For many content creators, establishing a YouTube channel and expanding their followers doesn't come easy.
As of 2020, there are over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. You may struggle against that content to rank your own videos or get an audience to show up.
In theory, YouTube is simple. You:
Record and edit a video
Add a title, hashtags, and a thumbnail
Upload the video and wait
Unfortunately, if you don't see the amount of traction and engagement on your video as you hoped, it’s easy to get discouraged, especially if you are new to YouTube.
Instead of taking the traditional route to YouTube, there is another approach: live streaming. Live streaming is an excellent way to build a formula or plan for what you want to do on YouTube.
Small business and video marketing coach, Diana Gladney, was a speaker for Leap Into Live Streaming Bootcamp 2020 and shared three live streaming secrets for faster YouTube channel growth. Diana specializes in helping entrepreneurs simplify the video creation process to create deeper connections with their audience.
All YouTube creators can live stream from their desktop, but they must have at least 1,000 subscribers before they can live stream from their mobile device.
Although many people meet YouTube's requirements, they still don't go live, even though the possibilities are endless no matter what niche you are in or what your business or channel focuses on.
Let's take a look at Diana's three live streaming strategies to maximize your YouTube channel presence.
What are the three strategies to YouTube live streaming success?
Strategy one: Go live to discuss hot topics your audience desires to discuss.
First, you must understand that YouTube is a search engine: the second largest in the world. People use YouTube to search for information, tutorials, entertainment, and other types of content.
Whether you are a new creator or looking to expand your YouTube following, you need to decide where your content fits into the mix by understanding the dynamics of who you're working with, who you're connecting with, and why you're going live.
Part of this includes growing and taking your audience along a customer journey. Ask yourself, where is your audience when they find you, and once they see your information? Then, what are you teaching them?
Every niche, business, and industry have questions they want to discover, which means every YouTube channel should be created around a shared belief.
This shared belief is what your audience wants to watch and learn about, and what you provide. Even if you think you have great content, you will struggle to grow your following if your audience doesn't resonate with it.
Once you understand your shared belief, you start to understand your audience better. What are they thinking about? What concerns do they have? What types of questions are they searching for on YouTube?
Start creating content based on your shared belief and pay attention to what videos receive the best engagement, not just likes or views, but actual responses. From the comments and engagement you receive, you can dive deeper into the conversations your audience has.
Through those conversations and their profiles, you can figure out their likes and dislikes, the other videos they are consuming, and even what videos they have saved in their YouTube playlists.
“The more you understand your audience, including what problems they have and the pain points you’re trying to help solve, the more you know what content you need to create.”
When you create the content your audience wants to see and engage in conversations with them, they'll keep coming back every time you go live.
Strategy two: Rank videos in real-time as you go live.
On average, the phrase "how to" is searched on YouTube 368,000 times a month. Because most people do not try to rank their videos in real-time as they go live, this is huge for you and your niche.
By using the concept of strategy one, sharing content your audience is interested in, you can figure out exactly what videos you need to rank for.
First, address your audience's pain points. What problems do they have? What solutions can you offer? How can you help them solve their problems? What other concerns do they have surrounding their initial pain point?
In your first video, answer the primary "how to" your audience wants to know. Get the conversation going. Then, think about all the other topics or questions around your niche.
By creating more content that your audience might be interested in, you have a topic you can rank for and that your audience wants to have a conversation around.
To rank on the first page of Google or YouTube, first think of phrases, not words, that you want to rank for. If the tags you add to your live stream videos contain only simple words (i.e., money, car, food), you will struggle to rank ahead of someone who has already built channel authority.
A creator with channel authority doesn't need to worry about the tags they add, the title of their video, or the video thumbnail because they already have a large following, and YouTube knows that.
YouTube can see all the details in your videos' data: how many people click your video, how many people are watching and for how long, how many people leave comments, and how people engage and interact with your content.
So, if you are a newer channel on YouTube, you need to put in the work to build and grow your channel authority. And if you try to rank for specific phrases instead of words, you can rank above larger channels.
You can do this by applying the information you learned in the first strategy. Who is your audience? What are their interests? What is your shared belief? What are they searching for on YouTube?
If you start by searching for individual words, YouTube actually helps fill in the gaps by predicting the phrase's beginning and end. The longer the phrase, the better it is, and the better opportunity you have to rank for it.
Remember to add phrases that make sense for the search engine and make sense for what your audience is searching for.
The difference between ranking live stream videos and recorded videos is person-to-person communication. So many creators only upload recorded videos, which are ranked and serve as evergreen content.
You can take it one step further and stay ahead of your peers by live streaming, which gives your audience the chance to connect with you in real-time in a more meaningful way. Live streaming develops a stronger sense of community, the opportunity to engage in new ways, and a deeper understanding of your industry or niche.
“Ranking live stream videos isn’t just about showing up in a search. It gives you the perspective and understanding to connect with your audience and address their concerns in a relevant way.”
Strategy three: Building a community.
By now, you've determined who your audience is and what are their pain points. You've uploaded unique videos and ranked for precise phrases to build authority.
In Diana’s third secret or strategy to YouTube success, you will expand on what you've already accomplished to build a community of superfans.
Live streaming gives you the ability to continue a one-on-one conversation with your audience and build relationships.
When you go live, people feel like they know you. Everything happens in real-time and isn't produced. They get to learn your quirks, your likes, and your dislikes. As you're recording, thank people for their comments. Answer their questions. Get to know them as well.
People start to think of you as a mentor or a coach: someone who cares about their successes and failures. You'll begin to remember things about that person and can speak to them during your stream and continue past conversations.
After the live stream ends, people may email you or message you on social media. You're able to build relationships on multiple platforms through multiple conversations. The more you go live, the more online relationships you build. You may even get clients from your live streams:
Before you know it, you have dedicated audience members who show up for every live stream. You have a community of like-minded individuals who are interested in your content and engage with it.
How do these strategies help build and grow your YouTube channel?
There is no such thing as a bad live video, but you have to dial into what your audience wants to discuss, rank for that topic, and engage with your audience.
When you do these three things, you aren't just uploading a video and hoping for the best. You're getting to know your audience on a personal level and providing real value in real-time.
If you're still unsure why live streaming makes more of a difference than an uploaded video, consider the hierarchy of engagement scale, which Diana teaches on her channel.
At the top of the funnel, somebody watches your video, meaning they found it, clicked it, and watched it. Now, they are a viewer.
However, there is a difference between this viewer and someone who found your channel, watched your video, and liked it. Other people may leave comments or subscribe to your channel.
Even further down the hierarchy of engagement scale, someone watched your video for an extended period, liked it, left a comment, AND shared it.
Over time, your audience will engage with your content more and more. While this happens with regular YouTube videos, it happens so much faster with live videos.
When you engage with your audience in real-time, they begin to look forward to having those conversations with you, and they make a point to show up to your live stream.
The more you go live, the more your audience has the opportunity to connect with you. The more that happens, the better chance you have to build authentic relationships and authority with your audience.
Learning more about YouTube marketing strategies.
Diana Gladney is a YouTube expert who offers video marketing strategy coaching for busy entrepreneurs through her website and YouTube channel, EntreWoman TV.
Diana has created over 500 videos, edited hundreds of clients' marketing and social media videos, and has over 400,000 views on YouTube.
By implementing her three live streaming strategies, you can grow your YouTube channel community, build your email list, and even get clients from your live streaming content.
For more captivating live stream content, YouTube tutorials, and more, visit Diana's website or YouTube channel.
