SEJ ⋅ YouTube
How To Run A Live YouTube Show To
An International Audience And Gain
Traction
YouTube is a great platform to connect with many worldwide all in one place.
How can you build a successful show and gain traction? Find out on SEJ.
Jo Juliana Turnbull 46 694
SHARES READS
September 2, 2024 ⋅ 10 min read
YouTube has more than 2.5 billion users, and it is the second most popular social
media network worldwide. Yet, only some marketers are making use of this
platform.
A recent Social Media Examiner industry report found that only 51% of marketers
use YouTube, but 59% plan to increase their use of the platform.
Even though not all marketers use YouTube, they do recognize video is an
essential part of marketing and learning. According to Wyzowl, 91% of businesses
use video as a key marketing tool. Data suggest that online videos have an
audience reach of 92.3% worldwide.
The image below illustrates the percentage of global internet users who viewed
online videos for learning purposes during the last week of the fourth quarter of
2023, categorized by region. Morocco leads the way with 63.3%, followed by
Turkey and South Africa.
Image from Statista, August 2024
How To Build A Following For A Show
There is no secret formula to being successful when running a live YouTube
show, but I want to show what has worked well for us.
I ran three different shows, Turn Digi, Tea Time SEO, and, most recently, SEO
Office Hours with Mike Chidzey from Good Signals. The third show has had the
most success, and these are some of our learnings:
Engage With Your Audience
SEO Office Hours has two special guests who answer questions along with the
host, Mike, and the co-host, me.
During SEO Office Hours, we have a live chat, and we encourage our live
audience to ask questions in the chat to our special guests.
Sometimes, we are not as quick to reply as other audience members who answer
the questions. This works well as it encourages audience members to get
involved with the discussion.
Bring In Guests From All Backgrounds
We have freelancers and entrepreneurs take part in the show. We also have those
from agencies and brands.
We have guests calling in from all over the world and, in one episode, including
Brazil (so it was quite early for them) to New Zealand, the other time of the day.
The show is on at 9:30 a.m. BST, so that does allow others from the West to join.
However, if you want to run an event and have it open for the US to join, then
you need to choose a time in the afternoon (if broadcasting from Europe).
Be Part Of Communities
There are many communities in digital marketing, including Women in Tech
SEO, The Digital Marketing Union, and The Freelance Coalition for Developing
Countries, to name a few.
Being part of communities in your sector helps you to get to know others and in
turn, invite them to take part in your show.
Answer Questions Our Community Wants
Answered
SEO can be overwhelming, and there can sometimes be many solutions to the
same problem. Therefore, with SEO Office Hours, we ask people to submit their
questions and then join us live to listen to the answers.
We also have a lot of discussion in the chat where other questions are asked. We
tend to get through six questions a week and we include them in the transcript
of the videos.
Consistency Is Key
When you want to make a difference in anything you do, being consistent is key.
Mike was adamant from the beginning that we do the show every Friday at the
same time until at least the end of the year.
That would have been six weeks. By the end of those 6 weeks, we had 16k views
and 48 subscribers.
Engagement
Sprout Social recommends that to increase engagement, you need more
comments or likes on your video.
However, SEO Office Hours is a live show run via Zoom, so they cannot like or
comment when we are recording.
We do not stream directly to YouTube, we upload the video later so audience
members will have to come back and watch it and then like/comment.
We have not seen an increase in the number of likes per video, but we have seen
more people join us live. In the beginning, we had 4 attendees, and in our most
recent episodes, we have had up to 40.
We also have many questions asked from our audience members and guests
answer the questions submitted in the chat sometimes before Mike or I are able
to ask our special guests.
Have A Dedicated Landing Page
If you are running a live YouTube show, make sure you have a dedicated landing
page with all information on how to get involved. Include the sign up on the
home page as well.
For SEO Office Hours, we have all the videos of the previous episodes so guests
can watch them, they can also read how to submit a question and sign up and
where attendees sign up to calendar invites which grows each week – this is
something that people naturally share.
Different Ways To Stream To YouTube
Dacast compares some of the best live streaming platforms in their post
here. The platform you decide to use is up to you and depends on the objectives
of the show.
For example, with SEO Office Hours, Mike did not want it to be too polished or
rehearsed – because it isn’t. He wanted it to feel like a regular video call, like the
original hangouts that John Mueller used to organize.
He likes the fact he can see everybody, including attendees, if they decide to
share their video. Sometimes, attendees will jump on and give context to a
question or help with answering a question.
When running a live YouTube show, there are two main options I have used in
the past:
Zoom
This is a live video platform where anyone who has registered for the event can
attend.
This means you can edit the video before you upload it to YouTube. At SEO
Office Hours, we amend the video by taking out the “ums” and “you knows.”
We then upload it to YouTube so everyone can see it.
Streamyard
There are two options: either to run this live and have it streamed directly to
your YouTube channel or simply run it live but have it recorded. Then, you can
upload it to YouTube at a later date.
There are some online conferences and webinars, and there feels like a real
distance between the speakers and attendees, and you are there to listen to what
the presenters want to talk about.
Therefore, we went with Zoom, but I recommend using the platform that suits
your company and the objectives of your show the most.
Encourage Live Q And A
With SEO Office Hours it’s really the people who submit questions and watch live
that make the show.
We are watching the live chat, and the audience’s expressions (sometimes
puzzled looks, really engaged, usually lots of nodding) dictate whether we
explore a topic further/ something might need clarifying, or move to the next
question.
The audience is a mixture of stressed marketing managers, frustrated business
owners, and SEO pros who work alone. SEO Office Hours is their chance to see
what’s working for others, to bring up the problems they are having, or just to
chat with others doing what they do.
For us, running the show, it’s important that the audience feels heard and seen –
and that if they have a question, it’s likely we will chat about it. We think Zoom or
Google Meet naturally assists with this format.
During the live hour, it’s very rare for attendees to drop out, and that may be
because they feel just as much a part of SEO Office Hours as the special guests
answering the questions.
How To Manage Those “Awkward” Live
Questions/Answers From The Audience (And
Sometimes From Guests)
If there are these awkward live questions, you can do one of three things:
Wait for the audience to answer the question.
Ask the person to clarify what they mean.
Answer the question (the host and co-host with special guests).
Sometimes, spam questions are asked, and then if not answered, they are asked
again.
Most of the time, in 37 episodes (up until August 11th), we have not had too many
awkward live questions.
Where To Find Speakers Even If You Have Not Met
Or Been In Touch With Them Before
This was the third time I had run a show and so I contacted some people who
had taken part in previous shows. Being part of communities is key to connecting
with others and promoting them in the show.
There is never an excuse to have the same type of people speaking at your
YouTube show.
If you do not find people outside of your circle, that is fine, but build connections
with others or ask former colleagues or friends if they know others who want to
be part of your show.
How To Promote
Do not be shy about promoting your show.
Since Good Signals started SEO Office Hours on November 3rd, their LinkedIn
followers increased by 560, and their subscribers increased by 251 by the end of
July, our 35th episode.
Good Signals has a dedicated landing page with all information (how to submit a
question and sign up) where attendees sign up for calendar invites, which grows
each week – this is something that people naturally share.
Initially, Mike used to include SEO office hours in the weekly newsletter, and he
also used to include it in his email signature.
Along with relevant descriptions, we also tag individual videos on YouTube by
relevant topics so they appear for searches and alongside popular relevant
videos.
Plus, we run a small Google Ads campaign on YouTube, which means that when
people see similar videos, they are shown SEO Office Hours.
We have been lucky to be featured in the SEOFOMO newsletter; thank you,
Aleyda Solis.
We were invited to come on the Search off the Record podcast, where Google
occasionally interviews guests on its show. We sometimes have Lizzie and John
from Google come on SEO Office Hours, too.
Use The Platform That Suits Your Brand The Most
If guests have YouTube channels, they sometimes share directly on the platform
with their subscribers. We tend to promote on Linkedin and sometimes Twitter.
We do not share the show on Instagram.
We played with the design for the thumbnails for the videos over the first few
months.
Without overdesigning, we wanted to create something that people in our
networks would recognize – and it seems to have worked. When we promote the
shows, the thumbnails stand out.
Be Open To Feedback
We always welcome feedback, and when we receive it from attendees, we make
those changes. This means SEO Office Hours continues to improve, and
therefore, more people enjoy it.
As a result, these people share it with their network, and we have more exposure.
Don’t Give Up
If, at first, you do not succeed, try a different approach.
This is the third YouTube show I have been part of. We have generated the
highest number of views on videos than I have in the past.
However, the experience I gained with the previous shows has helped me with
SEO Office Hours.
Most of us do not learn how to run a live YouTube show at university/college or
have formal training; we learn about it on the job.
Therefore, learn from others who have been successful, and if your technique is
not working, do not give up; try something different.
More resources:
How To Build A Global Community By Running Industry Events
20 Confirmed Facts About YouTube’s Algorithm
Social Media Marketing: A Complete Strategy Guide
Featured Image from Mike Chidzey
YouTube
