3 Ways to Create a Successful YouTube Strategy in Japan
Currently there is a race happening in the US between Facebook and YouTube, each working to win the future of television. As one of the social media agencies in Japan that specializes in content, we see new video habits evolving all the time. As these new video habits continue to evolve amongst different audience demographics, platforms are working to find ways to become the next form of television for the new era.
And for the most part it’s a generational thing. While Millennials and Baby Boomers in the US are flocking to Netflix and Amazon Prime, Gen-Z’ers and others are investing the majority of their time on original YouTube and creator content.
Advertising agencies in Japan recognize this which is why YouTube is becoming a large part of the marketing conversation now. With that being said, we’re going to look at 3 ways YouTube is starting to emerge in Japan and how brands can start to leverage the platform.
Start by making it all about the kids
Did you know of the top 10 professional aspirations for youth in Japan, one of them is to become a YouTube vlogger?
Did you also know the platform with the most user penetration in Japan last year above all other platforms (including Line) was YouTube?
We’ve written about this before, but will do so over and over again to emphasize our point that if you’re not focusing on YouTube and social media in Japan now, you might lose out big later.
Walk through a Starbucks anywhere in Tokyo right now and what you’ll find is kinds on their phones and tablets watching vloggers, original content, and other forms of news from across the world on YouTube so that they can easily consume videos while also having lots of fun.
For this reason, any brand working to attract youth age 15–28 in Japan should shift their focus from Facebook and Instagram and put at least 80% of their efforts toward developing a platform around YouTube, they won’t regret it.
To do this right, we usually recommend developing a set of customer personas. This means outlining 5 different types of audience members you think are most likely to be watching YouTube while also interacting with your brand.
Outline the type of content they like, how they usually engage online, who are they, where they live, and as many other details as you can. Do this right and you’ll be able to better incorporate engagement factors later.
Learn how to solve their deepest problems
If you were to spend 8 hours browsing the most viewed YouTube channels you’d find the winners for virality are the ones who solve the most problems.
And there are a lot of reasons for this of course but for the most part it has to do with engagement factors. The brands who win the most online are the ones who learn how to solve the most problems.
If you haven’t noticed yet, we’re living in the era of the consumer where the brands who are the most successful are the ones who learn how to address key problem factors of their customer personas.
People are getting more value out of Google University than school- searching “how to do this” or “5 ways to do that” and they’re getting the most answers to these questions from YouTube.
To take the most advantage of this, we’ve seen the most success by going back to your 5 customer personas that you developed in the previous section and identify all of the things they want to learn, why would they want your product, and how is your product making their life better?
This usually works best by brainstorming with your team, spending time really getting into the mind of this consumer to identify how to create content that will really engage them.
Follow the unwritten content rules of YouTube
What does this mean? Maybe we should write another blog about this sometime, but in a sense we’re referring to what it means to develop content that is entertaining.
To create great content on YouTube you have to be authentic, real, yourself, and you have to have as much fun as possible. Talk to any professional actor and they’ll tell you when watching themselves play drama, it’s always tough. But they could re-watch themselves performing comedy forever. The same rules apply to the consumer.
When people watch content on YouTube, in a sense they’re identifying with the character and so they want something that is fun, entertaining, and worth sharing that they can relate to. So, it’s one thing to solve problems, but after you’ve passed that phase, the next step is to identify the best way to deliver the solutions.
To effectively do this, spend the next week watching as many Buzzfeed videos as you can, seriously, they are the master of video content. Watch what they do that is unique to attracting a Gen-Z audience and then think about how to use this information to create your content.
If you’re still wondering about how this translates into Japan, you can see our previous post on top YouTubers in Japan here.
Regardless of how you approach the three factors above, know that creating content is about telling your story over and over again about why you created the business you’re in, this is all consumers want to know in 2017.
That’s why to be successful today you have to have a passion for what you want to bring into the world tomorrow and find a way to share that with the rest of the world to ensure you exist in the future.
If you’re a business that wants to learn more about how to market their brand in Japan contact us at hello@definition.media and we’ll help you get started.
