YouTube Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following and Making Money as a Video Influencer

by Sean Cannell

In general, we all prefer to connect and do business with people we know, like, and trust. The problem with connecting online is that it’s harder to look someone in the eye, have a real conversation with them, and gauge their facial expressions. This is particularly true with blogging but also holds true for audio content. That’s one reason we believe video is absolutely the best way to communicate any message.

Through video, it’s much easier for an audience to get to know and trust you. The most successful YouTubers have regular viewers who feel like they have developed a friendship with them. Only video engages people on that level.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but digital marketing expert James McQuivey of Forrester Research6 estimates that a single minute of video ...

YouTube gives you immediate access to a worldwide audience.

Who do you want to inspire, encourage, educate, or help with your products and services? Who are the people you want to entertain? Figure that out and keep those people front and center.

These days, you can shoot, edit, and upload YouTube videos with the average smartphone, as long as you have an internet connection. Forget the fancy equipment and expensive gear.

What matters most on YouTube is creating value for an audience with authenticity. If you can do that, you can find success. Start now and develop your skills as you go.

It’s not about connections. It’s about content. All you have to do is create meaningful content and make it available.

If you’re struggling to find an identity or purpose for your YouTube channel, we recommend building it at the intersection of your passion, your proficiency, and your profit.

If you had twenty seconds on an elevator to pitch your YouTube channel to a stranger, how would you pitch it? Tell them what they can expect, who the channel is for, why they should be interested, how it will add value to their life, and why it matters.

Clarity is power, and a clear understanding of your end goal will help you reverse engineer the steps to get there.

The cool thing about starting a YouTube channel is that it’s completely free. All you need is a Gmail address. If you don’t already have one, create one. Then sign up for your YouTube channel. It’s that easy.

Great content is anything that adds value to the viewer’s life, so ask yourself, ‘What kind of value are the viewers getting?’

The best content creators inform, inspire, educate, entertain, and build community all at once.

Give viewers a good reason to subscribe. Don’t just annoy them with constant requests.

When they do leave a comment, always take the time to respond, especially when you’re just getting started.

The more comments and conversations the algorithm sees on your video, the more relevant the video will appear to be. This will help it rank higher in search results.

Build your community of true fans by generating trust with your viewers. That trust and engagement enables you to create a consistent income.

Chase your focus, your mission, your passion, and your purpose, and allow money and income to stem from that.

Focus on building your influence, stay patient and persistent, and income will follow. Remember, money follows mission.

Creating a schedule is imperative. That way people know when to expect your videos. Also, YouTube rewards consistent channels by pushing them higher in the search and recommended lists.

Batch producing has been the essential element for creating a lot of content and being consistent in a minimal amount of time.

YouTube prefers creators who post two to three videos per week.

The three most important aspects of video SEO for YouTube are your title, your description, and the tags you add to your video. Get these right, and your videos will start climbing the ranks.

There are three main benefits of collaboration. It exposes you to a new audience. The influencers you collaborate with often have already established an audience within a specific demographic or tribe of viewers. It spreads out the work. When you collaborate, sometimes you cut the work of video creation in half and multiply the success. It helps you learn. Pharrell Williams, musician and entrepreneur, said, ‘Collaborate with people that you can learn from.’

When we talk about hustle, we mean consistency—consistently creating and optimizing your content, consistently engaging with people, consistently improving.

The more knowledgeable and passionate you are about the subject, the more confident you’ll feel talking about it on camera. Beyond that, practice is essential.