• by Holly Pavlika , Columnist, August 9, 2017

YouTube is, without a doubt, a force to be reckoned with. In fact, Victor Anthony, a tech analyst from CNBC, recently said if YouTube were a stock, it would have a value of $75 billion. Did you know that YouTube reports that its audience is almost one-third of the entire Internet user base accounting for 1+ billion users? And the viewership increases by 60% year after year, according to Google. It’s no wonder that brands are looking to YouTube for sponsored content.

That said, sponsored content on YouTube takes finesse. One of the many mistakes marketers make with sponsored content is focusing on the product. Sponsored content works because it tells an authentic story that resonates with the audience.

Here are four tips for creating great sponsored YouTube content:

1. Give readers more useful content that is relevant to their lives.
The tremendous growth of sponsored content is a direct result of the impact that influencers can make via their engaged audiences and the craft they bring to stories. They give relevance to products by showcasing how the product fits in one’s life and by getting creative — inventing new ways to use products in unexpected ways. Their videos are created with social sharing in mind. Do people share product videos? Typically not.

2. Integrate products in a natural, not spammy, way.
Brands can take a page from YouTube influencers and how they create videos. They’ll  take morning routines and integrate product by talking about the product in a way that is natural, not a bulleted list of reasons to believe. For decades, brands have executed product placements in movies and TV. Similarly, sponsored content needs product integration to be authentic and genuine.

3. Keep your YouTube-sponsored video costs down by letting influencers create inspiring content.
Did you know influencer-sponsored and dedicated videos are generally more expensive? If you ask an influencer for a product video, they will charge often as much as two to three times more. The reason for the added expense is because dedicated videos are a greater risk for a channel as they could potentially alienate an audience and engagement can suffer (negative comments, unsubscribes, etc). There is often a greater amount of work involved with a dedicated video and usually there is an increase in brand messaging or additional guardrails that must be followed (for example: not showing other brands). Savvy influencers also know that the brand is profiting off their video and they price accordingly.

4. Keep your sponsored videos to one product, max.
Avoid creating commercials by including too many products, unless you are using a specific type of video such as haul videos and unboxing videos that are typical of beauty and fashion influencers.

Focusing on the product turns your YouTube video into a product video. There’s nothing wrong with creating product videos; they just have to be leveraged in the right way and are typically more useful to audiences on the brand’s website where shoppers crave information.