Video marketing has become a very popular form of digital marketing. Many B2Bs and B2Cs are embracing video marketing as a competitive strategy and a way of leveraging more digital space and getting a market share through video marketing.The number of YouTubers in the recent past has also grown significantly. YouTubers create and upload videos as a way of making money online.
If you are still thinking about whether to create a YouTube channel, read my comprehensive guide on how to create a YouTube channel that makes money. I have had my YouTube channel for a little over a year. I wrote this blog post to help you avoid some of the mistakes I made as a new YouTuber and share what I have learned in my Youtubing journey.
Mistake #1 YouTube is Not a Way to Earn Quick Money.
You probably have heard the hype about making money online. Some people make it look like you sleep, wake up, swipe your phone open, and viola! You become a millionaire!
I will be honest that making money online, whether by blogging or creating videos on YouTube, is not a pyramid scheme. You have to put in the work; sometimes, it takes more time than expected. When I started creating videos on YouTube, I watched successful Youtubers who said they were monetized after a month or two and others that said it took them close to a year to earn any money from their YouTube.
This gave me perspective. While you might think you started YouTube around the same time as person X, different factors could contribute to them “getting there” faster. For example, if someone had an Instagram account with an audience of one hundred thousand followers, it would be easy for them to market their channel and get the first one thousand or more followers within the first week.
Now, if you have a following of one thousand people on Instagram, marketing your YouTube video on Instagram will still help you get yourself out there, but you might not get as many followers as person X. That is just one example; there are other factors like the niche you are creating content for, etc.
My advice: be patient and keep investing consistently on your YouTube channel. By investing, I don’t only mean monetary investment. I mean your time; learn how to be a better YouTuber, learn skills online that will make you better, and eventually, it will be worth it.
Mistake #2 Sub For Sub and Purchasing Subscribers.
In my guide on creating a YouTube channel, I advise YouTubers to join YouTube creators’ Facebook groups. I love Facebook groups though I am not a huge fan of Facebook.
Facebook groups help me learn a tonne from other creators and get any changes in YouTube’s terms and conditions that I might miss for one reason or another. YouTubers on Facebook groups will always keep you in the know about such changes. However, there is one YouTube mistake I would encourage you to stay away from, sub for sub. You will see people creating threads where you can subscribe to their YouTube channel, and they will do the same to yours.
When you have been creating on YouTube for three-four months, and you have barely made five hundred subscribers, this sub for sub-scheme may seem like a good idea, but stick with me; I will let you know how it hurts you eventually. As a YouTuber, you want to build a genuine online community and slowly build trust around your brand. If you are a food YouTuber and you swipe subscribe with a locomotive engineer YouTuber, will you ever watch their content? Most likely not.
You end up having a lot of subscribers and very few views for your videos. As a YouTuber, you get paid for views, not subscribers. Though you have to meet a minimum of one thousand subscribers to qualify for the YouTube Partner program, the amount of money you earn from there on will be determined by the number of views.
Buying subscribers is also disadvantageous in the same vein, but even worse, it is against YouTube’s terms and conditions so that YouTube can close down your YouTube Channel.
Mistake #3 Insisting on Your Friends and Family to Subscribe.
While this may sound counter intuitive, do not insist on your friends and family subscribe to your YouTube channel.
When writing my guide on creating a YouTube channel that makes money, I advised Youtubers to use their social media for marketing their YouTube channels.
What I have learned as a digital creator is to post a snippet of my video on my socials and provide a link to the video.
Similar to buying subscribers, asking your friends and family to subscribe might end up giving you a bunch of subscribers who don’t watch your content.
Don’t get me wrong, friends and family can be a great support system for your YouTube career. However, you must remember that we have completely different interests. If I am creating cooking videos, my friends could be interested in fashion. Forcing them to subscribe to my channel might mean they will never watch my videos.
My advice: send an open invitation to your friends and family. Let them know that you are a YouTuber. However, let them know that you would appreciate their support and leave it up to them to subscribe or not.
Mistake #4 Thinking that you have to be perfect to become a YouTuber.
Imposter syndrome is real, and I will be the first to admit that I have let imposter syndrome hold me back for a long time.
Creating on YouTube or a blog will require a resolute belief in your ability and goals. Before I started my YouTube channel, I had thought about creating on YouTube for more than two years. I would then tell myself that I wasn’t “cool” enough for the internet and didn’t have all the “cool stuff” that the other Youtubers had.
It took me a painful heartbreak to actually start creating on YouTube (a story for another day.) At that point, I didn’t care if I was cool or not; I just needed something to get me out of my pain. I picked up my phone in the middle of a work day and started showing people around my office (it had a beautiful view of the city.) That’s how my YouTuber journey started.
While you might want the right gear to get you started, do not over-obsess about being a perfect YouTuber from the get-go.
Get the simplest video editor you can manage to use, learn it and have fun creating.
My Advise: it gets better with time. Like any other career you could be trying to build, being a Youtuber has a steep learning curve. The more you do it, the better you get.
If you are on a small budget to start creating, Read my guide on creating a YouTube channel and see how you can find the right creating gear on a budget!
Mistake #5 Irregular Posting.
Inconsistency has never been appreciated anywhere, but on YouTube, it is rather hated. Two perspectives here. Uploading regular content is one way to get new followers on YouTube and to make YouTube push your content to the right people. Also, creating regular content keeps your subscribers connected to you. My sister recently told me that she stopped watching a couple she had been watching for years because they “went on a break.”
Don’t get things twisted; YouTubers are people. You might have commitments that will make you fail to upload a video, or something unforeseeable might happen. Let your followers know that you will be back. When I cannot upload, I like to use the community tab and let my viewers know that I will be back shortly.
Plan when you want to upload and make sure you upload quality content. Once a week is enough; you do not have to overstretch, but two or more never hurt anyone if you can.
Mistake #6 Deleting Content from Your Channel.
New Youtubers may treat YouTube like Instagram. Some people do not like seeing their old photos, so they keep deleting them on Instagram. Avoid doing this on YouTube. First, when you delete your video from YouTube, you affect your analytics. Your videos are a passive source of income. The ones you upload today, someone will be watching them next year, and that will earn you some revenue.
Also, my old videos motivate me when I look at how far I have come in editing and recording in the right spots, etc. Truth be told, I sucked at first, and you probably will too, but it gets better with time.
Mistakes #7 Not Leveraging your Social Media.
My favorite quote to encourage people to market their work is “starting a business and not marketing it is as good as winking at a girl at night.” As I said in my YouTube creating guide, your YouTube channel is not a secret to be kept. Make noise about it.Let people know that you are creating something. You might not get a lot of traffic from social media, but I have found social media a really helpful tool in growing my audience on YouTube.
Try all the social media platforms you use, and you never know which one will work for your brand.
Mistake #8 Comparison- Only Create what you care about.
There is a huge temptation to compare ourselves with other people. New YouTubers will hear things like “Youtube niches that make money.” While that is not a bad blog post to read, do not shift from the content you create just because you think some other niche is more profitable.
While I would say it is beneficial to benchmark and learn from other YouTubers, know when to stop. Know when bench marking turns into comparison.
Comparison will make you think that you are not making progress while, in real sense, you are, and sometimes, it might cause you to quit. Stay on your path. Borrow ideas from other YouTubers, do collaborations but stick to your content. When creating videos, you care about, the energy is transferred to the audience. If you create something just for the sake of it, it will show in your energy and sometimes even in the overall outlook and feel of your video.
In my case, I love creating videos about relationships, sometimes cooking, and showing places that I visit. Someone recently wrote to me on Instagram and suggested that I should start doing pranks with my boyfriend. I appreciated her suggestion but also made her aware that I am not into such content. While I understand that that kind of content is very popular on the internet, it is not for me. I do not genuinely care about pranks, so I Would try to avoid those on my YouTube channel.
Mistake #9 YouTubers Create Off-topic content.
As I already mentioned, I am a lifestyle Youtuber. I mostly create content on places I visit, food, and my love life. Though I can offer digital marketing advice or web development basics, I like to stick to my content.
I noticed that every time I shifted, my viewership went low. Here is why, people subscribe to you because of some time of content; if you change, they might not be interested. For example, I made a recent video on how to get a Schengen visa. While I thought that my audience might be interested because we recently made a trip to Italy which is part of the Schengen area, that video didn’t perform well.
Mistake #10 No Call-to Action.
I know you want to be a different Youtuber and probably avoid annoying your viewers with a long introduction and asking them to subscribe to your channel. While that might sound like a plan, it will hurt your growth more than you realize. People do not subscribe unless you tell them, they do not follow you on Instagram unless you tell them, or they have an intrinsic sense of loyalty to you.
I did a test for about two months. I wasn’t asking people to follow me on Instagram. When I started asking people to follow me, my Instagram grew by 500 followers in two months. Always include a call to action. Tell them that if you want your audience to check you out on Instagram. If you want them to subscribe and hit the notification bell, tell them to do so.
Finally…
Enjoy your new role as a YouTuber. The process will be fun if you are open to learning and enjoying it. Do something daily that will make you a better Youtuber. Create a plan for your YouTube business and strategize on how to make that plan work. Don’t be shy; reach out to me if you have any questions or comments in the comment section below, and I will be more than happy to help!
Happy Youtubing!