Orange Is the New Black, Drunk History, 7 Minutes in Heaven – there’s no doubt web shows are radically changing the way we laugh, engage, and even learn. Even YouTube has gotten in on the web show action.

YouTube has described a YouTube show as “an episodic or consistently themed web series consisting of a cast along with one or various topics, styles, and/or storylines.” Sounds a lot like a regular TV show, but did you realize these can also be great tools for personal branding?

Unfortunately, only select full YouTube partners have access to this. And if you’re reading this blog for social media marketing tips, there’s a good chance you’re not one of those partners. Never fear, there is a workaround for all you guerilla marketers!

Picky, Picky

Not everyone gets to be in this exclusive partner club and start a YouTube show. Don’t think you’re alone! We haven’t gotten our invite either. Maybe that’s because we haven’t produced our own shows either!

YouTube’s powers-that-be have to select them personally based on a number of factors, including “thematic consistency,” a regular cast, a cohesive style, a defined subject/topic/narrative, and the ability to be segmented into not just episodes, but distinct seasons as well. Shoot! That’s a lot of work!

What that means for you is you have to be able to demonstrate these things as well to get your show idea turned into an actual show. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make a show in the meantime. Heck, we’re thinking about making a social media marketing talk show. That is, of course, if we get enough comments saying “I’ll watch it!” Subscribing to our YouTube channel could be an incentive for an Academy performance too.

Prove Yourself

It’s sort of like getting a job: to get a job, you need experience; but to get experience, you need a job…

The only way to prove your as-yet-unrealized show can be a “YouTube Show” is to create one. So start out with a channel, and organize it like you would an actual web series.

How to Create That Web Series

 1: Following

First, it’s best to develop a following so when you post something people will actually watch it. Try and start out by posting general videos and gaining support through your social media channels.



 2: Get It Together

Once you’ve got at least a little promise there, get your idea together for a regular series. Remember, the name of the game is consistency. Think of similar shows you watch: there should be characters/people you expect to see, a regular theme, a predictable structure even. Maybe that just means you’re the host of your show and every episode follows you asking a similar series of questions to certain people, like a talk show.

3. Start the Channel

Start a specific channel on your YouTube account and start uploading!

Try to treat it like a web series, numbering and titling each episode and even referring to the channel series by name (i.e. what you would name your “show”).

4. Be Consistent

Post regularly. YouTube wants to see that you can keep up with yourself and regularly provide quality videos people will enjoy.

BONUS TIP!

You know what’s next… Promote your show on social media! Seriously! With online, social media, and digital marketing you must promote yourself across all channels.

Take a page out of Las Vegas’s top social media marketing expert (you can literally do that with my E-books, too!) – utilize every outlet you have to improve engagement and get people excited to watch you do your thing! What are you waiting for?

In fact, see our post on the social media outlets you might be missing out on and make sure you’re covering every base to build that viewership.

Be sure to subscribe to our blog to see who I really hope creates their own YouTube shows.