It?s not just an online central hub of cat videos or funny baby videos! It?s a platform where the average Joe can create a community of hundreds of thousands of like-minded people. It?s a platform that fortune 500 companies have used to grow their businesses for free! So how should the church use YouTube as a platform to spread the Good News of Jesus and change the world, one view at a time?
YouTube is a search engine that is owned by the #1 largest search engine in the world, Google! Google and YouTube as a search engine have always been in the business of answering questions.
How do I make apple pie? How do I change out a headlight on a 2003 Honda Accord?
What does the bible say about fasting?
Churches have a perfect opportunity to answer the questions about Christianity and the scriptures that the world is asking. Many times people with these questions go to the internet to find answers before they even physically go to a church to talk with a pastor.
It?s our calling to meet people where they are, on the internet, and speak truth into their lives when they are asking life?s toughest questions!
Let?s take a look at 3 strategies to get your video in front of the world and grow your church for free using YouTube.
Choose a Target Audience and Know that Audience
You cannot talk to everyone at the same time. Speaking to youth is not the same as speaking to the senior members of your church, right? So this is something to keep in mind when you are creating your videos. You must know WHO you are making the video for.
This is essential to the next steps in the process because once you know who you want to be watching your videos, you can begin to ask yourself, what kinds of questions is this person asking?
Is your target audience someone who has gone to church their whole life? Is it someone who has avoided church their whole life? Are they middle aged folks with kids who feel like they don?t have time to spend time with God? Or are they young teenagers who are trying to be the light at school? Understanding who you want to make videos for is the essential first step.
Do keyword research to find out what they are asking on YouTube
Once we have an idea of who our target audience is we can do some research to find the exact questions they are searching for. The easiest way to find out exactly what people are asking is to use YouTube built in suggested search feature. Start typing in ?What does the Bible say about? and instantly we have suggestions for videos!
This suggestion tool tells us the exact phrases that are searched the most on YouTube. So we know these are popular questions on the platform. In this case, we could make a video about What the Bible says about weed, tattoos, divorce, etc.
This is where knowing our ideal audience comes in. What stage of life is your audience in and what question would they resonate most with? Now you know what to make a video about and what questions the world needs answered.
Check out this tutorial breaking down the keyword research process step by step.
Optimize Your Video for Search
Ok, so we created a video. It?s recorded, edited and ready to go. But how do we actually make sure people see it? Does any of it matter if it doesn?t get seen?
Allow me to let you in on a bit of insider information! It?s a trick that most people on YouTube, especially churches are not using on YouTube. When you find a phrase that people are searching for, aka a keyword, use the exact keyword people are searching in your title and description when uploading the video.
For example, if you decide to make a video about what the Bible says on divorce, don’t call the video ?Divorce – Is it worth it?? Instead, call it, ?What does the Bible Say About Divorce?? This way YouTube will know to line up your video with your audience’s search.
Make it count!
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start recording your churches first YouTube video!
Overwhelmed and don?t know where to start when it comes to actually producing the video? There are so many moving parts to consider; the video quality, the editing, the lighting, sound, the story you?re telling. Unless you went to film school you may be trying to figure it all out on your own to make the best videos for your church!
Check out SmartDeZign.church on YouTube to get free weekly video tips.
