Online video is huge. Massive. Incomprehensibly big. Like, if you're trying to picture it in your head as a giant gorilla, it would be so big you couldn't see its head or where its arms ended no matter how much you strained your eyes. All you can see is probably its massive, giant, feet and some of its enormous hairy butt. It's no wonder that its hard to figure out how you fit into online video when its so huge. Your channel, your videos, your audience, your stories and ideas, they have value. They have a place somewhere in this world, but finding it is stupidly hard.
You're not alone. You see, for all the high paid experts, no one really knows what online video is, where it's going, or what it should be. Not the people who run YouTube, not the CEOs of the MCNs, not the TV networks or the cable companies or the advertisers or... anyone. The best we have is some educated guesses, which are great places to start, but the truth is that there's not a person in the world who accurately predicted in 2006, 2008, even 2010 where the video world would be today.
And there's no one today who can accurately predict where we'll be in 5 years.
So what does that mean for you? It means a few things. It means that we know enough to have some best practices, but that at this point there's really no right or wrong way to use video. Some stuff works better than others and people, especially in places like this, do give good advice, but there are exceptions to every rule.
It means that there's no specific plan to follow, and that there's no guaranteed journey to success. If you ask "how do I be successful?" and no one gives you a 35 point step by step plan, it's not because they don't want to tell you, it's because they don't exist, for anyone. Not YouTube, not the MCNs, not AOL, or Yahoo, or Hulu, or Time Warner, or *anyone*.
(It also means anyone that currently is offering a plan that "guarantees success" is selling something and should be avoided... think about it, why would they sell a perfect plan to make every video "go viral" to you when if they DID have that secret they could sell it to AOL or whoever for millions of dollars?)
Ok, so nobody knows the answers and everyone, even the big guys, are figuring this thing out as it goes along. So what can you do?
1. Be informed about the space. Knowledge and intelligence are the best weapons you can have, because they help you understand where you fit in the bigger picture. Being here is a great start. Also read sites like NMR, ReelSEO, mediapost, thevideoink, adweek, etc.
2. Know what the other person wants or needs from you. HUGE. Why does your audience come back to your channel and videos? What is it they get from them that makes them happy? On the business side, what are you doing that's valuable? Follow the money, always, everything else is smoke and handshakes.
Here's an ugly secret: MCNs are ad networks. They're not in the business of making YT stars, or even making videos, they're in the business of aggregating eyeballs and making... wait for it... a profit. You're *not* their clients, the advertisers are, and your videos/channel/subs are only as valuable as the ad revenue they generate. Which is fine, and something you can use to your advantage, but only if you know this and leverage it.
(Here's another ugly secret: YouTube is also just an ad network, just like its parent company Google.)
3. Have a conviction, a plan, a strategy, and goals. These are all different things.
Just remember that while your conviction should never change, plans, strategies, and goals often do (and should).
Hope this helps a little, but remember: no one has the answers, including me. The three points above will help you make your own decisions, your own judgments, and ultimately be in a position to do what's best for you. Because in the end, you're the only one who can.
You're not alone. You see, for all the high paid experts, no one really knows what online video is, where it's going, or what it should be. Not the people who run YouTube, not the CEOs of the MCNs, not the TV networks or the cable companies or the advertisers or... anyone. The best we have is some educated guesses, which are great places to start, but the truth is that there's not a person in the world who accurately predicted in 2006, 2008, even 2010 where the video world would be today.
And there's no one today who can accurately predict where we'll be in 5 years.
So what does that mean for you? It means a few things. It means that we know enough to have some best practices, but that at this point there's really no right or wrong way to use video. Some stuff works better than others and people, especially in places like this, do give good advice, but there are exceptions to every rule.
It means that there's no specific plan to follow, and that there's no guaranteed journey to success. If you ask "how do I be successful?" and no one gives you a 35 point step by step plan, it's not because they don't want to tell you, it's because they don't exist, for anyone. Not YouTube, not the MCNs, not AOL, or Yahoo, or Hulu, or Time Warner, or *anyone*.
(It also means anyone that currently is offering a plan that "guarantees success" is selling something and should be avoided... think about it, why would they sell a perfect plan to make every video "go viral" to you when if they DID have that secret they could sell it to AOL or whoever for millions of dollars?)
Ok, so nobody knows the answers and everyone, even the big guys, are figuring this thing out as it goes along. So what can you do?
1. Be informed about the space. Knowledge and intelligence are the best weapons you can have, because they help you understand where you fit in the bigger picture. Being here is a great start. Also read sites like NMR, ReelSEO, mediapost, thevideoink, adweek, etc.
2. Know what the other person wants or needs from you. HUGE. Why does your audience come back to your channel and videos? What is it they get from them that makes them happy? On the business side, what are you doing that's valuable? Follow the money, always, everything else is smoke and handshakes.
Here's an ugly secret: MCNs are ad networks. They're not in the business of making YT stars, or even making videos, they're in the business of aggregating eyeballs and making... wait for it... a profit. You're *not* their clients, the advertisers are, and your videos/channel/subs are only as valuable as the ad revenue they generate. Which is fine, and something you can use to your advantage, but only if you know this and leverage it.
(Here's another ugly secret: YouTube is also just an ad network, just like its parent company Google.)
3. Have a conviction, a plan, a strategy, and goals. These are all different things.
- Your conviction is the thing that you never lose sight of, you never give up on, and you never waver on, no matter what. It's what gets you out of bed and back to work even when you're tired, sick, frustrated, or just want to give up. ("I want to earn my living on YouTube.")
- Your plan is the overall journey you want to take. A plan should be something you can say in one sentence or a few words: "I want to walk to Rome." or "I want to make popular gaming videos." or "I want to start a sci-fi channel."
- Your strategy is the way you specifically execute the plan. It's all the steps you take to make the journey. It includes all the decisions you make about video content and production, channel branding, social media & marketing, monetization, whether or not to join an MCN, all of that: "I'm going to do weekly FPS tips and tricks for Call of Duty to help make people better players." or "We're going to mix shows we make with shows others make to be able to cross promote on a single channel and increase our reach, genre appeal, and library revenue potential."
- Your goals are what you use to measure the effectiveness of your strategy in executing your plan and achieving your conviction. Missing (or exceeding) a goal is *not* a bad thing, it helps you know if your strategy is working or if it needs to be tweaked, and where. I love that a lot of users have goals in their sigs, it's amazing. Goals help you break big things down into smaller pieces. "I want to get 500 subs by December." or "I want to do a collab with a channel that reaches a different but similar audience to expand my reach." or "I want to grow to have 20 great sci-fi shows on my channel in the next two years." or "I want to learn more about how video advertising works." or "I want to ask for feedback on my channel until I get 100 answers I can analyze." or "I want to hire 42 gerbils to run my camera by placing little pieces of corn on the buttons (ok, now I'm just seeing if you're still paying attention)."
Just remember that while your conviction should never change, plans, strategies, and goals often do (and should).
Hope this helps a little, but remember: no one has the answers, including me. The three points above will help you make your own decisions, your own judgments, and ultimately be in a position to do what's best for you. Because in the end, you're the only one who can.
