YouTube is the place to be for content creators and businesses; according to a 2020 YouTube statistic, almost 5 billion videos are watched on this platform every day.
The most successful YouTubers today are those who started a channel very early on and by their 20s have built an empire using their creativity and knowledge of the platform. Today, YouTube influencers not only focus on their own content, but also work in partnerships with brands to create content for them, functioning as agencies more than just content creators.
The MrBeast case
One of the best examples of this new type of content experts is the YouTuber MrBeast. Starting at the age of 13, the now 22-year-old is one of the most successful YouTubers in the world, generating around 10 million views per day and earning over $97 million a year on his main YouTube channel. He also has a gaming-only YouTube channel that generates around 6 million views a day.
Back in 2013, MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, tried out many different content formats from his bedroom, from gaming commentary to offering tips to aspiring content creators, aiming without success at mastering the YouTube algorithm and gaining popularity. It took Mr Beast two years to find the best content that resonated with his audience, and in 2016 he hit 30,000 subscribers.
MrBeast went viral in 2017 in the most incredible way; he posted a video of himself counting to 100,000. “I just really wanted it,” MrBeast said in an interview with Casey Neistat about the challenge. “I had dropped out of college, I wasn’t really making much. I knew it would go viral and I just had to put the hours in.” This was the turning point for Mr Beast; he found the perfect content format to entertain his audience and leveraged it to gain popularity.
Today, MrBeast works almost like an agency himself. MrBeast is a brand that today employs 30 people; Jimmy produces his own content, he has his own MrBeast merchandise line and also works in partnership with other brands to promote their products on his YouTube channel. Most of MrBeast videos aim to entertain and take the internet by storm, and not to convert. We can group his videos into three main categories:
- Giveaway – in which he gives incredible products to random people.
- Competition – in which people compete to win something.
- Him doing something weird – for example buying an island and spending 24 hours exploring it.
According to Reed Duchscher MrBeast, like all other YouTubers, makes most of his money in three different ways:
- YouTube AdSense. These are the short videos that promote a brand while you’re watching something on YouTube.
- Another way is by selling merchandise. MrBeast has his own e-commerce website where he sells his products; he collaborates with brands like Nike and Champion for his merchandise.
- Sponsored content. They create amazing videos to promote products or services to their audience. Reed Duchscher also explains how YouTube has changed throughout the years, and now content creators need a whole crew behind them to be able to produce such high-quality videos.
In particular, Noah Kagan has analysed where MrBeast’s income comes from; it turns out that the most of his earnings come from selling merchandise. As we now know, some of MrBeast’s branded products are made in partnership with Nike and Champion; these brands have been clever enough to work with him and get their names alongside MrBeast’s logo, and therefore being associated with the actual brand.
“These content creators are the next Disney, the next nickelodeon, the next Fox. […] These guys are the next media companies.”
Reed Duchscher
YouTubers and Brand Promotion
It didn’t take long for brands to understand the power of young content creators like MrBeast and Zack Ahmed, and to start working in partnerships with them to promote products and services. In fact, according to The Drum, brands would rather work with social influencers than celebrities as ambassadors, and that of all social media platforms, YouTube is the most popular one. This is because the viewers on YouTube are active as they intentionally access the platform to watch their favourite channels, and therefore are very receptive to the content they watch.
Create Your Own Content or Partner Up With a YouTuber?
You have two options when it comes to creating content on social media: build your own team and create the content in-house, or partner up with a Youtuber.
If you have the resources and you can afford to embark on a long-term project, then having a team dedicated to the creation of content is definitely a great option. However, if you need to release effective content quickly, then it might be better to rely on a professional content creator.
How to Create Your Own Video Content
There isn’t an exact science behind digital content creation; it’s all down to find what resonates most with your audience, and to do so you’ll need to try different types of content and formats until you find the perfect recipe.
Here’s our ingredients to create your own video content:
- Build a big-enough team: creating content seems easy to do, but to be able to produce high-quality, engaging content you’ll need a team of trained creators. Take the example of people like Mrbeast, who has built a team of 30 people to help him create his amazing videos.
- The more the budget, the better the content: this is true especially with video content; but in general, the more you invest in producing content, the better the results.
- Create strong titles and thumbnails: choosing the right titles and thumbnails helps people clicking on your videos. The best way is to give a sense of urgency, so that people feel compelled to click and watch the videos. This is what MrBeast does, and we definitely know it works. Your titles have to work like CTAs. The same approach works for thumbnails: try to choose an image that makes it impossible for your audience to ignore.
- The first 30 seconds are crucial: what you say at the start of your videos makes the difference. If you look at MrBeast, in the first 30 seconds of his videos he explains what’s going to happen later on. This is the best way to hook your audience and raise interest in what will happen if they keep watching the video. MrBeast also speaks very loudly and fast, which gives the idea of urgency.
- Commit to doing 100 videos: this way you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t and also will have more chances for your content to become successful.
- Have fun: the reason why people watch video is to be entertained, and the best way to do so is to actually have fun while producing the content. This way you will also connect with the viewers on a deeper level and raise interest in your brand.
Work with YouTubers
This is the quickest way to get results and broaden your audience. There are a lot of YouTubers out there, so start with researching who are the best YouTube influencers to work with. This is important because you need someone who connects with the right audience for your business.
If you’re not sure why you should consider working with a Youtube expert, then keep reading:
- YouTube is the second largest search engine and second most visited site. This itself should be the main reason for any business to be on this platform.
- YouTube videos rank in Google’s organic search result, meaning that your videos will have two different sources of traffic (Google and YouTube itself) and therefore a much higher way to reach your audience. Partnering with an influencer will only make it more likely for your products to be shown in Google’s organic search results.
- YouTubers have a global reach; in fact, YouTube is available in over 100 countries and 80 different languages. This is an incredible way, especially for global brands, to target a very wide audience without having to create multiple ad-hoc content, even more so, thanks to the option to add subtitles to videos that are published on this platform.
- Promoting your products via YouTube, isn’t only a great way to expand your reach, but also to educate your audience. YouTubers, in fact are usually free to create the type of content to promote products and services; most of them will explain why and what they like about them while showing their specific features. Often, using an influencer to promote a product is already enough to drive sales, and with videos even more so.
- Videos are the most engaging types of content; according to studies, the average viewers remember 95% of a message, compared to 10% when read. This is because videos contain all types of contents, text, music, photos and links, and stimulate our brain on a deeper level. Most social networks nowadays allow videos to be uploaded, but they’re usually very short (Twitter 30 seconds, Instagram 60 seconds, Facebook 2 minutes); only on YouTube videos can be longer and therefore give more information to the audience about a product.
The way brands promote their content is changing and it is becoming more and more important to connect with the customers on a deeper level than before. Working with YouTube influencers is a great way to engage and reach a wide audience and also gain their trust. 73% of customers are more likely to buy a product after viewing a YoutTube video, meaning that this platform really is the place to be to increase conversions and brand awareness.
Working in partnership with the right YouTube influencers is definitely a great strategy; these content creators in fact are experts and know exactly how to create the perfect videos to promote their own as well as other brand’s products. However, being able to build an in-house team is also a great approach; your employees know the brand and the business, and the content your team will produce will definitely benefit from that.
Depending on what your strategy is, at Capital A, we can help you build your content team as well as find the best digital content creators, to start growing your audience using YouTube.
