Grinding Phase of Growth | Marketing & Creating

[ShiftQuick]

So you might have guessed one of the reasons I’ve joined the forum is to better market my channel. My hope is to gain some knowledge from Motovlog.com members that will help support my growth goals. Also I’m excited to contribute to your goals as well.

At the end of the day, regardless of growth, motovlogging and content creation on YouTube is one of may passions – so if the channel never reaches subscriber expectations I’m still enjoying what I do. Needless to say, the idea of generating income from this would be ideal.

So with that said, here are some of the non-paid marketing attempt I’ve made to grow the ShiftQuick brand and get exposure to the channel.

Online Presence

• Post to personal Facebook
• Public Social Media: TikTok & Instagram
• Reddit: r/motovlogging
• Commenting on relevant YouTube videos

What I’ve Learned (not claiming this to be a guide book by any means)

• Personal Facebook
  • Exposure has a ceiling. What do I mean by that? Well your reach here has limitations based on how many friends you are connected with. An initial spike in growth happens when requesting that friends/family support your channel. After that you can expect to see flat or non-growth patters as you continue to share videos – possibly, a few additional friends trickle in to support as time goes on. Moral of the story: our friends/family don’t want to be spammed with our aspirations to become a brilliant motovlogger. They’ll support us, but many are not our target audience.
• Public Social Media - TikTok & Instagram
  • Intended for cross promotion. What does that mean? Simply put, we want people to see our content then leave these platforms and visit our YouTube channel. Our goals:
    • (1) attract and build an audience/followers with content unique to each social media network
    • (2) entice audience/followers to step away from these social networks and watch, like, and subscribe to our channel on YouTube
  • Challenges: I‘ve had videos go viral on TikTok. One currently has 1.5 million views and another 330k+. When they went viral, I never saw growth carry over to my YouTube channel. These audiences are simply different.
  • What I’ve learned: Social Media in this current stage of growth for my YouTube channel is more relevant to branding, a place to hopefully get my ShiftQuick “logo” thumbnail in front of people. Also I’m currently thinking of ways to call out (call to action) my desire for them to temporarily leave TikTok/Instagram and visit YouTube. This I could be doing better.
• Reddit
  • Tough to market but powerful when your content resonates with this audience. Reddit is one of the largest websites on the internet, and as long as you respect the ethos or how the community governs content sharing then you have large scale opportunity for exposure and growth.
  • /r/motovlogging is a rather small community in comparison to /r/motorcycles, but it is intended for people to promote their videos. On the other hand, /r/motorcycles is much larger and doesn’t like self promotion or motovlogging in general, but if you have content framed in a way that resonates with their community, if it hits, you’ll get a significant spike in subscribers.
• Comment on Other YouTube Videos
  • This takes quite a bit of time scouring YouTube for motorcycle related videos relevant to your channel and audience, but has a high success rate of attracting subscribers.
  • Most effective approach: filter by most recent videos with few comments, then make a genuine comment on the video. Don’t spam people, actually view the content and add something of value or call attention to something of interest, even provide a suggestion if you think it might help

What have you found to be successful when promoting your channel?

 

[Hippo-Drones]

You mentioned personal Facebook, and I kind of agree to a point on limited growth, but Facebook is an awesome tool to grow a YouTube channel with all the bike specific groups on there to tap into. I do try and keep my personal Facebook account to just personal stuff for me, my IRL friends and family. What I have done, is create a page for my Hippo-Drones stuff, you can join a lot of groups as a page in the same way you can your personal profile, but means your friends/family don't get spammed on your personal feed.
I personally think Facebook is my main way of drawing in viewers.
Networking is great, especially as a smaller channel, and is a great way to make new friends around the world too!

 

[ShiftQuick]

I’ll have to look into creating a page for ShiftQuick. I saw opportunity on Facebook with groups like you mentioned, but didn’t want to post with my personal account. Thanks for the insight!

 

[Hippo-Drones]

Some groups don't allow pages to join, but I've not found many that don't. Like Reddit, to make it work, you have to give more than just sharing videos. Due to me having several bikes, I only post relevant content in each group, and to save effort, I leave groups that don't like me sharing vids as I don't want to spam them, or annoy them.

 

[ShiftQuick]

Thanks again. Just created a page.

 

[R-Rated]

I use a website carried over from my business days, then there is Facebook both personal and Nom de plume, use of the community section of my channel, Twitter (some), and Instagram. I share relevant content for my bike to groups on Facebook that are for that bike.

I recently started experimenting with Shorts. If adds a smallish boost to sub count. I am looking forward to seeing how the monetization works out for the shorts in Jan.

I have tinkered with the idea placing an add in the local biker mags to see if that stirs some stuff up too.

Growth could be better. I sure miss the channel income prior to the Adpocolypse.

 

[Hippo-Drones]

Thanks again. Just created a page.

Stick your links to your channel and socials in this thread:

Share Your Social Channel Here

This is where you can share your social channels including YouTube channel. Format to post is this; copy and paste Facebook: https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=555591384462377 YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCP3fSh3NQ8Ugd45Og9s5ShQ Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/motovlog...

motovlog.com

 

[ShiftQuick]

I use a website carried over from my business days, then there is Facebook both personal and Nom de plume, use of the community section of my channel, Twitter (some), and Instagram. I share relevant content for my bike to groups on Facebook that are for that bike.

I recently started experimenting with Shorts. If adds a smallish boost to sub count. I am looking forward to seeing how the monetization works out for the shorts in Jan.

I have tinkered with the idea placing an add in the local biker mags to see if that stirs some stuff up too.

Growth could be better. I sure miss the channel income prior to the Adpocolypse.

I also noticed a spike in subs from experimenting with shorts. YouTube is pushing this section of their platform as they compete with Instagram and TikTok for that space.

If you decide to place an ad you’ll have to let us know how that worked, although I’m wondering if it would make more sense to place your ad directly on YouTube since this is where our audiences already are.

Then again, part of advertising is testing different markets to see what sticks.

And to your “prior to the Apocalypse” comment, had I remained active 5 years ago my channel would be at a much different place... but, I’m back to the grind.

 

[ShiftQuick]

Stick your links to your channel and socials in this thread:

Share Your Social Channel Here

This is where you can share your social channels including YouTube channel. Format to post is this; copy and paste Facebook: https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=555591384462377 YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCP3fSh3NQ8Ugd45Og9s5ShQ Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/motovlog...

motovlog.com

Added. Thank you!

 

[Drakhen99]

Thanks @ShiftQuick for the Reddit link - r/motovlogging. Other than an ill-fated attempt to post to r/motorcycles years ago, I have not dabbled in it. So, I posted a quick intro post with a link to my Motovlog Gear Setup playlist [probably the most interesting videos of mine to that crowd], we'll see if it helps.

Spamming groups is usually not allowed, but the occasional post doesn't hurt, I don't think. I see some people post every video to every group, and it's annoying IMO. I just want to get or stay on peoples' radar, but not be in their face about it.

-John

 

[Theodor]

Another thing to think about, with facebook, is business pages.
So get a job, at PR of major motorcycle company, work your way to gaining access to their facebook page and post your content there.
Bonus, you'll get to do a video on the topic: "How I got fired from..."

 

[ShiftQuick]

Thanks @ShiftQuick for the Reddit link - r/motovlogging. Other than an ill-fated attempt to post to r/motorcycles years ago, I have not dabbled in it. So, I posted a quick intro post with a link to my Motovlog Gear Setup playlist [probably the most interesting videos of mine to that crowd], we'll see if it helps.

Spamming groups is usually not allowed, but the occasional post doesn't hurt, I don't think. I see some people post every video to every group, and it's annoying IMO. I just want to get or stay on peoples' radar, but not be in their face about it.

-John

Glad to help! I've noticed when looking at many of the motovlog pages on FB, people tend to gravitate towards self promotion and spamming videos. Although some of the pages I found are intended mainly for that. Not a lot of other discussions/substance happening.

Good points about staying on peoples' radar without overdoing it.

I'm also currently in the process of getting better organized with my preproduction. Getting ready to write out a plan, come up with a list of video concepts, and try to better identify what my audience is looking for.

 

[ShiftQuick]

Another thing to think about, with facebook, is business pages.
So get a job, at PR of major motorcycle company, work your way to gaining access to their facebook page and post your content there.
Bonus, you'll get to do a video on the topic: "How I got fired from..."

Not so relevant, but man I would love to work for https://www.hoonigan.com That would be such a cool experience to play with the big boys. Give me the forum and I'll be their new motorcycle component.

 

[Moto Mengy]

I've gone the lazy route to this, whereas I simply post videos to YouTube and let the growth happen naturally.

I tried Facebook but it didn't seem to direct much traffic to my YT channel, plus I don't really use Facebook myself so I just stopped doing it. I did post pics to Instagram for awhile but I've ignored it for half a year now, ironically my channel seemed to grow better once I stopped using Instagram, lol. I don't do Tik Tok.

I do post comments on other motovlogging videos, I honestly think that's done more to grow my channel than anything else I've done. Other than making videos of course.

 

[Drakhen99]

I've gone the lazy route to this, whereas I simply post videos to YouTube and let the growth happen naturally.

I tried Facebook but it didn't seem to direct much traffic to my YT channel, plus I don't really use Facebook myself so I just stopped doing it. I did post pics to Instagram for awhile but I've ignored it for half a year now, ironically my channel seemed to grow better once I stopped using Instagram, lol. I don't do Tik Tok.

I do post comments on other motovlogging videos, I honestly think that's done more to grow my channel than anything else I've done. Other than making videos of course.

Yeah, you've got a great sub-niche you're in... I started doing that before I found your channel, but it turns out that I don't have a knack for it, so I stopped doing it. I'll just mention the road I'm on in case someone else likes it and they can ride it themselves.

I think having that niche you're in is what really helps grow your channel faster than a lot of others.

From @ShiftQuick " I'm also currently in the process of getting better organized with my preproduction. Getting ready to write out a plan, come up with a list of video concepts, and try to better identify what my audience is looking for."

That's good stuff - it'll make the whole process easier and faster. I do a little bit of that [I should do more] for my product reviews and tests and stuff, but for my everyday vlog, I've just gone straight-up unscripted, unplanned, take an idea and run with it for a ride - if I think of some special shot or angle or something, I'll do it mid-ride and see if it works out in editing.

It's not efficient or always practical, but after a LOT of practice, I usually get what I want and don't have to spend a ton of time editing to make it work

-John

 

[ShiftQuick]

Yeah, you've got a great sub-niche you're in... I started doing that before I found your channel, but it turns out that I don't have a knack for it, so I stopped doing it. I'll just mention the road I'm on in case someone else likes it and they can ride it themselves.

I think having that niche you're in is what really helps grow your channel faster than a lot of others.

From @ShiftQuick " I'm also currently in the process of getting better organized with my preproduction. Getting ready to write out a plan, come up with a list of video concepts, and try to better identify what my audience is looking for."

That's good stuff - it'll make the whole process easier and faster. I do a little bit of that [I should do more] for my product reviews and tests and stuff, but for my everyday vlog, I've just gone straight-up unscripted, unplanned, take an idea and run with it for a ride - if I think of some special shot or angle or something, I'll do it mid-ride and see if it works out in editing.

It's not efficient or always practical, but after a LOT of practice, I usually get what I want and don't have to spend a ton of time editing to make it work

-John

My motovlogs for the most part are unscripted as I enjoy doing that the most. Possibly due to some laziness too. I’ve found most of the growth on my channel came from more niche videos, i.e., topics related to the bike or car: install videos, how to, and reviews seem to generate the most amount of subscribers for me.

With that said I just finished a “Moto Santa” series and in the final video we handed out gifts and interviewed people. Had a lot of fun doing it, but subs were not plenty as a result.

Now that I’ve completed that series I’m going to put together some review videos of the new bike and try to figure out the logistics of comparing the Hypermotard to the Daytona. Not the same bike but I think it will be interesting to identify the differences.

 

[Drakhen99]

Those comparo vids are quite popular - I'm sure it'll do well for ya! They don't even need to be side-by-side [but it may help].

Make sure to pick some subjective or off-the-wall things to compare, where they are in completely different leagues. Adds to the humor [if you're into that] and brings out the trolls, thus ensuring a certain level of "engagement"

-John