The smart way to make branded content on YouTube
YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the internet with almost 5 billion videos being watched on the platform every day.
It’s one of the most important social media platforms for marketers, especially if you are looking to target millennials or generations z — this is where your customers are spending their time.
So the audience is there, but how can you most effectively and efficiently harness the platform for your marketing.
Work with established creators
Most of the pain points of producing branded content arise in the production of the video.
To make something of high quality and that will appeal to your target customers is no easy task.
But you might find there are creators on YouTube who have already been doing this for years.
The easiest way in this sense is to team up with these creators to produce tried and tested content your target customers will enjoy watching. Giving value to the customer is key to making branded videos a success.
Working with creators also has the advantage that they will take care of all the production and distribution of the content so you do not need to worry about the resources that will be involved in this element of making branded content.
Approach creators whose audience demographics most closely match your target customer — you can narrow it down by gender, age group and country they are watching in.
Look at their 10 previous videos, calculate the average views their videos gets and the average engagement rate, that is, the number of likes, comments and shares the content has collected divided by the views.
A higher engagement rate is likely to generate more clicks on your call to action.
When you have selected the creators you would like to work with, reach out to them asking what their rate will be to collaborate with them — then you can try and negotiate from there.
Ask for a general pitch of their content idea and send them a brief with essential points about your product that need to be included in the video. In general, it is more effective to allow the creators the freedom to create the video they believe will work best — you both have a common goal: to get as many views as possible.
Use trends to predict viral content
Trends are a good indicator of the type of content that will work well in the moment your video goes live.
One of the risks with branded video is ensuring you have the right creator making the right content for your target customer.
If you follow the guide above for selecting the creator you should work with one that will make the collaboration a success. They will probably have a content idea, however, pointing them in the direction of trending content will help gain views on your branded video, not just from the creator’s established audience but beyond it as it will be discovered through the YouTube searches as well — searches for the particular trend.
Going through a service with trend prediction algorithms, such as Sponsokit, can help ensure you are picking the right trends at a time when they are just about to explode on YouTube.
Do not mistake branded videos for advertisements
However you go about doing branded videos it is important to keep in mind they are not adverts.
Your brand message must be integrated into the content seamlessly and authentically for the most effective collaborations.
If you are just making an advert with your creator, you will loose views and interactions as your target customers will tune out, just like they do for traditional advertising.
People are on YouTube for entertainment and to learn new things, make sure your content meets this criteria.
For more of the latest trends and creators exploding social media, check out the Sponsokit website — updated daily!
