When you think of video content, there is no doubt that YouTube comes to mind.
In 2005 the first video was uploaded to YouTube and it has since become THE place for long-form video content. YouTube was also the first to monetize videos for creators. Most people who aren’t marketers even understand that Youtube pays. YouTube, I’m sure Youtube is the reason why the word “monetization” and all of its forms,are a part of our global vocabulary. They are the long-form content kings!
And now they’re coming for Tik Tok and Meta, with the invention of YouTube Shorts!
In case you don’t know what YouTube Shorts are, Shorts are YouTube’s version of TikTok’s TikToks and Meta’s Reels. They were introduced in July 2021, only three months shy of two years ago (REMEMBER THAT TIMELINE FOR LATER) to take on short form content from Meta and TikTok. But despite similarities to Meta’s and Tik Tok’s versions, YouTube Shorts stand out in ways that are SIGNIFICANTLY better -like rocket ships better- than Tik Tok and Meta’s.
Today, I’m giving you my top five reasons why you should be making YouTube Shorts immediately. Reasons 4 and 5 are really THE ONLY REASONS you really need. But the last one, is the biggest, best kept secret and one of the most overlooked points, so stick around for that one!
Reason #1: You were already making short form content, and YouTube is accepting that content!
DUH! Right?! (I said this to myself, too when I made my first upload). As we discussed before, YouTube is THE video powerhouse. YouTube is responsible for making millions of people revenue from content creation. People can name off YouTube creators like TV stars. The sense of community is so strong on YouTube that there are YouTube creators that are on tours and do meet and greets- that’s how big YouTube is! You are already making short form content that you’re posting for free already to Tik Tok and Instagram, and maybe Facebook, so why not upload the content to one more platform? They’re accepting it, why not?!
Reason #2 User Count: YouTube shorts has 1.5 billion active users Tik Tok has one billion
At first, it might sound like these numbers are close and not that far off. But, in reality, even though they may look only half a billion in difference, they are not close by a long shot! The reason why? Tik Tok has been around since 2016.This article is written in April 2023, seven years later. YouTube Shorts has been around since July 2021 and is already at 1.5 billion active users. Therefore, it has taken YouTube Shorts not even a whole two years to achieve what has taken Tik Tok almost seven! Now let this sink in: Youtube Shorts is at 1.5 billion active users right now and it’s in its infancy. But we think of TikTok as the place people blow up and go viral, get discovered, especially if you’re a music artist. Now think about YouTube having a half a billion more users than TikTok right now, in its infancy. If we apply the same trajectory of TikTok to Youtube, YouTube Shorts is only going to get bigger in the next year and the year after that. YouTube Shorts are on a rocket ship trajectory significantly higher than Tik Tok right now and you should take advantage right now!
Number 3: Analytics
When you, as a Creator, want to figure out what is happening with your content, you need data to achieve this. When you’re on Instagram, you have to rely on Insights but Insights just don’t provide much data. You must also change your account type to Professional and have 100 Followers. TikTok’s analytics are even more laughable in terms of the amount of data you get. YouTube has the most robust set of analytics for short form content by far!
Let’s do an experiment. Let’s use this as your first Shorts upload. Make a video. (But do not make a video on TikTok or Instagram, post it and then download it with the watermarks. If you do make one and download it, make sure it’s downloaded without the watermarks.) Take this one video and post it to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook if you’d like, and then post it to YouTube Shorts. Let it run for at least a day. After the time has passed, look at the analytics on each of them and note which one gives you the most set of analytics and let me know in the comments!
Google IS data and analytics. Google Analytics is the GOTO software for analytics. When building a website, Google Analytics is one of the first integrations we make in marketing. And with YouTube Shorts, you get robust analytics from Google wrapped inside of a social media network.
YouTube is giving Creators more and more analytics. As a matter of fact, a couple of days ago there was news from YouTube Creators about adding more analytics.
YouTube added more analytics to the Content Tab to give creators information on how many people watched our videos versus how many people swiped away from it. That is really, really valuable data to someone that is serious about growing their channel. Watch the video above or click here for more information on this data.
If you aren’t getting analytics on Instagram, go check out this blog posts I did on Shadowbans and Algorithms that includes information on how to find out your analytics. But you need to have a professional account on Meta to check your Insights. But do the comparison.
Now we’ve reached the two most important reasons why you should be making YouTube shorts immediately after this blog post.
Here’s Reason #4… Monetization
You are already making Instagram Reels and TikTok videos for free.
In January of 2023, YouTube announced that Shorts creators and content would be eligible for its YouTube Partners Program. Then in February it became official: YouTube is giving Shorts creators opportunity to monetize just like long-form content creators. Youtube understands that their platform is powered by creators. YouTube understands that the future world will be run by creators. If they pay the highest to creators, then we’re gonna come create content on YouTube. So right now, they are giving money to creators and finding more ways to pay.
Who isn’t paying creators anymore is Instagram. Instagram has cut out their creator’s pay program called Reels Pay as of March. So at the end of March 31st all of the Reels Play paychecks should be paid out. Meanwhile YouTube is still paying and they’re paying more. There is the opportunity to get paid from ads, also there is a pool for creators that pays money based on your percentage of views. In my opinion, it shouldn’t matter if it’s five dollars or it’s if it’s 50 million, you’re already making free content to give to Instagram who is now charging for verifications, why not put that content out on YouTube for the chance that you could be monetized? I mean unless you just don’t like money and that’s personal. I can’t argue with that one.
Last, but definitely not least, we’re moving on to number five! This one, in my opinion is the most important.
Reason #5: Engagement, Watch Time and Growth
50 million views over 65,000 creators- those are the current stats for YouTube Shorts.
I’m going to repeat: 50 million views over 65,000 creators is what his happening on YouTube Shorts right now and expect that this is going to grow because Google is not one to play games when they enter an arena. They are playing hardball with Meta and TikTok when it comes to discoverability and the “algorithm”-Shorts creators are experiencing reach and discoverability at rates not seen on TikTok and Meta’s platforms!
Right now, it is taking only months to achieve on YouTube what has previously taking years to achieve!
I started a channel a while ago but I just started posting content to that channel about a month ago. Normally, before Shorts, it would take a channel a long time to get the thousands of views and one-thousand subscribers you need to become monetized. But now in this day and age of Shorts, because of the engagement and growth, it has taken me only one month what it would have taken me about a year to do. I have thousands of views on my YouTube channel (20,000 by the time of this posting) only after one month and I am well on my way to getting monetized. There is an insane amount of opportunity at a low amount of competition right now. (Remember there are 65,000 subscribers to Shorts and between us, we’re getting 53 million views?)
33 million views and over 65,000 subscribers- that is what YouTube shorts is currently doing.
This insane amount of opportunity and low amount of competition is far exceeding even the litmus test that is TikTok! TikTok is always this bar to which standards are set and if you think about where Tik Tok was at the same stage as YouTube Shorts, YouTube is killing it with Shorts right now.
People watch one Short that blows up from your channel and then they will watch your other content. So if you have other content on YouTube, your Shorts watchers are going to your channel and consuming your other content, helping your other content blow up other content on your channel.
I am experiencing this on my own channel. When I post Shorts content and it is viewed, my other channel’s content increases, specially the content that is relevant to posted Shorts content. For instance, I have a Short about Meta that is nearing 13,000 views. During the first couple of days, as that video was rapidly increasing in views, my other long form content was getting viewed, especially the long form video that is relevant to that Meta.
Todd Beaupre, Product lead for YouTube homepage and Recommendations, aka, the person at YouTube that is in charge of our content getting discovered, spoke to YouTube star Mr. Beast. And in this talk, he said that they were working on getting long-form content recommended to Shorts viewers. He also Tweeted that that they were “working on a bridge from short form to long-form content”. The person that is in charge of YouTube discoverability is telling you they are going to take those Shorts viewers and put your long-form content in their eyes so that your channel can grow.
Subscriber counts from YouTube Shorts blow follower counts from Instagram YouTube and Twitter out of the water.
Because of analytics, I can see when I gain subscribers along with an indicator of what kind of content was posted that day (this is only available on the web version). On days when I post Shorts, I have a jump in subscribers. I am not the only one noticing this. There are countless videos out there from very reputable accounts to back this point up.
With all of the abovementioned reasons, you should be ready to post a Short right now. If you are holding back because YouTube is a different beast do not let this stop you. You need to time to figure out what works for you anyways. It took me three Shorts before I got one that broke 500 views (currently over 1,000). The next one became my highest viewed because I had been posting previously and viewing my analytics. I also understood a bit more about the way people consume Shorts from my time on YouTube Shorts and therefore, was able to take a piece of content that didn’t work so well on neither TikTok nor Instagram and have it catch fire on YouTube. It worked because I had posted Shorts before. This YouTube Shorts growth is not a gimmick. And please don’t use it as a gimmick because YouTube is very smart- they hire the smartest people in the world. So those that may be cheating now won’t be cheating forever. Even still, cheating is just not the way to make it.
Do not miss your opportunity while the gates are open everyday! YouTube is focusing on creators. All of the other platforms are going to start to play catch up. And especially with the prospect of TikTok maybe going away, you better believe that YouTube is preparing for this. Think about all the people that leave TikTok will migrate somewhere and best believe that YouTube is making a TikTok-like experience so that you can come and get a TikTok-like experience with their analytics and with their user interface, and all of the things Google have to offer like search engine optimization. YouTube is saying, “Come on over here, we got the money for you!”
This YouTube Shorts growth is not a gimmick. And please don’t use it as a gimmick
You can do this yourself. I’m not doing anythThis YouTube Shorts growth is not a gimmick. And please don’t use it as a gimmicking you can’t do yourself. The playing field is wide open for you! It is the Wild Wild West right now for short form content. YouTube is a business they see what Instagram, Meta is doing they see what TikTok is doing. They want your business. They want our followers. They our audiences to see advertisements so YouTube is providing an incentive to get you there. Take advantage of what they’re doing while they’re doing it. Don’t be the person that’s six years in trying to get into TikTok. The wave is still there thankfully with TikTok but it’s not as significant as it was had you been there four or five years ago, even six years ago, when it first started. Don’t miss your opportunity to get your brand seen, to get monetized before they change monetization standards. Start now, before they say now you need 10 000 subscribers and 10 million hours of watch time. Get on board now while Meta is still trying to figure out ways to charge you more, while Twitter’s still trying to figure out how to charge more. YouTube right now is seeming to act like the good cop.
That’s all. I’m gonna get off my soapbox. Go look at my YouTube channel, Tee Tee The Manager for evidence as to what I am saying. I’m not making this up hit me up.
Go make short form content and don’t get don’t get wrapped up into all the extras and the maybes and the whys, the “I need to be able to make a title that’s perfect”. Just put the content out there and figure out all the titles and keywords later because those can be edited.
I’ll see you on YouTube. Put your YouTube handles down in the comments and let me know where your YouTube channels are so I can subscribe to them and we can hopefully follow one another on these amazing journeys to becoming our best selves, to becoming the million and billionaires, that we want to be, the CEO,OOO,OOOs that we have our goals set out to be.
This is Tee Tee the Manager with Level Up Your Digital Marketing podcast. I’ll see you on the next blog post. Peace
Leave a Reply