So youΓÇÖve got a channel with enough content, your content, whatever it is, pulls some views, thatΓÇÖs great, but you want more, suddenly you spot this ΓÇ£boostΓÇ¥ or ΓÇ£promoteΓÇ¥ button, bouncing right at your eyes, temptation starts to cloud your thought process, and you heavily consider it. But do you do it?
Let me explain from my own little test I did a while back. In my channelΓÇÖs early days, I use to post my videos on some Facebook groups, and on my own page, Facebook was kind enough to offer me a free voucher to boost a post, so I did, primarily to test it and see what sort of response came back, and what came back was nothing more than a handful of views but no subscribers, despite 5k ish people seeing my post (not that I cared anyways as it was for my own confirmation). It seems YouTube has something similar, but IΓÇÖve never used it, nor will I ever do such a thing. So is it worth using these tools? Well, theyΓÇÖve been put there for us to use, weΓÇÖre well within our rights to use them, but I can tell you now theyΓÇÖre not very effective, here are a few pros and cons of such tools:
1) Exposure
Pro: using boosts does give your content and channel more exposure, so more people will know your channel is there, and those that went in to snoop around will know what youΓÇÖre about.
Con: you donΓÇÖt really have that much control over where your posts or content is being exposed, you do have the ability to set up your demographics and what not, but once you hit the GO button, itΓÇÖs out of your hands.
2) Costs
Pro: boosting stuff costs a fee of course, but youΓÇÖve got plenty of flexibility to choose your fee thatΓÇÖs appropriate for you, and is (or seems), good value.
Con: no matter what fee you choose, that good value can quickly become money terribly wasted, especially when the results start emerging.
3) Traffic to your stuff
Pro: boosts are designed for that purpose, to drive traffic to your content, give you more exposure to the viewers.
Cons: you have no control over the visitors to your channel to make them stick around and engage with your content, except maybe through a well crafted welcome video.
4) Types of visitors
Pro: boosting will give your content and channel more exposure to a wider demographic, reaching beyond the limits of the niche youΓÇÖre in.
Con: again, you have no control over the types of visitors that come and go, and even though youΓÇÖve set up the boost to target a specific group, a boosted post may (and I suspect this would be somewhat true) wander off outside what youΓÇÖve specified, which means youΓÇÖll get exposure to visitors that may not take any interest in your work which depending on how they interact within your channel, can be harmful, especially if they check out your stuff and quickly ditch.
My thoughts: youΓÇÖre within your rights to use these boosts and promoting tools, after all theyΓÇÖve been put there for that reason, but I personally donΓÇÖt see any long term benefits from using these, especially after doing my own little test, and IΓÇÖm not the only one that did this, another channel called ΓÇ£YouTube CreatorsΓÇ¥ did a similar test, he paid a bigger fee to a bigger channel to get some extra exposure, something like a few hundred bucks, and all he got back was something like 3 or 4 subscribers from that, you do the math for each subscriber based on that test, worst investment a channel should not ever have to endure.
So now youΓÇÖre probably (or not) thinking, now what? How do I get my videos out there if I canΓÇÖt use these tools? Simple, you upload content that viewers see value in them and you know you can offer it, and you KEEP uploading and uploading, and uploading, because your content if crafted perfectly or as perfectly as possible, will be the best form of advertising in itself, paired with the inner workings of YouTubes algorithm and how it boosts your content for you, no external advertising needed!
@Stanley Orchard quite often points out that thereΓÇÖs nothing more effective than YouTube itself, and heΓÇÖs right, but again as itΓÇÖs always the case, it takes 2 to tango, the algorithm wonΓÇÖt tango with mediocre content, once it has the data from said content, nor will it tango on its own, it needs that highly addictive content, and thatΓÇÖs why we always press on at the new players to create content that doesnΓÇÖt SUCK!
I like how @Beanie Draws described using boosts, saying that it basically means the creator isnΓÇÖt confident in their own work theyΓÇÖve made, and heΓÇÖs right, because content should be able to boost itself if crafted correctly for the audience.
Ultimately, the decision to use a boost or advertising tool is on you the creator, but just know that using these, especially when just starting out, will NOT bring you results immediately, YouTubing is not a quick sprint, itΓÇÖs a marathon.
As always, feel free to add your own thoughts to this.
Let me explain from my own little test I did a while back. In my channelΓÇÖs early days, I use to post my videos on some Facebook groups, and on my own page, Facebook was kind enough to offer me a free voucher to boost a post, so I did, primarily to test it and see what sort of response came back, and what came back was nothing more than a handful of views but no subscribers, despite 5k ish people seeing my post (not that I cared anyways as it was for my own confirmation). It seems YouTube has something similar, but IΓÇÖve never used it, nor will I ever do such a thing. So is it worth using these tools? Well, theyΓÇÖve been put there for us to use, weΓÇÖre well within our rights to use them, but I can tell you now theyΓÇÖre not very effective, here are a few pros and cons of such tools:
1) Exposure
Pro: using boosts does give your content and channel more exposure, so more people will know your channel is there, and those that went in to snoop around will know what youΓÇÖre about.
Con: you donΓÇÖt really have that much control over where your posts or content is being exposed, you do have the ability to set up your demographics and what not, but once you hit the GO button, itΓÇÖs out of your hands.
2) Costs
Pro: boosting stuff costs a fee of course, but youΓÇÖve got plenty of flexibility to choose your fee thatΓÇÖs appropriate for you, and is (or seems), good value.
Con: no matter what fee you choose, that good value can quickly become money terribly wasted, especially when the results start emerging.
3) Traffic to your stuff
Pro: boosts are designed for that purpose, to drive traffic to your content, give you more exposure to the viewers.
Cons: you have no control over the visitors to your channel to make them stick around and engage with your content, except maybe through a well crafted welcome video.
4) Types of visitors
Pro: boosting will give your content and channel more exposure to a wider demographic, reaching beyond the limits of the niche youΓÇÖre in.
Con: again, you have no control over the types of visitors that come and go, and even though youΓÇÖve set up the boost to target a specific group, a boosted post may (and I suspect this would be somewhat true) wander off outside what youΓÇÖve specified, which means youΓÇÖll get exposure to visitors that may not take any interest in your work which depending on how they interact within your channel, can be harmful, especially if they check out your stuff and quickly ditch.
My thoughts: youΓÇÖre within your rights to use these boosts and promoting tools, after all theyΓÇÖve been put there for that reason, but I personally donΓÇÖt see any long term benefits from using these, especially after doing my own little test, and IΓÇÖm not the only one that did this, another channel called ΓÇ£YouTube CreatorsΓÇ¥ did a similar test, he paid a bigger fee to a bigger channel to get some extra exposure, something like a few hundred bucks, and all he got back was something like 3 or 4 subscribers from that, you do the math for each subscriber based on that test, worst investment a channel should not ever have to endure.
So now youΓÇÖre probably (or not) thinking, now what? How do I get my videos out there if I canΓÇÖt use these tools? Simple, you upload content that viewers see value in them and you know you can offer it, and you KEEP uploading and uploading, and uploading, because your content if crafted perfectly or as perfectly as possible, will be the best form of advertising in itself, paired with the inner workings of YouTubes algorithm and how it boosts your content for you, no external advertising needed!
@Stanley Orchard quite often points out that thereΓÇÖs nothing more effective than YouTube itself, and heΓÇÖs right, but again as itΓÇÖs always the case, it takes 2 to tango, the algorithm wonΓÇÖt tango with mediocre content, once it has the data from said content, nor will it tango on its own, it needs that highly addictive content, and thatΓÇÖs why we always press on at the new players to create content that doesnΓÇÖt SUCK!
I like how @Beanie Draws described using boosts, saying that it basically means the creator isnΓÇÖt confident in their own work theyΓÇÖve made, and heΓÇÖs right, because content should be able to boost itself if crafted correctly for the audience.
Ultimately, the decision to use a boost or advertising tool is on you the creator, but just know that using these, especially when just starting out, will NOT bring you results immediately, YouTubing is not a quick sprint, itΓÇÖs a marathon.
As always, feel free to add your own thoughts to this.
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