Congratulations! You’ve just finished your internal meeting and determined the best strategy for your influencer marketing: YouTube activations!
In this age of abundance, we’re entering a large and diverse pool of content creators in a platform that equates to roughly 1 billion hours of videos daily, according to Global Media Insight. To simplify things, here’s a checklist for tackling your strategy, honing in on content fits, performance, stats and more:
✅ Don’t Underestimate YouTube Search
When browsing YouTube, you get a plethora of different videos pertaining to the keywords you’ve inputted.
To the right-hand corner of the search results, you’ll see a “Filters” button, where you can toggle between “Upload Date,” ”Type,” “Duration,” “Features” and “Sort By.” These filters fine-tune what you’re looking for, whether that’s a video ranging between four and 20 minutes that was uploaded in HD with subtitles this week to the highest viewed video this year.
In the gaming sphere, if you search a title such as League of Legends, you’ll get a specific section tailored to that gaming vertical. It will generate a page of League of Legends-themed videos, such as livestreaming content, “Let’s Plays,” official content from the game publisher and more.
With YouTube's latest update, there are suggested filters below the search bar, such as “YouTube Shorts,” “Unwatched” and more. It also opens a catalog of more videos.
✅ These Creators Don’t Go Unnoticed
Alas, the YouTube Trending page is full of success stories. Plus, it has sections for Music, Gaming and Movies where you can find creators in those content verticals.
Most of the channels that reach the Trending page get recognized by brands, leading to stronger deals that favor both brand and content creator. Even better, you can check out the engagement (i.e., likes and comments) from their audiences, including creators who make similar content. Interactiveness among creators shows collaboration and respect to one another’s work, which may spur connections with other channels.
✅ The Details Are in the YouTube Channels
When you find a content creator’s channel who you feel is the best fit for your brand’s campaign, the details are right there. You get a variety of stats, including the subscriber count, video views, video topics launched, country of origin, number of videos launched, total views, email address and more.
This is where you find what would work best and start the next steps (i.e., outreach, budget negotiations, promo placement, video launch timeline, etc.). When you work with the creator, you’re bound to create exciting content about your brand and showcase it to their audience.
Additionally, there are other content creators that collaborate with one another, which could correlate to more channels for your campaign. And if you’d like to know more about their other social media accounts, click the links near their channel name.
One last tip: if you’re searching through competing brands and they’ve sponsored your content creator’s channel, you can use the search bar in the channel page to see if the text pops up on a video title, description, tracking link, etc. If a competing brand shows up multiple times on a channel, it most likely means the performance is trending well for them.
✅ Guide Your Way With Data-Filled Platforms
Again, it’s a whirlwind when it comes to the bountiful information YouTube provides and the entertainment you can enjoy on the platform. It can be a timely process getting the rhythm going to find the best channels for your campaign.
Fortunately, there are platforms here to help crunch the numbers, automate the process and get the stats in fewer clicks: Brandwatch, HypeAuditor, Modash and GRIN. These platforms can compile reports of the latest trends in different regions of the world and find lookalikes to other channels that could be a strong fit.
✅ Outside YouTube Can Be Telling for What’s Inside
Lastly, what’s happening in the real world can indicate the type of content you’ll find trending on YouTube. For example, when “Queen’s Gambit” became popular, the amount of chess videos sparked. More people surveyed how to play various chess moves, watched competitive chess competitions and even went to buy their own chess board for the first time. And this trend led to more chess competitions, including among chess creators, such as Ludwig’s Mogul Chessboxing event in 2022.
Similar examples range from MrBeast recreating “Squid Games” with his audience to economic, geopolitical and sporting events (i.e., recessions, World Cup, etc.) happening in real time where content creators launch videos on such topics. It is like watching the stock market of YouTube content fluctuate based on what’s happening.
🏆 Checklist Complete
Just like that, you’ve set the stage for your brand to shine using YouTube influencer marketing. There’s a world out there where you’ll get to connect with content creators and launch some pretty exciting content. If your brand opens the door for creative freedom when promoting said product or service, the content creator will take it from there as they know their audiences best. Once the video goes live and the audience responds, take note of the performance metrics and engagement, and see where to go next. And don’t forget to have fun!
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