Converting Youtube subscribers to customers
So, you’ve learned about all the arguments for YouTube marketing. You’re sold that marketing on the platform is a pretty solid investment. You’ve learned what to upload by taking notes from the big brands. The problem is: you’re not a big brand. You don’t have much customers before starting on this venture. How do you go about getting them?
Well, the first thing to worry about is getting subscribers. And to get subscribers, you need to have the right content.
Creating Content that People Subscribe To
To make use of the high conversion rates promised by video marketing, you first need to get views. Subscribers are regular viewers of your video content, responsible for more than 50% of your views. To get subscribers, you need to take note of the following guidelines for content:
• Reel them in with a remarkable Channel Trailer. This refers to the video that plays automatically when a new viewer lands on your Channel. The Channel Trailer must be clear about the purpose of your brand, its distinctive voice, and the target audience. Provide them with reasons why they should subscribe and include the button for it. Tell them what they should expect from the Channel and direct them to videos they can watch next.
• Create longer content. Perhaps because of its goal to replace traditional television, YouTube promotes long form content. It could be beneficial for you to create videos at least 10 minutes long.
• Make sure you have great video quality. Simply because it’s far less appealing to watch a video in shaky low-resolution. Video editing skills and software are almost necessary these days.
• Create shareable content. Again, the most shareable content are ones that are funny, inspiring, emotional, and educational.
• Post relevant content regularly. To find out the most relevant content for your niche or brand, you can do a quick keyword search. You can use Google Keyword Planner. Or you can type a keyword into YouTube’s search box and let auto-fill show you suggestions. You could also do further research by looking up your niche on Reddit or Quora.
Converting Customers
Now that you’ve got a subscriber base for your great content, how do you convert them into customers? You know them and engage them. You can do this by:
• Listening to your subscribers. A good video will spark a healthy discussion in the comments section. It would do you well to read through it regularly. Their comments could give you hints on what kind of video you can make next and their perception of your brand and channel. You could even directly reply to the comments. When customers feel like their opinions are being taken into account, they tend to be loyal to the channel.
• Using YouTube Cards. These are cards that appear directly on your video. You can use these to create a poll or to link to another video, another channel, or link out to your own website. This is YouTube’s version of call-to-action buttons.
• Arranging content by theme. The reality is, not everyone’s going to want to watch everything your Channel offers. The best way to deal with this is to arrange your content by playlists. This makes it easier for the viewer to find all the related videos about their interest.
• Optimizing your video description. A good video description has 200-500 words of synopsis. You can put your SEO keywords here, as well as any links out to your websites.
• Partnering up for a customer review. Customers perceive reviews as more trustworthy and they can greatly influence buyer decisions. Big brands will have video reviews of their products easily. If you’re new though, you may want to partner up with another Channel that would be interested in buying and reviewing your product.
The best example of the guidelines of YouTube marketing is the Will It Blend series of Blendtec. They managed to couple entertainment with proving the durability of their product. The lesson: converting subscribers to customers is a matter of piquing their interest, and then their trust.