The Struggle with YouTube
If you’ve been pouring time, money, and resources into your YouTube channel only to find it’s not delivering the results you expected, you’re not alone. Countless brands find themselves lost in the vast landscape of YouTube, struggling to make their content stand out amidst the billions of videos. It’s a common issue, but the good news is, it can be fixed. Here are five common reasons why your YouTube strategy might be failing and the solutions to get your brand back on track.
Reason 1: Lack of a Solid YouTube Strategy - Shooting in the Dark
The Consequences of Not Having a Clear YouTube Strategy
Having a presence on YouTube without a defined strategy is like shooting in the dark. You’re spending resources creating and uploading content, but without a clear direction, your efforts might not translate into the results you want. The lack of a clear strategy can lead to inconsistencies in content, confused messaging, and ultimately, a disengaged audience.
To turn this around, start by defining your brand’s unique goals on YouTube. Are you looking to raise brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, or generate leads? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you need to create your content strategy accordingly, focusing on the topics and the style of content that resonates most with your target audience.
Key Takeaways:
- A lack of a clear YouTube strategy can lead to wasted resources and a disengaged audience.
- Defining your brand’s goals and understanding your audience’s preferences is the first step to a successful YouTube strategy.
Reason 2: Ignoring YouTube SEO - Lost in the Crowd
The Pitfalls of Neglecting YouTube SEO
YouTube, like Google, operates on an algorithm that prioritizes certain content based on SEO practices. Ignoring these practices means your content is likely getting lost in the sea of videos, leading to low visibility and missed opportunities for engagement.
Boost your video’s visibility by optimizing your video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords. Remember, YouTube’s algorithm also factors in user engagement, so aim to create content that encourages likes, comments, and shares. Which means that your content is created keeping you for the human audience in mind. Make sure to follow YouTube SEO best practices, and then optimize for the human behind the screen. Enticing thumbnails and text overlays are more likely to gain a click than a title that is only focused on SEO. Run A/B Tests in the first 24 to 48 hours and see what your audience resonates with. Better still, involve them in the process and do a community post, asking them which thumbnail they would rather click.
Boost your video’s visibility by optimizing your video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords. Remember, YouTube’s algorithm also factors in user engagement, so aim to create content that encourages likes, comments, and shares. Which means that your content is created keeping you for the human audience in mind. Make sure to follow YouTube SEO best practices, and then optimize for the human behind the screen. Enticing thumbnails and text overlays are more likely to gain a click than a title that is only focused on SEO. Run A/B Tests in the first 24 to 48 hours and see what your audience resonates with. Better still, involve them in the process and do a community post, asking them which thumbnail they would rather click.
Key Takeaways:
- Ignoring YouTube SEO practices can result in low video visibility and missed engagement opportunities.
- Optimizing video metadata with relevant keywords and encouraging user engagement can boost your video’s visibility.
- Make your title and thumbnail stand out so much so a user just has to click the video to find out more.
Reason 3: Neglecting Content Quality and Consistency - Failing Audience Expectations
The Price of Ignoring Content Quality and Consistency
One of the most common reasons for a failing YouTube strategy is neglecting the importance of content quality and consistency. If your content fails to provide value or if your uploads are sporadic and inconsistent, you’ll likely see your audience engagement dwindle.
High-quality content isn’t about high production value—it’s about providing value to your audience. Are you answering their questions, providing useful information, or entertaining them in a way that aligns with your brand? And consistency isn’t just about the frequency of uploads—it’s about maintaining consistent messaging, style, and themes that resonate with your brand image.
High-quality content isn’t about high production value—it’s about providing value to your audience. Are you answering their questions, providing useful information, or entertaining them in a way that aligns with your brand? And consistency isn’t just about the frequency of uploads—it’s about maintaining consistent messaging, style, and themes that resonate with your brand image.
Key Takeaways:
- Neglecting content quality and consistency can lead to dwindling audience engagement.
- Providing valuable content and maintaining consistent brand messaging and themes are key to audience retention.
Reason 4: Not Engaging with Your Audience - A One-way Conversation
The Downside of Ignoring Audience Engagement
YouTube isn’t just a platform for uploading videos; it’s a social media platform that thrives on interaction. If you’re not responding to comments, asking for likes and shares, or encouraging viewers to subscribe, you’re missing out on opportunities to build a community around your brand.
Turn this around by dedicating time to engage with your audience. Respond to comments in a timely manner, ask questions to stimulate conversation, and thank your viewers for their support. Not only does this build a sense of community, but it also signals to the YouTube algorithm that your content is engaging, which can boost your visibility.
Turn this around by dedicating time to engage with your audience. Respond to comments in a timely manner, ask questions to stimulate conversation, and thank your viewers for their support. Not only does this build a sense of community, but it also signals to the YouTube algorithm that your content is engaging, which can boost your visibility.
Key Takeaways:
- Ignoring audience engagement can lead to missed opportunities to build a brand community.
- Actively engaging with your audience can boost community building and improve your visibility on YouTube.
Reason 5: Disregarding YouTube Analytics - Flying Blind
The Risk of Ignoring YouTube Analytics
Another reason your YouTube strategy may not be working is if you’re disregarding the treasure trove of data that YouTube Big Data offers. YouTube studio provides insights into your video performance, audience demographics, viewer behavior. However, there is a lot more to unpack. Like competition activity, influencer activity, search trends and more. If you’re not leveraging this data to inform your strategy, you’re essentially flying blind. Use a powerful tool like Touchstorm DATAlabs that tracks more than 26MM channels and 2B videos daily, appending it with critical information like Topics, Sentiment, Commerce, Video Types, Genres, and more. This infuses the data with unparalleled meaning. Adjust your strategy based on these insights to optimize video performance and maximize audience engagement.
Key Takeaways:
- Ignoring Analytics can result in missed opportunities to optimize your content and engage your audience effectively.
- Leveraging YouTube Big Data to gain insights beyond your own channel. Keep track of industry, trends, competition and influencer activity in your category using a tool like Touchstorm DATAlabs.
Case Study: A YouTube Strategy Turnaround
From Near Failure to Success: A YouTube Strategy Revamp
Consider the case of a Financial Service Provider, a brand that was on the brink of giving up on their YouTube channel due to poor performance. When they engaged Touchstorm, our certified YouTube experts concluded that they were making all the mistakes we’ve just discussed: lack of a clear strategy, ignoring SEO, inconsistency in content, and lack of audience engagement. Once Touchstorm started Channel Management for them, they saw a dramatic turnaround in their YouTube performance and went from losing 3K+ Net Subscribers in a year to adding 13K+ Net Subscribers within one year of Channel Management by Touchstorm.
Key Takeaways:
- Recognizing and addressing YouTube strategy mistakes can lead to a significant improvement in performance.
- The case of the Financial Services Provider above is a testament to the power of a well-executed YouTube strategy.
Turning Around Your YouTube Strategy
From Pain Points to Progress: Elevate Your YouTube Strategy
Don’t let your YouTube channel be a lost cause. Recognizing and addressing these common pitfalls can help elevate your brand from being lost in the crowd to standing out on YouTube. Remember, YouTube is a powerful platform for brand storytelling, community building, and customer engagement. Moreover, Winning on Youtube helps you win on Google search too. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to make the most of it. Embrace it, master it, and watch your brand soar to new heights.
Key Takeaways:
- Recognizing and addressing the common reasons why your YouTube strategy isn’t working can significantly improve your brand’s performance.
- Mastering YouTube strategy can open new opportunities for brand storytelling, community building, and customer engagement.
Bonus Reason: Not Understanding the YouTube Algorithm
Platform algorithm’s are the closest held secrets. However, a well known, seldom remembered fact is that the YouTube Algorithm is supposed to find videos for viewers and not viewers for videos. We’ve seen brands make this classic mistake over and over. They use their YouTube channels as dumping grounds for TV ads, webinar recordings that no one is searching for. It is absolutely essential for brands to identify the right content as and then optimize and market it right. Unless you’re creating content that your audience is looking for, your brand’s YouTube channel won’t unlock that hockey stick curve growth pattern.
Need help turning your YouTube strategy around? Get in touch with us today. Let’s make your brand shine on YouTube.
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