In 2008, after becoming fed up with people uploading their videos to YouTube, Monty Python ’embraced tech’ and started their own channel, uploading HQ versions of their most popular sketches. The move resulted in a 23,000% (230x) increase in DVD sales that year. — What’s that? I was trying to listen but couldn’t hear you over the sound of raking in all that cash.
Numbers like this are hard to imaging so I made an infographic of the difference:
The Official Monty Python YouTube channel
Always look on the bright side of life…
Why did this work?
They were able to use the incorrect labeling the skits in their video meta data, the crucial part of finding the videos… correctly add titles and descriptions, and upload better quality footage, AND link back to where to buy the DVDs. This gave them some positive control on viewers flow through youtube and it ended up being a big deal.
Project = Join in the conversation by posting higher quality videos, they had existing fans already looking for them, added dvd links and SEO descriptions
All those views add up.
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— More YouTube tips >
— YouTube tips and interview from Smart Phones Made Easy episode with Jeremy Vest (YouTube Employee)
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How did this work?
Black knight was mostly ‘armless…But not harmless.
How can you make your content work better?
Step 1: The stats
Begin with tracking where you are now. Install Google Analytics on your own website. If you don’t know your traffic you won’t be able to measure the performance of inbound traffic of your youtube content and the SEO work you are about to do. Make a report of where your website stats are today. What’s your year to year, or month to month, trajectory? Where do you want to go?
Step 2: Qualify your topic
What do you know about views, or shares, or google search volumes for a topic? Are you looking at a “million dollar” idea? If is there existing conversation you know about, like when Monty Python tallied the total view count of the top 200 fan-posted videos… they realized even a low percentage of people who watch these clicked over, 1-2% engagement was worth a lot. It’s rough math but it important to know if a lot people are already searching for something, then you should be a part of that conversation.
Step 3: have both something good to offer for free on another platform and something for sale somewhere
If you don’t have a fan-base yet you can just give, get something good (useful or entertaining) out, and you’ll get a following over time. If you do have a catalog of products to offer, link to it and make your free presentation (video in this case) better than the unofficial sources.
Once you have added your content on another platform, wherever that is, you can start looking in Google Analytics at referring sources and see how well that is working. You can roughly forecast traffic increases, social, newsletter opt in, or even sales increases by adding more more content that gets a hypothetical x #of views. Or in reverse, how many views you’ll need to get to a sales target.
Beyond: Update your catalog descriptions
Over time DVD went digital, they added iTunes and started social efforts…. now look at their descriptions. they are updated for the times and actually know some of the people watching those videos. By leveraging technology, not complicated DRM but embracing the platform, Monty Python now has (and I would wager any entertainer could have) some positive control over the conversation.
So wether you are a band with people posting videos or just someone with a a lot of media that needs reorganizing I highly recommend adding good titles and continuing the conversation (showing people options where they can go next).
Keep optimizing for your ‘channels’, marketing is just conversations.
If you have something of value, and you don’t put it out there, you are doing your audience a disservice by not letting them know how to find you.
If this helped you, please take a minute and post your favorite or first exposure to Monty Python skits in the comments.
Cite> Boing Boing, Fast Company
