How to Connect With Your Audience on YouTube | EP 506

How to Connect With Your Audience on YouTube

1. Talk to the individual viewer, not all the followers (don’t say “hey guys”, etc)01:58
2. Look at the camera, not yourself or your screen03:42
3. Smile and be casual and comfortable04:41

Read the full episode transcript below:

00:27 David Blackmon: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of WP The Podcast brought to you by WP Gears. I’m David Blackmon.

00:34 Tim Strifler: And I’m Tim Strifler.

00:36 David Blackmon: Today, we’re going to talk about how to connect with your audience on YouTube. YouTube is the number two search engine in the world. Most people might think YouTube is a social platform; it’s not. It’s actually a search engine, and not only is it a search engine, it’s numero dos, it’s number two. So it’s very important. If you have the bandwidth to put content on YouTube for your company, it can greatly help you because of backlinks, and video is huge. So if you can do video promotions and stuff for your audience, it’s going to help your business and your brand really, really well.

01:16 David Blackmon: So to get started off, I want to talk about one thing that’s really important. And I see a lot of YouTubers do this, and I think it’s a mistake. And I’ve spoken with several pretty big YouTube vloggers that agree. It’s not my opinion. I learned this from them, because I recently started my YouTube channel and my natural inclination is, because so many different people are going to be watching it, I want to address it as an audience as opposed to an individual user. But guess what? When I watch YouTube, I’m watching YouTube by myself. Tim’s not in my living room with me, and all the rest of the people that may be watching the same video I’m watching.

01:58 David Blackmon: So, personalize it. Talk to the individual viewer, not all of the followers. So don’t say, “Hey, guys,” or, “Hey, everybody. I’m here today and blah blah blah.”

02:12 David Blackmon: Address the individual. Act like you’re talking to me, because that’s going to make the connection with the viewer. And that’s what’s most important, is that connection with the viewer to keep them watching your video, which … Watch time matters with YouTube algorithms and stuff. So just address the audience as an individual as opposed to a group.

02:37 Tim Strifler: Yeah, that’s a really good point. In marketing, there’s something called avatars. You come up with whoever your ideal customer is and you don’t just put down facts, but you actually paint a picture of what they look like. Not physically, but your ideal customer is a female, she’s 25, she likes this, she likes this, she does this, she has this type of career, blah blah blah. And then you tailor your marketing messaging as if you’re talking to that one customer. And so that exercise is really good for honing in on your proper marketing messaging. And I think that same concept applies with communication. As David mentioned, think of you’re talking to that ideal subscriber, that ideal viewer, and you’re talking to them; just that one person, not just a big group of people. You’re not public speaking in an auditorium, you’re honing in on that one person. So I think that’s a really good point that gets missed a lot, as David mentioned, by a lot of YouTubers.

03:42 Tim Strifler: The next thing on the list here on how to connect with your audience on YouTube, it’s a really simple one, but look at the camera. Don’t look at yourself and the monitor, or look at whatever you’re doing on your screen. Try to connect with the audience by looking them in the eye, which is looking at the lens of your camera. It can feel awkward at first if you’re not used to it, but once you get used to it, you’ll be able to speak as if you’re looking someone in the eye, even though you’re looking at a camera lens.

04:09 David Blackmon: Yeah. I think that’s a big differentiator for very successful YouTube vloggers, is they look at the camera. They’re zoned in, so you really feel like they’re communicating with you and stuff. I fail miserably at this, and I’m working on it, I’m practicing, because Tim’s right. It’s very uncomfortable to just look straight into the camera and stuff. It feels awkward and odd to me. Hopefully, I’m getting better and stuff. We’ll find out. I’m about to release vlog two on my vlog, and you can go check it out and let me know.

04:41 David Blackmon: Third thing on our list of how to connect with your audience on YouTube is: be genuine; smile, be casual, comfortable. If you’re uncomfortable being on camera, that’s okay. It’s going to take some time. You’re going to find your voice, you’re going to get more comfortable. I can tell you, when Tim and I started this podcast, and we weren’t even on camera … When I go back and I listen to episode one through probably 50, I definitely tell a major difference between episode 500. And what happened over time is I think Tim and I, we didn’t know what our voice was. And it’s very similar on YouTube. We didn’t know what our presenter person was going to be. It will evolve and you will find your voice. You hear people say that in blogging. It’s no different than with vlogging and YouTube and stuff. You’re going to get better the more that you do it. It’s just like working out at a gym. You’re working the muscles and stuff, and it’s going to work for you.

05:50 David Blackmon: So fear not. If it’s awkward and uncomfortable in the beginning, you’re going to get better. Most important thing is just smile, be comfortable, be casual if you can, and you’re going to connect better with your audience.

06:06 David Blackmon: Tomorrow we’ve got another great episode: Google Drive tricks that’ll make your life easier.

06:13 David Blackmon: Tim, until tomorrow. We’ll see you then.

06:16 Tim Strifler: Take care. Bye, bye.