storytelling,
helping people identify with you.
It's not just like here, you guys are parents
so let's give you three reasons why you are not awesome.
It's more like your three reasons
why I'm a terrible parent.
Exactly, and then people identify with that,
and so there's an emotional connection.
And then after the connection happens, then you can say,
here's three things that I've learned that helped
me become a better parent.
And they are much more likely to receive that at that point.
So combining the story with the advice,
and there's more stuff we're going
to throw in later as their channel continues to grow.
But that's where we're at.
Another common mistake that I could
see it being really easy to make as a brand new YouTube creator
is not focusing on the hook.
So that includes your title, your thumbnail,
and the first 15 seconds of your video.
Those things are crucial to get people engaged in your content.
And the title needs to be really searchable
and the thumbnail has to be clickable-- something really
engaging, fun looking, bright and also something
that looks the same across your entire channel.
Doesn't matter how awesome the content is if people aren't
enticed to click on the thumbnail and the title
doesn't pitch the value.
And even if those two do a successful job, when
people click and then the first 15 seconds of the video
doesn't actually connect with what the value that they're
hoping to get or they're expecting
to get by clicking, there's like a disconnect between any three
of those things, people abandon the video,
you don't get the watch time you want,
you don't get persistent watch time,
and your video overall performs poorly in search
and related and all over on YouTube.
I know one of the things that we've
had to be really flexible with is just
being willing to learn and adapt and change things
when we see when we see that oh, that didn't work.
OK, let's not do that, let's try this.
And just try things along the way.
We're still trying to figure a lot of that stuff out.
Yeah, and that evaluation period is another big mistake that I
think creators will make.
They'll just make the same thing over and over and over and over
again.
And like I have friends who are doing literally the same thing
for five years on YouTube, and they're
wondering why it's not working.
I'm like, well, try something else.
Obviously, don't just keep repeating the same mistakes
over again.
That evaluation is so important.
Analytics can help, input from friends can help.
Like honest feedback, right?
Not people going, oh yeah, I like it.
But honest, good, helpful feedback.
And then just like even here at Video Creators,
I'm experimenting with different formats,
trying to reinvent myself and the content,
and how we're delivering the value to the target audience
that I'm trying to reach.
So that's really important.
These guys at Lifetree Family have a channel.
It's linked up down there below the description
if you want to check it out.
It's a great example if you want to see some ideas of how
to avoid some of these mistakes even
as a brand new YouTube channel, and how
to work through some of those.
So go check them out.
Link down there below.
And I'd love to hear from you guys in the comments below.
I know you have made mistakes and you've
seen a lot of other people making mistakes also.
So what have you learned, what have you seen?
Comment down there.
The rest of you guys, go read what other people are sharing.
I know you'll learn a lot from them as I always do.
And if this is your first time here,
I would love to have you subscribe.
We got content every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
to help you grow your YouTube channel
and your audience so that the message that you are spreading
can reach the people who need to hear your message,
and hopefully their lives can be changed as a result.
So thank you for hanging out here,
and I will see you guys sometime soon.
Bye.