Annotation and Video Response Use

Douglas MacKrell

Douglas MacKrell

The Internet's Foremost Sexpro
Hey folks,

In my never ending quest to maximize my videos and expand my reach, I thought I'd do some research on some of my favorite YouTubers from within my same niche. Today's focus: Laci Green.

For those who don't know her, she's the bright and bubbly host/creator of Sex+, a lifestyle and sex vlog/show that's not only entertaining - it's also informative. She's at the forefront of women's lifestyle - a niche that's really exploding now and includes heavyhitters like Jenna Marbles and Grace Helbig.

The video I post now is her most recent, and serves as a perfect example of what I need your opinion on. (This is not a spam post - she gets hundreds of thousands of views)


As you can see, she uses spotlight annotations throughout her whole video in the upper left and right corners that link to other episodes of hers. This is in addition to running her watermark subscribe button for the whole episode and using an outro slate with a "subscribe button", link to her previous video, and her three most pertinent social media links.

Also, if you click through to the actual page - you can see that she's connected two of her other videos as Video Responses to this video. (Something which I KNOW YouTube is doing away with - but it's a tactic I've heard a lot of other large YouTubers do)

I don't know how obnoxious these two tactics are - or if they actually do increase traction on your own episodes - but I'm asking you folks 2 questions:
  1. Do you use either of these tactics (unobtrusive spotlight annotations for the duration/video responding to your own video), and do you feel it helps?
  2. As a new viewer, do you feel distracted by these tactics - and if not, would you click and pause the video you're watching to open a new episode?
 
Annotations are a big deal. You don't annotate, you don't grow ANYWHERE near as quickly as you could, and you lose potential subscribers.

Video responses are being removed today if they havent already.
 
SwingPoynt said:
Annotations are a big deal. You don't annotate, you don't grow ANYWHERE near as quickly as you could, and you lose potential subscribers.

Video responses are being removed today if they havent already.
Click to expand...
I do annotate my videos - but mostly at the end, where I have an outro that has a link to my shows blog, a link to subscribe, and a link to my previous video.

My question is, should I run an additional unobtrusive Spotlight annotation for the duration of my video like Laci Green?
 
Definitely.

Take a look at your viewer retention. Does it look like people are watching 100% of your videos? Or even 90%? I gurantee you that it isn't even close to that.

Those people that aren't watching the entirety of your video are missing out on the annotations, making the annotations pointless.
 
Its a good point I never really realized. I see quite a few big time youtubers do that spotlight links. I think I'm gonna try it on all my videos, just one spotlight in the top corner just like the big timers and after a month, check out the analytics on the links and see if people click on them. The spotlights aren't intrusive or anything so I highly doubt the viewers will care. Can't hurt to see what happens.
 
As a viewer, what I have noticed is that an annotation distracts me when it suddenly appears. What I mean is, it's not the annotation itself that I find distracting, it's the fact it suddenly appears. A bit like when you're walking in the forest and you only notice a squirrel when it moves (lol wtf am i talking about?)

So I suppose that's a good thing when we're doing it during the outro to get subs, because we want to distract our viewers to get them to click, but not so good if it's during the video. I have seen a few channels with their watermarked logo top right of every video all the way from start to finish and when you hover over it, the subscribe button appears, like Laci Green's vid does that you linked. I think that's a good compromise. It's discreet, it's there from the start so doesn't distract the viewer and the curious ones will see they can subscribe by clicking it.

Watching that video, she clearly knows what she's doing on all levels - production quality, writing, marketing, everything, so that technique must be working for her. :up:
 
I try to limit my annotations. I have more in the end, and sometimes if I put a subscribe annotation at a very climatic or well made part of my video. I try not to put too many annotations because I know it turns off viewers and they might turn off annotations completely, making my existing annotations pointless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top