Life Hacks, DIYs and Free Macbook Airs
Clickbait is very common amongst YouTubers who are desperately fighting for people’s attention. When it’s used correctly, the results will shock you. For example, Australian “life hack” and beauty vlogger Wengie has mastered this technique completely. Below is an example of how she uses clickbait to lure people onto her channel as it appeals to a wide range of people (more specifically, 11+ million people).
However, her subscriber count hasn’t been fully dependant on her clickbait-y titles and content that was most likely taken off of Pinterest, as she has come up with a better marketing tactic.
After hitting one million subscribers, she promised to giveaway 1 FREE MACBOOK AIR to a lucky subscriber. Her contest rules were fairly straightforward — be subscribed to both her main channel and her vlog channel. Bonus entries were also available for her viewers to maximize their chances of winning. With a prize at this scale, it’s no wonder her following grew at such a tremendous rate in a short amount of time. Yet, it did not stop there. After she hit 3 million subscribers, she hosted another giveaway but with 3 FREE MACBOOK AIRS this time! Since then, her subscriber count has doubled and she has successfully gained a loyal following. In addition, her vlog channel currently has 1 million subscribers. The key to her success was stretching the contest deadline as much as she could in order for the word to get out.
This marketing technique was very clever considering how simple the rules were, compared to other contest giveaways held on other people’s channels. They usually require the viewer to follow their multiple social media accounts, as they focus on increasing their following throughout various mediums. For me personally, this was one of the reasons I never entered any contests hosted through YouTube. The extra effort was a nuisance, considering how low my chances already were. Wengie was able to use this to her advantage and is currently reaping the benefits.
Although it was easy for her to acquire these subscribers, how she retains the follower count is another marketing technique. By creating a community amongst her viewers, they feel a sense of belonging, therefore decreasing the chances of them unsubscribing after the contest is closed. She constantly challenges her subscribers by asking them to reach a certain amount of likes on her videos. Another way she engages with her community is by asking them questions in hopes that they will comment their response, which will increase the activity on her video. The idea behind this constant engagement is for her content to be included in the trending section, which will then lead to more exposure. After dedicating her most recent videos to lifestyle hacks and DIYs, they have been consistently getting millions of views, meaning her technique is working.
Without the need to collaborate with other YouTubers, she has been able to climb the charts by her own means of contests and building a community. Before her life hack videos she posted beauty content, however they did not create as much of a spark. Wengie was clever enough to follow the trend on YouTube as life hack videos were slowly gaining popularity. As a result, she has completely shifted gears and is now facing a very different following, making it hard to only appeal to those interested in beauty videos. The content she posts now will either make or break her, but so far she is doing a decent job of pleasing a majority of her viewers.
