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Three Common Traits of Small Businesses Excelling at YouTube Channel Management

As short-form video content becomes the norm, many companies are jumping into YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

Over the past year, we've met many companies taking on this challenge using VideoStew. We want to share the success factors we've discovered by analyzing various corporate cases.

Simply put, a strategy that says 'do shorts because they're popular' isn't enough for good performance. On the contrary, companies that successfully operate video channels like YouTube often share the following three commonalities:

If you're not a consumer goods company, you're likely selling niche products to a specialized customer base. Companies that answer 'no' to the question 'Will the material from our product be entertaining to the general public?' do not focus on short-form videos. We will explain more about this later.

There's a clear goal setting whether it's to reach brand-unaware potential customers or to enhance relationships and trust with customers who already recognize the brand. Naturally, you might reach different customer stages and see results, but it's important to prioritize and focus on your target audience.

Successful companies invest substantial time and effort in content planning and production. They engage potential customers with creative expressions, even if the content could be mundane. Using editing tools like VideoStew saves time, allowing more effort to be put into enhancing content quality.

The consistent feedback from those in charge at companies using VideoStew is "productivity." While typical editing tools like Premiere would have taken a lot of time, VideoStew has enabled them to save that time and devote it to planning or quality work.

Before we dive into the operational methods of these companies, let's revisit the definition of content marketing. Content marketing can be defined as an activity that builds trust and relationships by providing valuable information to potential customers.

Previously, blogs, Facebook, and newsletters were the main formats, but now the focus has shifted to YouTube, where potential customers are congregated, and interest in audience gathering activities on video platforms has grown.

The potential customers we talk about exist in a wide spectrum, from those who are completely unaware of our brand to those who have passed the awareness stage.

I mentioned earlier that companies that decided to start using YouTube Shorts because they are trendy didn't achieve good results. This is because content marketing activities were carried out without properly understanding the compatibility between our company's products and Shorts.

Let's take an example. Typically, for B2C consumer goods brands, short-form content can be very powerful because the products we deal with have mass appeal.

Consumers of short-form content typically seek entertaining content that provides enjoyment, information, and emotion. Even looking at the data published by YouTube, most popular channels fall under the entertainment category.

Starting off with our product's mass appeal and consumer needs well-aligned, understanding that Shorts are also exposed to unsubscribed readers helps in targeting content to those who have no awareness of our brand at all in the marketing funnel.

The perfect alignment of product mass appeal, reader interest, and content format is what makes it all click.

Not every company's product has the popularity mentioned earlier. Especially for B2B companies, and that includes us too. AI video editing isn't exactly a consumer good that everyone clamors for.

However, this doesn't mean we should abandon a massive platform like YouTube. Companies targeting niche markets can focus on creating long-form content. After all, YouTube also serves as a top-tier search engine. For more on YouTube SEO, please refer to how the VideoStew team handles YouTube SEO.

Customers are searching on YouTube for the information they want, and these searches can help build relationships with them and move to the next stage. This is where long-form content comes into play.

So, how can we use the increasingly popular YouTube Shorts? Using Shorts as a gateway to funnel viewers into long-form content can be an effective strategy.

In Shorts videos, you can insert links to related long-form videos. Thus, placing a CTA at the end of a Shorts video encouraging viewers to check out the more detailed long-form video can be beneficial.

Even for existing subscribers, the main video doesn't always show up. YouTube's algorithm selects recommended videos based on individual interests and engagement levels.

But by using Shorts as a tool to drive traffic to long-form content, you can increase exposure to already engaged customers. This can lead to an influx of engaged customers, which in turn brings positive signals to our channel.

Ultimately, you can improve metrics across your channel and increase exposure opportunities for new potential customers with low brand awareness.

In summary, the step-by-step execution process of a strategy that organically links long-form and short-form content is as follows.

Video platforms, including YouTube, have now established themselves as a core channel for brand marketing. However, rather than jumping in hastily just because short-form content is trendy, it is essential to thoroughly analyze the characteristics of your products and your target audience first.

B2C consumer brands can effectively employ a shorts-focused strategy when three conditions are met: the popularity of the product, the interests of potential customers, and the attributes of short-form content. Conversely, companies targeting niche markets should secure search traffic with SEO-optimized long-form content, using shorts as a complementary tool.

For any type of company to succeed in operating a YouTube channel, it is crucial to have a content planner with expertise who consistently updates high-quality content. This task can be facilitated with the support of an efficient editing tool like VideoStew.

Properly utilizing YouTube means accumulating brand assets. If you continue to set channel operation goals from a long-term perspective and produce content optimized for your target audience, you can achieve meaningful results.