Where to market your videos (small new channel)??

evnanonymous

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I just ran the ad for 24 hours and it didn't result in much. I got 50 clicks but no subs. Mind you, the link was to my channel page which should have registered views of the video I had set as my channel trailer, but nothing of note. It was an experiment worth trying, but probably something I wouldn't do again anytime soon. I dont know, perhaps if you have a look at my channel and look at it from the point of view that you have an interest in marbles and hot wheels and tell me if you think it has any appeal? Any feedback would be great
remember, like i said in the previous post, running an ad over the course of several days could give surprising benefits

you might get better traffic certain days depending on the month and the responsibilities associated with that period

investing a lot of money in ads around december is probably not the best idea, but early january people will have more time and the demand for content will stabilize

are your target audience kids or parents? probaby not the best idea to run ads for any content that isnt related to meeting the needs that are unique to the challenges of getting your child ready for school

even on a weekly basis, its important to consider your timing when running an ad

it might be better to run an ad on a friday or saturday compared to a sunday - people are staying up late and are ready to invest time to unwind, and for tens of millions of people, that involves going on youtube to search out new content or re-visit what theyre already familiar with

did you run your ad worldwide or did you specify locations?

thats also an important factor to the success of your ad campaign

worst case, your ad might be showing to people who dont speak english (unless thats your target audience :p)

im assuming you went over and selected the topics that are relevant to your channel before you launched your ad campaign

-

you got 50 clicks, but how many impressions?

you say the link went to your channel page, have you confirmed an autoplayed video counts as a view?

personally, im not sure it does

from what ive read, it might

it might also depend on if someone actually clicks on the video to pause or mute it etc., so if they dont, even if it autoplays, it might not count as a view

im not 100 % sure of this though, and maybe you have confirmed that autplayed videos do count as views, but i think we should all be very careful to assume things unless we have a source

if not, it can be really despairing when things dont work out

an easy way to confirm this would be to look at the correlation between views and the number of impressions you got

that should give us an idea if an autoplayed video counts as a view or not

if you know how many channel views you had prior to the ad campaign, you could also go to your about section and check the overall channel views to get an even better idea if the views from the ad do in fact count the autoplayed "home video" as a view or not

-

i get your discouragement, but its important to step back and be critical of every step of the process before drawing any conclusions imo

did you truly launch your campaign in the most effective way possible?

what about your title? your 2 descriptions? did you make full use of those?

did you select topics related to your niche to make sure your ad was showing to people who even have an interest in the videos you put out?

did you target locations when launching the campaign? or was it shown worldwide?

you launched the campaign over a 24 hour window, could that have had a negative effect on the outcome? what would have happened if you spent 2 USD a day over a 15 day span? could that make a positive difference?

was your ad in-stream or in-search? which option did you go for and why?

if you can answer all of these questions convincingly to yourself with a resounding feeling of "yes, i ran this campaign as efficiently as i could", i agree that your content might not be compatible with this type of marketing, but think about it, how does that make any sense?

as long as there is a demand, there is an audience who is willing, and who want to watch your videos as long as theyre good

youtube and the entire system is basically one big advertising machine, with everyone competing against each other to promote themselves through SEO, social media, a community presence in forums, etc.

i mean, adwords is a microcosm of all those things combined, designed to give anyone willing to pay, a significant advantage

no man, i believe that as long as there is a demand for your content, which you mentioned already that you verified because of other channels in your niche, there are people interested in watching your stuff - no doubt about it

-

man its hard for me to talk about the appeal of your channel and content because im so far removed from your target audience haha

but ill try :)

first thing i wanna mention is that the thumbnails can be improved - on yt, its pretty much the first thing you look at, before the title even, whether its recommended or through search

i noticed that a lot of these marbles and hot wheels videos have bad thumbnails, even on the biggest channels, which is an easy way to make your videos stand out

with your banner and channel name, its clear your channel is about marbles, but this too can be improved

if you invest, you can make it look really clean and even include a mission statement if you have one - "Marbles (racing) against the world", or something

might be worth checking out the graphics forum here on yttalk, itll cost you about 10 usd for an avatar and a banner of really good quality if memory serves me

so the esthetic of your channel isnt the best, and is a weakness

seo-wise: when i search marble run, which seems to be the keyword youre targeting in your last video, the first result is a video with 19 million views

if you didnt post on yttalk and possibly other sites, how would anyone realistically find your videos?

optimizing seo is very important - most of us here are small channels. we got an uphill battle ahead of us, and we need every advantage available to us to get any kind of traction

your description is also part of the problem. wheres the seo-optimization?

im not sure about what tags youre using, but if i were you, id look into seriously optimizing the seo of each video you have up, as there are few - it might get you a couple of extra views, maybe even a subscriber or two, or worst case, itll be good experience in the long run to dwell on it, try things out and get better at it

video evaluation based on your last upload:

you got a short intro which is very good. too long and people wont have the patience and click off

the music is fitting, and you got some nice production values going, showing the marble lineup

im assuming its your son speaking here, which is a nice touch i think. from the looks of it, the other channels dont have a focus on kids. its more about the race itself and the entertainment value. this is where i see a content diverge. its kind of hard to make out what hes saying towards the end at the beginning of the video. if your son is going to do the voiceover, its important he enunciates everything clearly

its obvious youve put a lot of effort into these videos

the setup of the "track" in which the marbles compete, the quality of the video recording itself, the voiceover, the music, which i find fitting

your strongest point is by far are the videos themselves, but i think you can improve on the visual aspect of your channel as well as the seo for each video

when i compare the focus of your channel, meaning the types of video you post, both in terms of keyword focus and video content, its different from some of the most viewed marble/racing/hot wheels videos

take m&h racing for example, he has these tournaments and championships you can get involved in somehow, and he presents the videos in a matter-of-fact way, with a big emphasis on creating a connection with his viewerbase. they get more invested because they want to see if the marble they bet on will win

at least, thats my understanding

you have a different focus that involves your son actively. this is uncharted territory based on the videos ive seen.

on other channels that find a lot of success in your niche, the sole focus is on the entertainment value and the presentation

however, though your focus is uncharted territory, it doesnt mean that it cant work, but that the likelihood of success is undetermined and may be harder to achieve

-

this whole genre is completely new to me and i never even knew it existed, there might even be a channel that i havent seen with 100,000+ subscribers wherein kids are involved as much as your son is

im not sure how much my feedback can help given that im so unfamiliar with it, but ive already spent a lot of time on this haha

summary of my channel feedback:

- good videos, strong production values, but are you creating an environment as engaging when compared to the bigger channels, like m&h racing?

- seo is not optimized and youre competing with channels with multiple videos with millions of views and cemented rankings for many search terms

- your thumbnails and overall channel esthetic can be improved, and will net you a big advantage because a lot of competing channels in your niche have mediocre thumbnails
 
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markkaz

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I do not recommend paying for promotion for your channel. Apparently, you have only been doing it four weeks. It take time to grow an audience. Have you been commenting on other marble racing channels or are you only expecting an audience to come to you? I'm not talking about being spammy. I'm talking about authentic interaction.

On that note of authenticity, if viewers detect that you are copying other channels and not trying to "do YOUR thing", you will be seen as an imposter. Why would they watch you when they can watch "the real thing"?

I know my phrasing may come across rather harshly, I'm just trying to make a point. Nothing personal. I don't know enough about the space to say that you are copying somebody else. However, I'm not ignorant of the space. I have been subscribed to Jelle's (Marble Runs) channel for many years since we started YouTube at around the same time (2006). I have been subscribed to M&H Racing and 5MadMovieMakers for a few years as well.

I will be getting into that type of content as well but I don't have a timeline yet.
Best wishes,
Mark
 
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601Travels

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So far I've found that YouTube is the best way to find like-minded people. Comment on videos that are similar, respond to people who are commenting on other similar videos.. chances are they will click on you to see what you are all about. Best of luck!
 

Kruchiver

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remember, like i said in the previous post, running an ad over the course of several days could give surprising benefits

you might get better traffic certain days depending on the month and the responsibilities associated with that period

investing a lot of money in ads around december is probably not the best idea, but early january people will have more time and the demand for content will stabilize

are your target audience kids or parents? probaby not the best idea to run ads for any content that isnt related to meeting the needs that are unique to the challenges of getting your child ready for school

even on a weekly basis, its important to consider your timing when running an ad

it might be better to run an ad on a friday or saturday compared to a sunday - people are staying up late and are ready to invest time to unwind, and for tens of millions of people, that involves going on youtube to search out new content or re-visit what theyre already familiar with

did you run your ad worldwide or did you specify locations?

thats also an important factor to the success of your ad campaign

worst case, your ad might be showing to people who dont speak english (unless thats your target audience :p)

im assuming you went over and selected the topics that are relevant to your channel before you launched your ad campaign

-

you got 50 clicks, but how many impressions?

you say the link went to your channel page, have you confirmed an autoplayed video counts as a view?

personally, im not sure it does

from what ive read, it might

it might also depend on if someone actually clicks on the video to pause or mute it etc., so if they dont, even if it autoplays, it might not count as a view

im not 100 % sure of this though, and maybe you have confirmed that autplayed videos do count as views, but i think we should all be very careful to assume things unless we have a source

if not, it can be really despairing when things dont work out

an easy way to confirm this would be to look at the correlation between views and the number of impressions you got

that should give us an idea if an autoplayed video counts as a view or not

if you know how many channel views you had prior to the ad campaign, you could also go to your about section and check the overall channel views to get an even better idea if the views from the ad do in fact count the autoplayed "home video" as a view or not

-

i get your discouragement, but its important to step back and be critical of every step of the process before drawing any conclusions imo

did you truly launch your campaign in the most effective way possible?

what about your title? your 2 descriptions? did you make full use of those?

did you select topics related to your niche to make sure your ad was showing to people who even have an interest in the videos you put out?

did you target locations when launching the campaign? or was it shown worldwide?

you launched the campaign over a 24 hour window, could that have had a negative effect on the outcome? what would have happened if you spent 2 USD a day over a 15 day span? could that make a positive difference?

was your ad in-stream or in-search? which option did you go for and why?

if you can answer all of these questions convincingly to yourself with a resounding feeling of "yes, i ran this campaign as efficiently as i could", i agree that your content might not be compatible with this type of marketing, but think about it, how does that make any sense?

as long as there is a demand, there is an audience who is willing, and who want to watch your videos as long as theyre good

youtube and the entire system is basically one big advertising machine, with everyone competing against each other to promote themselves through SEO, social media, a community presence in forums, etc.

i mean, adwords is a microcosm of all those things combined, designed to give anyone willing to pay, a significant advantage

no man, i believe that as long as there is a demand for your content, which you mentioned already that you verified because of other channels in your niche, there are people interested in watching your stuff - no doubt about it

-

man its hard for me to talk about the appeal of your channel and content because im so far removed from your target audience haha

but ill try :)

first thing i wanna mention is that the thumbnails can be improved - on yt, its pretty much the first thing you look at, before the title even, whether its recommended or through search

i noticed that a lot of these marbles and hot wheels videos have bad thumbnails, even on the biggest channels, which is an easy way to make your videos stand out

with your banner and channel name, its clear your channel is about marbles, but this too can be improved

if you invest, you can make it look really clean and even include a mission statement if you have one - "Marbles (racing) against the world", or something

might be worth checking out the graphics forum here on yttalk, itll cost you about 10 usd for an avatar and a banner of really good quality if memory serves me

so the esthetic of your channel isnt the best, and is a weakness

seo-wise: when i search marble run, which seems to be the keyword youre targeting in your last video, the first result is a video with 19 million views

if you didnt post on yttalk and possibly other sites, how would anyone realistically find your videos?

optimizing seo is very important - most of us here are small channels. we got an uphill battle ahead of us, and we need every advantage available to us to get any kind of traction

your description is also part of the problem. wheres the seo-optimization?

im not sure about what tags youre using, but if i were you, id look into seriously optimizing the seo of each video you have up, as there are few - it might get you a couple of extra views, maybe even a subscriber or two, or worst case, itll be good experience in the long run to dwell on it, try things out and get better at it

video evaluation based on your last upload:

you got a short intro which is very good. too long and people wont have the patience and click off

the music is fitting, and you got some nice production values going, showing the marble lineup

im assuming its your son speaking here, which is a nice touch i think. from the looks of it, the other channels dont have a focus on kids. its more about the race itself and the entertainment value. this is where i see a content diverge. its kind of hard to make out what hes saying towards the end at the beginning of the video. if your son is going to do the voiceover, its important he enunciates everything clearly

its obvious youve put a lot of effort into these videos

the setup of the "track" in which the marbles compete, the quality of the video recording itself, the voiceover, the music, which i find fitting

your strongest point is by far are the videos themselves, but i think you can improve on the visual aspect of your channel as well as the seo for each video

when i compare the focus of your channel, meaning the types of video you post, both in terms of keyword focus and video content, its different from some of the most viewed marble/racing/hot wheels videos

take m&h racing for example, he has these tournaments and championships you can get involved in somehow, and he presents the videos in a matter-of-fact way, with a big emphasis on creating a connection with his viewerbase. they get more invested because they want to see if the marble they bet on will win

at least, thats my understanding

you have a different focus that involves your son actively. this is uncharted territory based on the videos ive seen.

on other channels that find a lot of success in your niche, the sole focus is on the entertainment value and the presentation

however, though your focus is uncharted territory, it doesnt mean that it cant work, but that the likelihood of success is undetermined and may be harder to achieve

-

this whole genre is completely new to me and i never even knew it existed, there might even be a channel that i havent seen with 100,000+ subscribers wherein kids are involved as much as your son is

im not sure how much my feedback can help given that im so unfamiliar with it, but ive already spent a lot of time on this haha

summary of my channel feedback:

- good videos, strong production values, but are you creating an environment as engaging when compared to the bigger channels, like m&h racing?

- seo is not optimized and youre competing with channels with multiple videos with millions of views and cemented rankings for many search terms

- your thumbnails and overall channel esthetic can be improved, and will net you a big advantage because a lot of competing channels in your niche have mediocre thumbnails
WOW. This is an amazing response. I can't believe you have gone to so much effort to provide some feedback and advice. Thank you very much.

In terms of the advertising on Google, it was mainly just an experiment to see what would happen. The main reason I even did it was because I saw another youtube video where somebody apparently got 1,000+ subs in less than a week with NO video content by simply promoting the new channel on various sites like reddit, facebook groups and sharee. He then set up a Google Ad with a budget of $40 a day which supposedly drive a whole heap of traffic to the channel in which people subscribed. I have no idea how legitimate it was, but for the sake of $50, I thought it was worth a try.

In terms of SEO, I do put a fair amount of thought into the tags I use, not only for the Superdash Marbles channel, but also each video. I have tubebuddy installed so I can see the ranking of the tags and the rating against competition and search volume. Obviously it will get refined over time and hopefully with more content the rankings of each video will improve against each search term. It must be working as I have noticed in the analytics that some views have come from searching for the tags that I have included.

From a production point of view, I am glad you noticed that the production of the video content is ok and better than some other videos. I have invested a lot of money on camera equipment over the last couple of years as I really enjoy landscape photography and time lapse photography. I do have another channel under my own name that was dedicated to that genre (search for Sam Kruijver if you are interested). As part of doing that I learned a lot about B-Roll and editing from watching people like the Peter Mckinnon's of the world. So some of that creative element and video style will come through in Superdash Marbles.

We dont have a studio set up like Jelle's Marbles or M&H Racing, but I am planning a few different ideas with my son, like doing a marble race on top of a Mountain or in some local rain forest areas.

But at the end of the day this has all come about because my son loves watching this on youtube and wanted to create a channel. I have all the gear from the channel I started (but have parked), so it seemed like a logical thing to do. A lot of the content of the videos will probably be similar to the larger channels, because that is what my son is exposed to and he wants to be like them. And I don't really want to stop any creative flair he might have with these videos because if I take over, it might take the fun out of it for him.

At the time of writing this his channel has now hit 34 subs and is over 500 views with 5 videos. I realise that they are not big numbers, but it is a start and probably ahead of where I thought we might be. But as time goes on I am sure that the channel will continue to grow.

To address the other comments, yes I am commenting on other people's videos and replying to other people who have also made a comment. This has resulted in a few new subscribers. I am also subscribing to other small marble channels and hitting the notification bell so that I can be one of the first people to comment when a new video is released. Admittedly it is hard work trying to fit that in with full time work etc, but I think it is worth it. It's actually quite good to be connecting with other creators.[DOUBLEPOST=1537964468,1537947321][/DOUBLEPOST]
I do not recommend paying for promotion for your channel. Apparently, you have only been doing it four weeks. It take time to grow an audience. Have you been commenting on other marble racing channels or are you only expecting an audience to come to you? I'm not talking about being spammy. I'm talking about authentic interaction.

On that note of authenticity, if viewers detect that you are copying other channels and not trying to "do YOUR thing", you will be seen as an imposter. Why would they watch you when they can watch "the real thing"?

I know my phrasing may come across rather harshly, I'm just trying to make a point. Nothing personal. I don't know enough about the space to say that you are copying somebody else. However, I'm not ignorant of the space. I have been subscribed to Jelle's (Marble Runs) channel for many years since we started YouTube at around the same time (2006). I have been subscribed to M&H Racing and 5MadMovieMakers for a few years as well.

I will be getting into that type of content as well but I don't have a timeline yet.
Best wishes,
Mark
Hey Mark,

Thanks for your feedback. Don't worry there was nothing harsh about your comments. You haven't said anything that I wasn't already thinking. Jelle and M&H were the reason we even set up a channel so it's hard to try and do something that is "similar but different". At the end of the day the videos are going to be about marbles racing against each other. Hopefully the way those races are presented (i.e. videography, audio quality and commentary style) will be enough to differentiate ourselves as we (hopefully) grow.

Thanks
 

the_drifting_dad

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I think you guys are doing great right now. I would be patient and continue to do what you do. One thing you may want to do is make more eye catching thumbnails. Instead of just showing marbles maybe have the background be the track that you built instead. Also with instagram daily content creation is key. I have found that when I first started youtube I got good growth from my instagram
 

Kruchiver

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I think you guys are doing great right now. I would be patient and continue to do what you do. One thing you may want to do is make more eye catching thumbnails. Instead of just showing marbles maybe have the background be the track that you built instead. Also with instagram daily content creation is key. I have found that when I first started youtube I got good growth from my instagram
Thanks. Yes I have started changing my thumbnails already with exactly what you have said and it seems to have generated more views since its release than any other to date.

I haven't posted to instagram a lot other than 2-3 times a week after a video is released. The problem is that there is not much interest (so far) for this type of content on IG. Even the 2 largest YTube channel in this genre don't have much of a following or get much traction with their IG pages. It doesn't mean I will stop it though. Even if it only results in 1 or 2 new subs, its 1 or 2 that I would have missed out on if I didn't use IG.
 

Courtney Candice

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Just try to upload once or twice a week and use good seo to help your videos show up in the search engine
 
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the_drifting_dad

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Thanks. Yes I have started changing my thumbnails already with exactly what you have said and it seems to have generated more views since its release than any other to date.

I haven't posted to instagram a lot other than 2-3 times a week after a video is released. The problem is that there is not much interest (so far) for this type of content on IG. Even the 2 largest YTube channel in this genre don't have much of a following or get much traction with their IG pages. It doesn't mean I will stop it though. Even if it only results in 1 or 2 new subs, its 1 or 2 that I would have missed out on if I didn't use IG.
Since there is a big void on IG, I would say double down and post content daily. Try to be the first one to gain a bunch of followers on there, they will migrate in time to your YT channel
 
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Kruchiver

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Since there is a big void on IG, I would say double down and post content daily. Try to be the first one to gain a bunch of followers on there, they will migrate in time to your YT channel
Trying my best...:thx:
 

Wyrd Wayfarer

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I'm in the same boat, I don't really know what else to suggest but just be mindful that Reddit is a horrible, horrible place for content creators of any stripe unless you're already well known within one of the subreddit communities.

Honestly, I don't get it with Reddit. The site's purpose is basically to share links, but as soon as you post something you've made (which is related to a subreddit) people get mad! The thing is, nobody seems to care that there are quite obviously syndicates (or bots) running on that site pushing certain content, yet as soon as someone new comes along they're treated like s**t.
 
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