People Are Staying On YouTube Longer. Your Advantage?

People Are Staying On YouTube Longer. Your Advantage?

written by Houston Golden
December 25th, 2018
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Big news for marketers: people are now spending more time on YouTube watching longer videos.

This is, in short, a great thing.

Though it’s true that companies know longer videos rank better and thus put more effort into building them, and though it’s true that YouTube has algorithms which favor longer videos, the more important takeaway here has to do with users.

People want real, actually valuable content instead of useless clickbait.

That’s important knowledge for marketers to have. Here’s how you can use it your advantage.

 

Provide users the sort of content they expect to find.

Here’s the truth: YouTube is an educational platform.

We now know that most YouTube visitors use the site to find something specific — not necessarily to discover.

They go there for tutorials and lessons, analysis and reaction.

Most users don’t go to YouTube looking for content from creators or brands they’ve never heard of before.

To some that might seem like a bad thing, but it actually explains why people are spending longer amounts of time on the site. They don’t go looking for a cheap laugh — they go to learn. And they’ll stick around with a video for a longer time if it delivers content which educates.

The more educational your content is, the better.

For this reason, don’t be afraid to double down on making your videos informative and detailed.

That means including lots of step-by-step tutorials — content that’s actually, purposefully designed to provide users with value and help them learn.

Yes, this means investing more money and time into your content. But it’s worth it. Ditch the cheap flash for the more strategically useful.

Ultimately, that will help you cultivate a loyal audience.

Making longer educational content is also great for SEO purposes and YouTube loves it!

It’s important to include that just as blog posts of longer text rank higher on Google than pieces with less text, longer videos also outperform shorter videos.

The average length of a first page YouTube video, for example, is 14 minutes, 50 seconds.

That’s the case for a reason.

Also, consider this: YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, trailing only Google. That about tells you everything you need to know.

Tap into YouTube for the cheaper ads.

While not paramount, this is still an important factor for marketers to consider: running ads on YouTube is much cheaper than running them on Instagram or Facebook.

While YouTube advertisers pay per ad view of their ad, the average cost-per-view is between $0.10 to $0.30.

That makes YouTube a remarkably affordable vehicle for boosting your web presence.

All in all, video is going to just keep growing, so marketers need to get on board and learn to create videos which customers connect with emotionally.

Yes, advertising on YouTube is cheap. Yes, high-quality YouTube videos boast immense SEO value. But more importantly than that, video is simply a rapidly expanding medium. YouTube is the preferred home of literally billions of creators and fans across the world. In fact, creators (whom you might be able to work with) blow up more regularly on YouTube than they do on other platforms, like Instagram.

This is a trend that won’t fade any time soon. The potential to monetize via YouTube is unmatched. Marketers would be foolish to ignore it much longer.

The key for marketers in succeeding on YouTube, ultimately, is to pay attention to how users most enjoy utilizing the platform.

That starts with understanding why, exactly, people are spending more time on YouTube — and then giving them the sort of content they’re clamoring for.

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About the Author

The name's Houston Golden. I'm the Founder & CEO of BAMF — a company I've grown from $0 (yes, really) to well over $5M+ in revenue over a span of 5 years.

How did I do it? Well, it's quite simple, really. I've helped hundreds of business owners and executives get major traction (because when they win, we win), I tell all on this blog.

Growth hacking is a state of mind. Follow along as I explore and expose the unknown growth strategies and tactics that will change the way you think about marketing.
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