There is no denying the fact that being active in the YouTube space is demanding. Monitoring your page,
constantly being on the lookout for new ways to maximise YouTube exposure, ensuring that your channel is shared with the right audience and making sure that your content is on par with YouTube standards are all part of the job — and it's not something you should be doing on your own.
media update’s Nicole van Wyk speaks to Danilo Acquisto, CEO of Special Effects Media to get the lowdown on channel management.
A career in vlogging is not an easy undertaking when you consider how much time management and strategy is invested in making sure you remain visible to your YouTube audience.
“Building a brand that is sustainable requires you to consistently look at analytics, brand strategy, authenticity, video quality and brand integration,” says Acquisto.
This means that you constantly need to be keeping tabs on what’s changing in the YouTube space and adapting accordingly. This leaves you with less time to explore your creative outlets.
This is where channel management comes in. You can have someone focus on administrative duties and research involving your channel while you focus on producing top-notch content.
“It is not vital to have management, but what it does give you is an extra few eyeballs looking over your strategy and channel to ensure you are always on a growth trajectory,” says Acquisto. Who says no to the winning lane? Not you, content savvy YouTuber, not you!
Channel management is changing the YouTube game and, as with any business, networking is a huge part of being a success. Let’s be honest: it’s a competitive industry, and sometimes content creators are left with no choice but to collaborate with brands to earn a buck or two.
Channel management can boost your networking game and you won’t have to be a make-up artist partnering with a burger joint for visibility.
Collabs need to make sense!“[Channel management can] also help creators bring in brand deals they would never normally get themselves. [Channel managers can also] introduce them to brands [on a] daily [basis] and pitch ideas for paid-influencer marketing solutions,” Acquisto adds.
The YouTube community aims to
keep it real and one of the ways in which this can achieved is by focusing on having an organic reach.
According to Acquisto, “organic reach is reach [that] you gain without having to spend any money on advertising. Although YouTube has an advertising model, if people find the content because they are subscribed [to your channel] or [because they are specifically] searching for you, the conversion with that audience is much stronger”.
Right now, you may be thinking “cool story bro. That’s what paid advertising is for”, but boy oh boy, have I got news for you!
“Paid advertising will get your views, but will have a very low engagement rate and very low audience retention. The bullseye will be a channel that has both
organic reach and traction — a community of people who regularly return for more. That is
true influence and a sign of great content,” says Acquisto.
Because of the value placed on organic reach, channel management puts a lot of emphasis on subscriber engagement.
“Subscriber engagement is vital. Influencers often get treated as broadcasters but focus on their relationships with their audiences so that when they run campaigns, you see a spike in traffic and sales based on the advise and engagement from the influencer,” adds Acquisto.
Channel management helps YouTubers to keep their fingers on their pulse without taking away from their authenticity and content creation time.
For more information, visit
www.speceffectmedia.co.za.
Would you start a YouTube channel if you didn’t have to manage it yourself? Let us know in the comments section below.