Have you been seeing YouTube influencers all over the internet and wondered how to create a campaign with them yourself? YouTube has more than 2 billion monthly active users, with this number being those that log in to an account. Keep in mind that there’s a lot of viewers that are on YouTube as a guest, so this statistic will be even higher for total users. The platform has been around for a while, but since the influencer industry blew up, it has taken really well to this.

In fact, YouTube was one of the first to adopt influencer marketing, considering the descriptive and informative nature that video content allows for. Did you know that as many as 62% of businesses are using YouTube? So, if you’re interested in being one of these businesses, I’d recommend that you keep reading!

How can YouTube influencers help your brand?

Video content plays a huge role within the influencer marketing industry. It gives influencers the freedom to dive into details about a brand or product, being more descriptive and giving in-depth opinions and recommendations. Realistically, much more can be said within a video than a singular photo caption!  

Whether it’s YouTube or Instagram influencers that you are wanting to incorporate into your campaign, similar business goals can be met. We see a lot of common goals from brands commencing influencer campaigns, due to the incredible results that can be achieved through this strategy. Some of these aims are:

Brand awareness

Brand awareness is probably the goal that comes straight to mind when thinking of influencer marketing. The aim is to get your name out there and to get your brand noticed as much as possible.

The reason it’s so effective at increasing brand awareness is that you can work with many influencers at once. Rather than having a localized campaign, you can work with several influencers across various categories and demographics, reaching a whole range of new potential customers.

Content creation

One of the greatest reasons to start working with influencers would be the opportunity for not only increased content creation but also an improved content strategy, too. We’ll go over content ideas for working with YouTube influencers in just a moment.

Taking part in influencer marketing will allow your brand the chance to bring fresh ideas and perspectives from influencers. Often, influencers will know the type of content that will engage consumers the best. Another bonus is that you can have a campaign of influencers that are working on different types of content simultaneously.  

Driving traffic and sales

Of course, this aim is typically the end goal for most. You’ll be wanting to attract people to your website and to subsequently make purchases. By increasing brand awareness through influencers, you’re heading in the right direction.

However, by adding elements like influencer discount codes to your campaigns, it can further encourage traffic and sales. Consumers always look for a bargain, and they tend to believe that if they don’t catch the code when they see it, then they might miss out.

Brand collaboration of YouTube influencer, James Charles.

Typical YouTube influencer content

Youtube video content can go down a whole range of avenues. There are categories that suit every interest out there, with something for everyone on the platform. Depending on the product that you hope to have influencers promote, you might want to consider different types of content.

Tutorials

Tutorials or ‘how to’ videos are a really great way to show your product in action. Consumers love to see how something works before they buy, which can be challenging to see when online shopping. This is where influencers come in handy.

This type of content can work by asking influencers to show a demonstration of how they would use the product, whilst describing any important details that you want to be emphasized to the audience. It’s also a great way to answer any recurring questions and clarify any doubts about the product.

Tutorials and demonstrations are used by brands across all sorts of categories. You’ll find these types of videos from anything beauty-related, to DIY, gaming, or fitness! In fact, in 2020, 72% of people used YouTube for exercise and fitness videos, with home workout videos drastically increasing in search volume.

Unboxings

A type of video content that has really gained popularity recently is unboxings. One of the most admired qualities of influencers over celebrities is their authenticity. And, what better way to see authenticity than through a video? Micro influencers are particularly well-known for their authentic content.

Unboxings are when an influencer will record themselves opening a product for the first time, without it having previously been tampered with at all for the sake of the video. They will then give their first impressions, showing their immediate reactions when opening the package.

Generally, the YouTuber will then go on to demonstrate the product, or do a try-on haul, for example. This gives consumers the chance to see how the product would arrive when they purchase it themselves, and to hear honest opinions about it.

Reviews

Reviews can be one of the simplest ways to get consumers interested in your product. The influencer is straight-up disclosing the collaboration, potentially creating a full video dedicated to reviewing your brand or product.

Did you know that as many as 90% of people find new products and brands on YouTube? Consumers will often search directly for a product review when making a purchasing decision. They may want to see the product in use, a demonstration, and will want the influencer’s opinions on different features of the product.

For this type of content, it’s best that you are working with influencers that you know really love your brand. Then, they can be as spontaneous as they like, being even more authentic to their viewers.

Finding YouTube Influencers with Heepsy

If you’re ready to find influencers to work with on YouTube, then look no further. Heepsy can provide you with everything you need to find Youtubers for your next influencer campaign.

Just follow these simple steps:

  1. Log in to your Heepsy account.
  2. Select ‘YouTube’ from the network tabs.
  3. Choose from the available filters to narrow down your search, such as by location, or subscribers.
  4. Search for categories, such as Beauty, or more specific keywords, like skincare.
  5. Start analyzing profiles!
Search tool Heepsy searching for influencers in the Beauty category and who've used the keyword skincare.

Analyzing profiles with Heepsy is also pretty simple. However, take your time over this, as you want to make sure that you’re finding the perfect influencers for your campaign.

You should be analyzing:

  • number of videos
  • number of subscribers
  • number of views
  • average views per video
  • average number of videos per week
  • most viewed video

Heepsy will also be able to show you the influencer’s basic information like their name, biography, and contact information.

A Heepsy profile showing metrics for a beauty influencer.

Tips to keep in mind:

When working with YouTube influencers, or any influencers for that matter, there’s a few things that you should keep in mind.

Allow YouTubers to be creative

One of the worst things that you could do for your campaign is to fully control what is posted by the influencer. Instead, you should be steering them in the right direction, whilst allowing the influencers to be creative with their content.

Of course, you may want influencers to discuss a specific feature of your product, or to discuss a particular line or promotion that is being released. Make sure to discuss this with them and to lay out any clear guidelines.

However, you should allow influencers to come up with their own ideas, as they know their subscribers and viewers best. This way, the content typically becomes even more authentic too. If you’re looking to discover how to ace a video content strategy, then you may want to check out our post about 8 ways to create video content that stands out.

Consider views over subscribers

Although you will want to analyze a YouTuber’s subscriber numbers, remember that this isn’t the be-all and end-all. It’s like with Instagram influencers – we always reinforce that engagement is far more important than follower count.

Remember before how we mentioned that there are active user accounts on YouTube, but also users that are viewing content without being logged in? Well, by only thinking about subscriber numbers, you’re going to miss out on all of the other guest viewers. As well as this, you should also take into account that many subscribers are from a long time ago, often being inactive now.

Instead, watch out for the average views per video and the average interactions per video. This will show you how many people are actually watching the influencer’s videos and engaging with them, despite having a YouTube account or not.

Heepsy metrics showing average reactions per video and average comments per video.

Follow YouTube guidelines

When working with influencers on any platform, you can’t forget to read up on necessary guidelines. When searching for influencers to work with, you’ll want to make sure that they adhere to community guidelines, and that the content for your brand does so too.

As well as this, you’ll want to ensure that you are following the correct disclosure guidelines applicable to YouTube. Certain countries have stricter disclosure guidelines than others, so be aware of this. These may include adding text or hashtags within a caption that states the collaboration between the influencer and brand, for example.

Conclusion

Well, hopefully you are able to understand a bit better about the benefits of working with YouTube influencers. Video content really is a great strategy to include in your influencer campaigns, no matter the type of video you choose.

Remember, if you need to find YouTubers for your next campaign, then Heepsy is a great place to get started!