More and more video is becoming a more important part of marketing, and it can have some significant return on investment in terms of branding, driving website traffic, and even driving conversions. SLC|SEMers were treated to fantastic presentations from two local video experts, Grant Thompson and Jace Vernon.
GRANT THOMPSON - King of Random
Grant was up first, and let us just say that his YouTube channel is flat out awesome — be sure to check it out and we promise you’ll learn something new! To get things started, Grant started by giving us his background, complete with stats on his channel’s growth, as well as how he got started as a “YouTuber.” It was refreshing to hear a story as unique as Grant’s as he talked about his initial goals, limited success with early videos, and key moments that helped his channel grow all on his way to an average of 50-60 million monthly views!
YouTube’s Algo & Other Tips & Tricks
It was clear that Grant’s curiosity that drives him to make his videos also extends to how YouTube works. Grant shared valuable tips on his understanding of how YouTube’s algorithm works as well as tips and tricks that he’s implemented that have helped him grow his channel. Here are a few:
- YouTube wants people to stay on YouTube. If your channel keeps people on YouTube, they’ll reward you.
- Viral videos enhance the entire channel in YouTube’s search & suggestion algorithms.
- YouTube & its viewers love consistency - Grant publishes his videos at the same time every week!
- Organize your videos into playlists to keep viewers on your channel. It keeps viewers engaged and signifies to YouTube that your channel has great content.
- Utilize end cards.
Two Big Takeaways
Two of the things that really stood out to us with Grant’s presentation was the value of relationships and the value of setting goals and sticking to them. One of the things that set’s Grant’s channel apart is that he responds to every comment, civilly, which shows his commitment to his audience and their engagement. Grant has also formed relationships with other YouTubers and sponsors which have also contributed significantly to his channel’s growth and Grant’s bottom line as he was recently able to retire from his airline pilot job and focus on his YouTube channel 100%.
As far as having goals, when Grant set out to start his channel, he decided that he would make a minimum of 100 videos and take it from there. This goal had nothing to do with results, just his effort. Grant’s initial efforts were a bit of a roller coaster, but through perseverance, research, and some testing he was able to find a formula that works for him. Grant commented that if it wasn’t for this initial goal he would have quit a long time ago — we’re glad he didn’t. How can goal setting and self-accountability impact your marketing efforts?
JACE VERNON - Yinc, Y draw
Next up was Jace Vernon. Jace kicked off his presentation talking about why video is an effective marketing tool. His biggest point of emphasis was that video tells your story, it allows you to tell customers what you do and why you do it in an engaging format. He also talked about how video isn’t just a nice branding tactic that eats up budget, but that marketers should be able to link videos to leads, sales, customers, and most importantly revenue.
4 Steps to Video Domination
Our audience was pleased to hear the Jace was holding nothing back as he shared his four steps to video domination. Jace covered everything from both a strategic and tactical approach to get SLC|SEMers started with video marketing!
- Video - Audiences have very short attentions spans; you only have five seconds to hook their interest and 30 before they decide they’re done with you.
To combat this attention deficit Jace’s videos follow a simple formula:
Headline ➡️ Problem ➡️ Solution ➡️ Call-to-action - Ranking - Your video won’t do much for you if you can’t get organic visibility. Jace shared some tips on video titles, descriptions, tags, and backlinking strategies.
Jace likes to keep his video title simple. He does this by telling viewers exactly what they’re getting. For example, Jace put together a YouTube video on creating Instagram video ads. It ranks well with the title Instagram Sponsored Ads - How To Setup Instagram Ads. He included similar text in his description, some appropriate tags for his topic and audience, and voila! - Ads - Jace discussed a number of different formats including Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube ads (in-stream and in-display) as well as Gmail Video ads, and video remarketing ads.
Jace spent the most time covering some of the ad options specific to YouTube including campaign setup, keyword targeting, placements, and remarketing. Here's our favorite slide from his presentation on putting everything together for a creeper marketing campaign!
- Test, Learn, Repeat - As with any marketing endeavor measuring, testing, and repeating are key to success!
If you’re interested in viewing Jace’s slides, check them out on the SLC|SEM Slideshare!
In all this was a fantastic event that all attendees benefited from. A huge thanks to both Grant and Jace for sharing their expertise and for the support from local digital marketers!