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Most of us have probably observed that here on YouTube
it's a common practice to give your viewer a call to action.
What do you want your viewer to do
as a result of watching your video.
But there are many other people who
also think that that's kind of a little bit pushy,
and they're kind of a little bit turned off by that.
So should you make call to actions in your videos or not?
Hey, guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer.
And it's Thursday, which means it's time for some YouTube Q&A
from you guys.
Tommy Oliver sent me video of himself asking this question.
For me personally when I see calls to actions--
audible calls to actions-- in other videos,
it sounds a lot like a car salesman
and a sales pitch in a way.
And I become very disinterested.
They don't usually do much for me
in terms of making me want to do what they're saying-- click
a like button, faving, subscribing, et cetera.
I usually only do those things when I personally
feel that they're relevant.
But a lot of people have said to do them.
So I just started recently doing them in one of my new videos,
and I've actually gotten some comments giving me flak for it.
So obviously I'm not alone with people
thinking that audible calls to action
like that are kind of insulting almost.
Are there more people like me, and apparently
some of my subscribers, who think
that audible calls to action are kind
of intrusive and kind of work against you as a creator?
Great question, Tommy, and it's one
that I thought a little bit about as well.
And a couple things I think we need to consider.
One is that we are not the same as a creator
as the normal, typical viewer out there
who's watching our videos.
As creators, we think about this stuff all day.
We're watching probably a ton more videos than maybe
the average YouTube viewer out there is.
So we see all of these call to actions
coming through all the time.
And we know that we can comment.
We already know that we can Like.
We know what subscribing means.
But we always have to keep in mind that there are potentially
some viewers out there who aren't
as familiar with YouTube, and they actually have no idea.
And so for those people, it's important
that we give a call to action.
But what if most of your viewers are actually
current subscribers?
And they're already familiar with the platform,
and they know they can do that?
And so you're actually ticking off
maybe 90% of your audience in order to serve 10%.
Is that a good idea?
Obviously, not really.
But that comes to my second point.
And that is the way you pitch your call to action
is very important.
Whenever you pitch a call to action in one of your videos,
you have to do it in a way that offers
more value to the viewer, rather than just
trying to extract value.
Because that's how it comes across; right?
It's like, OK.
You watched my video.
Now subscribe to my channel and like me on Facebook and follow
me on Instagram and Twitter and circle me on Google+ and leave
a comment below.
Do all these things that benefit mostly me and not really you
at all.
Do it.
And that comes off like the way you're explaining
So pitch your call to action, but don't do it
in a way that makes the viewer feel like it's all about you.
For example, it's important that in most of the videos
we do that we give a call to action for viewers
to subscribe.
But when we do that, we don't just say,
hey, subscribe because my videos are awesome.
And you're going to want more of them.
Instead, you say, hey guys, I am really
try my best to help you guys.
I'm helping you grow your audiences here on YouTube.
I want you guys to spread your message here,
so subscribe so I can continue to help you.
Right?
That's very different than saying, hey guys,
subscribe to my channel because I'm awesome
and you should have more awesome videos like mine
in your subscription-- I don't know.
And the same goes for the comments.
Don't have people comment just to offer more value to you
and get them as a way to talk with you.
But instead get them to try to talk to each other down there.
Give them a question that you want them to discuss.
Or highlight questions from other people
in past videos, like I'm doing here,
or even comments that you thought,
like someone made a comment in the comments
of a previous video that was actually a really good point.
And you feel like it needs more attention.
Like in the comments of these videos,
there's often way more additional value
from what you guys are sharing beneath this video
than a lot of times what I'm even
offering in the actual content.
So I feel like it's very valuable and worth
it for me to point people to the comments.
Not necessarily to add more value to me,
but there's other people here who
are leaving really good stuff.
And you guys should go read what they have the say and interact.
And by facilitating that interaction,
I'm helping you guys extract more value from this content.
So again, it comes back to offering more value to you.
And number three, don't make a lot of call to actions,
just maybe pick one or two.
In mine for my non-subscribed viewers,
my call to action to them is to subscribe.
And then for my subscribed viewers,
my call to action for you guys is the comment.
So that brings us to the commenting section.
I love to hear from you guys, what
you guys think about all this.
Again not just for me, but I know a lot of you
guys have a lot of experience with the comments
and interaction and call to actions here on YouTube.
So I would love to hear from you guys
and learn from you as well as you teaching
the rest of the people who are watching this video what
your experience has been like.
So to answer your question, Tommy.
Yes, you should be making call to actions in your videos.
But keep them very brief and make them focus on the viewer,
not on you.
Because keeping in mind, that every single video you do
is potentially someone's very first exposure to you.
And you guys have probably all experienced
this where the videos you didn't really
think we're going to do well are the ones actually did end up
performing well.
And you left out the call to action
to subscribe in that video because you
didn't think anyone would watch it.
But now it's like your top video on your channel.
And you're like, dangit.
I wish I had made a call to action
for all these new viewers to subscribe in there.
Just to get in a little reminder.
Make that like top of mind so they're
done watching their video, they're like, oh yeah.
Subscribe.
Sure.
That's the easy thing because you've just
reminded them to do that.
So anyway, I know that all makes sense to you guys.
If you have a question that you think
I might be able to help answer for you guys
in the upcoming Thursday Q&A, there's
a link in the description text below this video where
you can submit your video to me.
And I would love to put it right here,
just like I did with Tommy's, and do
my best to answer your question.
And then also turn that question to the community
here at Video Creators for them to answer and give input
on for you and more.
And if this is your first time hanging out,
I'd love to have you subscribe.
Because every week, we do YouTube Q&A stuff, just
like this.
On Tuesdays, we take a look at online video news and talk
about the implications it has for us as creators.
And then on Wednesdays, we give you guys some YouTube tips,
ideas, suggestions, just a whole bunch of stuff
to help you guys spread messages here
on YouTube that will potentially change people's lives
and make this world a better place for all of us.
So thank you for letting me be a part of that with you.
Subscribe, and I will see you guys again next week.
Bye.