- If you have less than 1000 subscribers
and you're working towards monetization,
then I recommend you experiment
with making videos like this.
(upbeat music)
Let's start off with something very simple.
What do you like to talk about most on your YouTube channel?
Whatever that is, type that into the YouTube search bar.
And then all I want you to do is add two more letters,
V and S.
Yes folks we're talking about that classic piece
of YouTube content, the versus video.
The best thing about this video strategy is
that you can apply this to pretty much any topic
in the entire universe.
Be it PlayStation versus X-Box ,
Tom Brady versus Patrick Mahomes,
Instagram Reels versus YouTube Shorts,
there's only one winner in that one,
and of course, iPhone 12 versus well
pretty much any of the iPhone in Apple's lineup
plus a couple of Android phones too.
First and foremost,
what you have here is the ultimate idea generator.
(notification alarm ringing)
Yep, 14 videos ready for you to sink your teeth into.
And on top of this
you just doubled the potential discoverability
of your content.
Instead of focusing on one keyword
you're now focusing on two,
if you start to add a special feature into the mix
that's three layers of search engine optimization.
When it comes to versus videos, there's usually two types
of viewer intent and the first is purchasing decisions.
This is when a person can't decide on this or this
and they need you
as a independent arbiter to help them make the choice.
So in these types of videos, you as a creator
making an objective video, weighing up the pros and cons
and then maybe giving your advice at the end.
On the other hand,
you can always turn these objective versus videos
into subjective versus videos.
Xbox versus PlayStation,
there could be many reasons to buy both,
but what if you definitely side one way or the other?
Hint, Game Pass,
you just can't be it.
Now that simple, subtle little dig has probably
set Sony fanboys frothing at the mouth.
And I've most likely escalated
that by calling you all Sony fanboys
but what it is guaranteed to do is generate conversation
and engagement for your content.
So with these versus videos,
you can go in whatever direction you want,
but if you are gonna rile up your audience,
be prepared for a active conversation.
And don't forget to use all of this for further research.
Notice how each title includes versus wording
but they add emotional intense,
which should you choose?
Which is better?
Take notes on what the thumbnails look like
for the top performing videos.
Use VidIQ research tools to gauge the competitiveness
of a search term and look for hidden gems.
When it comes to iPhone 12 versus iPhone 12 mini,
people also watch videos about what's on my iPhone 12 mini.
And this creator (notification alarm ringing)
a very small channel
has made breakthrough content.
All right then.
Up next on video strategies that you should think
about when you're working towards 1000 subscribers is
and you're probably gonna groan in this one, listicles.
So this is all about adjective number blank.
For example, top 10 travel destinations.
Basically what you're doing
with listicles is choosing a topic
covering many different aspects of that topic
in a relatively short amount of time.
The benefits of this is
that it allows you to cover many searchable keywords
which makes your content more discoverable.
With listicles, you tend to create short snappy pieces
to cover each area.
So like the top 10 of something
if you do that in about five to six minutes,
you're covering something new every 30 to 40 seconds
which keeps the audience engaged.
They want to know what's next.
And again, you have a potential to turn this
into polarizing opinion content that drives up engagement.
You could talk about the top 10 movies of 2020
or perhaps the top 10 most disappointing movies of 2020.
I didn't really enjoy "Soul."
Got to admit Pixar, you let me down.
So this time let's jump into the world of finance.
A simple keyword, such as stocks is going to create
a ton of video ideas.
But to add that listicle element,
simply add top five to the beginning of the search term.
Now, just from a creative perspective
I think this is a really cool idea.
I never would have thought of
without going through this process.
But for now let's choose a more common example
such as top five stocks for 2021 as I want to show you
a quick little tool.
Listicle videos can be quite tough to rank for
unless the content is being recycled a lot.
In this example, a VidIQ search companion
is telling us that on average videos are a month old
which isn't too bad for creating content today to try
and make an impact on this search term.
Now then, word of warning,
when it comes to listicles,
there is a common mistake that many creators make.
And that is to try and squeeze all of a listicle
into the thumbnail.
It is much better to include one thing in that thumbnail.
Maybe something surprising from the list.
There's only one game
on this thumbnail, from WatchMojo.com,
and I am not sure I agree with their choice.
Does it compel you to click on the video and find out
if they mentioned the video y'all looking forward
to in 2021?
Why am I telling you to experiment
with these different video styles and formats?
Well, there's two principle reasons.
First and foremost,
when you start your YouTube channel
it is difficult to get discovered on YouTube
because there are so many other creators
out there who are larger than you.
And we're gonna be honest about this.
People don't care about you yet.
However, what viewers always care
about is the value they can extract from content.
And if you make searchable content
you have more chance of being discovered.
That's why you could make a listicle format video
but within the content itself
you add lots of individual and personal style.
Secondly, these are video formats and strategies
that every creator should be experimenting
with at the start of their YouTube journey.
And if these formats don't work for you, no problem.
You can move on to stuff that you do enjoy making
on your YouTube channel.
But if your audience responds positively to it
these could be the foundations, the building blocks
of starting to get momentum on your channel.
This is something that Dan and I will always say
when it comes to gaming channels in particular,
rather than doing let's play content
which is very much about the story and a personality
and it can be difficult to get noticed at first,
try to include things that are being searched for
on that particular game.
Whether it's regular updates how to do things
that's what's gonna help you get discovered when
you're a channel under a thousand subscribers.
Which is why we're going to move
on to a very obvious video strategy,
the how-to.
There's a reason we've made videos about
(notification alarm ringing)
how to get 1000 subscribers,
(notification alarm ringing)
4,000 hours of watch time,
(notification alarm ringing) monetize your YouTube channel.
A lot of people are searching
for solutions to these YouTube growth dilemmas.
(notification alarm ringing)
So much so that pretty much every year
with new information we can update and remake these videos
and get hundreds of thousands of views.
It's pretty obvious that you have a lot of passion
for the topic you want to talk about and share on YouTube.
But what you might not realize is that with
all of that passion comes knowledge and experience.
And you can share all of that with an audience
who's gonna find that so valuable
when they watch your content.
The trick is for smaller creators is to find something new
and relevant that you can share in the how-to universe.
All right then,
if you haven't heard of this app yet, you soon will do.
Clubhouse is a new audio social networking app
that's blowing up.
So as you can see, we already have some general ideas here.
But let's add how to use at the beginning.
All right, this suggested search looks good.
Let's dive in.
First of all, the VidIQ keyword score is excited
about this search term.
Increasing search volume versus low video competition
means opportunity.
And these channels have seized on exactly that.
These two channels have less than 5,000 subscribers
and they rank second and third for a search term
that's only going to get more popular.
I searched a little further down this list
and found this channel with less than a thousand subscribers
with 6,000 views.
They succeeded because they brought knowledge
and education to a new trend.
Put simply, there is always something new
happening in your topic.
Are you gonna be one of the first people to
educate your audience on what it means through a how-to?
And to follow on from that,
when things do happen in your field of interest,
are you going to react to it?
So this topic is very much
in the moment of when I made this video.
But remember when GameStop stocks went crazy?
Yeah, a lot of channels started reacting to this.
And because at the time it was such a fluid
new story with things changing all the time,
YouTube recycles content very frequently.
So much so that small channels like this
can briefly appear very high up in the search pages.
You can react to any one or any thing.
And it allows you to add your style, knowledge
or points of view to a trending event in your topic.
The key to this is being one of the first
because reaction style videos have a very short shelf life
on YouTube.
So then if you're a channel working 1000 subscribers
let's remind ourselves of this four video strategies
that are proven to work
and help get your channel discovered.
As I say, for a lot of channels
maybe these video strategies don't ultimately work,
but often many creators don't even try these videos
because they think they're not gonna suit their
video content and strategies.
But when you are less than a thousand subscribers,
you haven't yet shaped your video strategies.
So they are definitely worth testing.
As we also said in this video, we've made over videos
about how to get a thousand subscribers that are
a lot more to do about the mindset of the creator.
Check out the videos over here, and I'll see you soon.
Enjoy the rest of your video making day.