We are doing a deep dive breakdown of how to strategically manage your YouTube channel, or channels, in relation to what kind of content you are posting. Tiff is a master at this, having spent years growing clients’ channels to the big leagues. Since many creators, especially podcasters, are starting to create more than one channel, we wanted to lay out the why and how of doing that.
In this episode Tiff breaks down the pros and cons of having multiple YouTube videos versus keeping all your content on one channel.
“Algorithms are not meant to stop you from growing. Algorithms are meant to learn how people are reacting.”
Tiff Tyler
Topics covered:
- (0:35) The problem with mixing short and long videos on your YouTube channel
- (3:30) How to choose a video format to start your channel with
- (4:10) What to consider when turning on ads on your channel
- (5:09) The benefits of separating your YouTube channels
- (10:01) The value of checking your analytics weekly
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Links mentioned:
- Looking for pro support to build your podcast? Find out more ways to work with us!
- Tiff Tyler
- Christine Baird
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Many thanks to our production team
- Worthfull Media for audio editing
- Mosaico Productions for video effects
- Amela Subašić for artwork
Transcription of this episode:
(auto-generated, please forgive typos)
Christine (00:04):
Welcome to Think Like a Producer podcast. I’m your co-host Christine Baird.
Tiff (00:09):
And I’m your co-host Tiff Tyler. Being in the podcast industry, being in the content creation industry. This is what we learned, and this is how you can get out of your own way and get started.
Christine (00:20):
You name it. We’ve probably done it. This podcast is about bringing all the wisdom to you. Tune in weekly, to learn how to think like a producer.
Tiff (00:31):
Okay. I’m totally ready to do a total solo episode. Welcome to this episode of think like a producer. We finally get a Tiff-only episode. I’m just kidding. Christine’s here to support me. So today we’re going to talk about YouTube channels and I really just want to give everyone a brief overview of my recommendation on whether you should have a channel in the first place. And then if you should have multiple YouTube channels and why that is a big debate that people have once I bring up these particular details, but don’t think about necessarily before they start their YouTube channel. Now we’ve had a couple of times actually pretty much our entire show is us going over audio versus video. And I talked about YouTube before, but there just, hasn’t been a Tiff-only episode for me to just like dive right into the details here.
Tiff (01:21):
So I want to start off with the major thing that I tell everyone that I get in contact with when they asked me about YouTube, choose a length. I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s just a reason why YouTube is tracking how long people are watching your videos. They want to see how long you’re actually able to keep your audience’s attention. Um, and so one of the biggest stats that I look at when I’m trying to see, when, if someone brings me in as a producer, after they started a YouTube channel and they want me to evaluate their success or what they can be doing better the first day I’m looking at as their watch time. And then when I realized that the watch time might be super low, I go through their channel and realize that they have super long two hour interviews. And then you have super short three minute highlight clips.
Tiff (02:05):
And the average is terrible. Even if people are watching these longer videos and actually enjoy their content because they’re mixing in short and long videos, it’s very, very important that you have a good average. So if you like three to eight minute videos, make a YouTube channel only with three to eight minute videos. If you like 10, 15, maybe 20 minute long videos, keep your average length there. Do not make, seen your super long podcast with these shorter clips, because it will hurt your watch time. And doesn’t mean your YouTube won’t be successful. I have seen people who have been doing it for 5, 6, 7 years, and yes, hit a million subscribers on their YouTube channel because they were consistent and they were posting on a regular basis. And they obviously have a production team behind what they’re doing because of how consistent they’ve been. But if you’re just starting out, which we think maybe at least 50% of you listening are you’re on your own.
Tiff (03:00):
It’s good for you to just pick a length and grow there. This way your growth will be consistent. It will be a little bit faster than doing a little bit of everything. Um, and you’re able to talk about, we talked about in our last episode, which is be sustainable and consistent with your posting because you know, the length of your video, you know, the kinds of video that you’re making and you don’t have to have so many different ways that you’re editing because it’s a very different edit. Like we know if it’s three minute video versus a two hour video, it’s not the same whatsoever. Um, so LinkedIn is the most important thing. Watch time is the most important thing. And then of course, there’s more things to consider, but we’ve talked about this before audio Christine’s side of things. It’s very easy, or at least a lot easier to edit a hour long episode to post that on your iTunes or your Spotify, and maybe everywhere that you actually want people to listen to your podcasts and then you can kind of be done, right?
Tiff (03:55):
You can make some marketing material if you want, but for the most part, you’ve got your show video, very different, right? Music cutting between key, multiple cameras or multiple clips. Um, it can take a lot longer. So if you are starting out, my recommendation would be to start a little bit shorter, get to know your audience, get to know what people like, maybe do a highlight, reel, a highlights, you know, of just like some of the best things that came out of that episode and put that on YouTube channel. But if you’re like, no, I want all the way full length through. You can do that too. Like I said, just choose one, but understand audio editing, video editing, very different lengths of time. We talked about this, but I want to emphasize that. Um, also when it comes to length advertisement, I’m sure we’ve all just been loving, seeing six, seven ads in every YouTube clip.
Tiff (04:44):
Recently, as of this recording in 2021, uh, there are a lot of ads coming in and, uh, when you choose your length, you almost, you’re helping your audience get to know what your channel is, but you’re also helping them get used to where you’re putting ads. So if you’re putting ads just in the beginning and just in the end, they know what to expect. If you’re putting ads in the middle and that cliff hanger, cause you’re one of those people, uh, then they know that’s what to expect, but you’re giving them just some sort of consistency. Your channel has length consistency. It has ad consistency. And like I said, just the long versus short clips, what you’re going to do with that. Now when you, if you’re like, I like both, I like my full show and I think the world needs to see every moment.
Tiff (05:28):
And I like having clips and I think they do well. I like having those shorter clips in different things. You can have two YouTube channels and I highly recommend that you separate your two YouTube channels. Now the benefits of separate here to YouTube channels, one, it’s two separate sets of income. As you start to grow your channel, as you get more subscribers and different things, yes, you can monetize both channels and you can have things coming in on a separate basis. Like I said, you can also grow the channel faster if you’re thinking, oh, well maybe I’ll get more subscribers. I put all in one, you know, channel set up separating to tune in my experience, talking with other YouTube strategists. That’s not the best way to grow quickly. Another benefit is that you actually are most likely hitting a different kind of subscriber or different kind of viewer because there are some people who love to watch super long interviews.
Tiff (06:21):
And there’s some people who don’t and just want the highlight clip. So having your clips on separate channels, you gets, you play to the audience that likes whatever that channel is. You get to play to the people that like very long videos and want to watch the entire interview. And your other channel gets to play to the people who just want the clips, the highlights. And if you have it all on one channel, unfortunately, um, you might actually lose subscribers because some people are seeing these really long episodes and that’s not what they like. And then the other people are seeing the short clips and they’re like, where’s the full one at? So having the separate channels, you’re allowing your subscribers to see what they want to see. You’re actually really niching down your audience to, uh, in a really good way, because you’re going to see once you start doing the algorithm boosters, like having good thumbnails, having great titles, uh, putting more on your Instagram stories, uh, creating shorts and different things like that.
Tiff (07:13):
You’re going to see what people really are attracted to what they’re clicking on. And because you ha you are separating your YouTube channels, you’re separating at least your length you’re niching down, or really getting to know your audience a lot better. And let that sink in for a little bit, because this, once I get to this part with any client, then they’re really starting to listen to me because all they’re hearing is if I have two YouTube channels, then that’s twice the amount of work that’s twice. The amount of people that’s twice, the amount of production that could be true. Now, if you have a good producer, you’re going to have a very good workflow for how you’re going to be able to sustain two YouTube channels. If you’re using the same content, because that’s what I did. So, like I said, find good producer.
Tiff (07:55):
You’ll be able to find a good workflow, but yes, it will take more work. There’ll be twice as many thumbnails, twice as many descriptions and different things you need to add. But like I said, it’s just a better way of growing your YouTube channel and niching down and really finding your people. So when you start to put those ads for yourself, maybe you’re going to have digital products or certain things that you’re advertising to people. You know what they like, right? You’re going to most likely advertise your long course on your long length YouTube channel. And you’re probably going to advertise your mini course or your, you know, small PDFs and different things on your shorter clips because you know, who’s watching and how long their attention span is very, very simple, right? The more you niche down the better. So this is just something that I go over because like I said, everybody starts, one YouTube channel tries to grow.
Tiff (08:42):
They’ve been doing it for three years. They don’t know why it’s not growing. And this separation I’ve seen really helps people out a lot. So if you’re asking yourself one or two YouTube channels, I hope that this episode really supports you with just understanding the difference, having length, separation on your channels. Um, starting where you’re at. If you like the long go with the long, if you like the short, go with the short, but start with one and then add a second or a third. They can all still come to the same Gmail account. If you have a brand channel, you turn your channel into a branch channel, Google it, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Um, but they can all be in the same place. You can make a very sustainable system of how these two channels or three channels work together. Something I get.
Tiff (09:23):
And it’s going to be a bit of a bonus here, Christine nozzle, and just taking over here. Yeah. Give us the bonus. The spoon is, I like to talk about live videos as well. And it’s not something that I’ve done a lot with clients, as far as just, we’re just going to turn on the camera and do a teaching live or do a live streaming of gaming or different things like that. Um, I’ve noticed that for some people lives do well for some people lives. Actually they end up losing subscribers every time they go live. I don’t quite understand why people actually like unsubscribed. When they see someone go live, it’s just what people are doing, right? Algorithms are not meant to stop you from growing algorithms are meant to learn how people are reacting, how YouTube can get more people on there. So they’re making the algorithm always flow with our own behavior with people’s behavior.
Tiff (10:13):
That’s kind of the whole point. So I’m saying all that to say live doesn’t always mean great, right on Instagram lobby used to be, you go live and you’re getting subscribers. You’re getting new people. You’re getting new followers. You’re getting new people lives. We’re doing really well on Instagram for quite some time. Now reels are what’s being seen and everyone loves it. You have to kind of see what’s going on with your channel. It’s really important that if you decide that I’m going to go live for 30 minutes check and see after a week, did you gain subscribers? Did you lose subscribers? Did it moved the needle at all? Within these links of your channel, you can experiment with all the features that YouTube has and get really, really comfortable with your data. Like first you start off as friends and you start to date a little bit, then it’s just like, oh, I’m in such a wonderful romantic relationship with my numbers.
Tiff (11:03):
I know exactly what’s going on on a weekly, monthly basis. I know what’s been working, what’s been losing subscribers. I know what should videos are doing the best, which videos are just sinking down to the bottom. And then, you know, you’re really going to understand and kind of fall in love with algorithms, as opposed to what I think a lot of people are feeling right now, which is like, the algorithm is out to get me. These systems keep changing. I can’t keep up with it. You can, you just really need to learn your data because your data is going to tell you what your audience is doing. Um, so yeah, so if you want to go live, you can, I’m not saying live is wrong or anything. I’m just saying anything that you try, you want to keep up with your numbers. You want to know what’s going on and what I love about YouTube, this is not sponsored by YouTube, but obviously you’re watching this on YouTube or listening on iTunes, but watching on YouTube probably, um, you just, you, what I love about YouTube is that they’re giving articles every week.
Tiff (11:56):
They’re giving, you know, like these, um, wonderful. I was, I really liked just videos that teach you every what every button means, what everything is doing. Their whole goal is that they want you to use it. They want you to utilize the tool that’s that they have. So there’s always, you can always Google something. You can always YouTube, something. You can always literally look up. How do I do better on YouTube and get more tips and tricks and different things. So my last piece here, this is where we highly recommend you hire people and bring people in who love this stuff. I have met someone who was hired, who liked to edit videos and they were hired to do, you know, YouTube stats, but it was kind of like, eh, and then I met someone who absolutely loves YouTube, wants to watch every video about it, loves the numbers.
Tiff (12:39):
And you can see the difference in how the channel did on just how everything grew was someone who really loves what they do. What Christin and I do is we offer resources to work with us more because we understand what it’s like to have a team. We understand also be starting out, but overall, we love to see people grow. So if you want to work with us more, there are resources linked below in the YouTube description, also in our show notes. And you can just find out more recommendations on how to grow your business and for really use podcasting to grow your media company. But Christine, I kinda missed your voice here. Is there anything else you want to say to the people before we end this episode?
Christine (13:18):
No, I feel like I learned so much. Thank you for teaching us this lesson today. And absolutely. I think the thing I will say as encouragement is if this has been like a lot of new information for you just know that there are so many amazing resources, like we obviously coach hosts and producers about how to use YouTube. So you can definitely check out. We have an incubator, but there’s so many resources like Tiff said. And if you have questions that you want us to go deeper on any of these things, just send us a DM on Instagram @ think like a producer or send us an email, think like a producer @ gmail.com. Like we can go deeper on any of this. If you guys want to geek out with us on the podcast. So thank you for this beautiful lesson, Tiff. I’m excited for our next episode.
Christine (14:08):
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Think Like a Producer. This has been a Worthfull Media production. Massive thanks to our team who makes the show possible. Worthfull Media for audio editing, Jorge and Veronica from Mosaico Productions for video effects and Amela Subasic for our amazing artwork and graphics.
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