Essential Steps to Start An Educational Youtube Channel

Youtube is one of the most widely-used social media platforms today with 500M views of learning-related content every day according to Internal Youtube Data.

This makes it a great platform for educators, schools, and universities to create channels and share educational content with a wider audience. In this article, we will help you start your channel with six essential steps.

For edupreneurs and content creators, Youtube can also be used to build an audience, attract leads, and convert them into paying students for their online courses. In some cases, building an educational channel can even be the foundation for an edtech business.

A very good example of this story is PhysicsWallah, an edtech unicorn that raised $100 million from top venture capital firms.

Here are some examples of successful Youtube channels in education:

• AsapSCIENCE - founded in 2012, this channel has 10.3M subscribers and talks about general topics with science explained. It has an estimated net worth of $2M and earns an estimated $505,000 annually.
  
• Veritasium - this channel has 13.4M subs and 1 billion total views. It covers topics related to truth in science, education, and more.
  

Why you Should Start an Educational Youtube Channel?

Why is it more beneficial for creators and edupreneurs to create educational content on Youtube? You are probably thinking of the reasons, so let me break them down for you!

Youtube is the most popular video-sharing app on the planet!

You would know what I mean by these mind-blowing stats:

• Youtube has 1.7 Billion unique monthly visitors, which means the site gets 14.3B total visits per month - more than Facebook, Wikipedia, Amazon, and Instagram!
• 81% of internet users have used Youtube
• Youtube Shorts has 15 billion daily views
• 93% of viewers are using YouTube to gather information

Imagine getting at least 100k to 1M shares of daily views from these statistics. Once you do, then the potential to monetize through Youtube is way better than you can think of.

Use Youtube to Attract Leads

Since students are no longer relying on books and research papers to learn, they are turning to YouTube to learn anything from cooking, gardening, and science and math. YouTube is not just for entertainment, but also for edutainment (education with entertainment).

Therefore, it is the best social media platform to attract leads and get yourself out there. If you don't have a lot of audience on other platforms, you can start with YouTube Shorts, if you feel like creating short educational videos, YouTube Live, if you want to conduct live workshops in an open and public space, and YouTube videos, if you want mid-length to long video content.

The best part is that YouTube videos are easy to share. So don't forget to engage with your audience and ask your viewers to like, share, & subscribe to your channel for every video you make.

Earn Passive Income from Creating Videos

YouTube allows educators, schools, and universities to earn passive income as a side hustle or full-time work through creating videos. There are several ways to earn from YouTube:

• YouTube Ads - where an average YouTuber makes about $0.18 per view on YouTube Ads. If they get 1,000 views, then they can get $18.
  
• Sponsorships - once you grow your subscribers and viewers, sponsors are likely to come and sponsor your video. It depends on the transaction you have with them, but the most common way to do it is to mention their brands on your videos for some minutes and encourage viewers to buy, support, and like the brand.
  
• Affiliations - the most sustainable way to earn is through affiliations where you encourage your viewers to use your promo code for a certain brand. And for every purchase, you get a commission from the brand.
  
• Collaborations - in some cases, brands and celebrities will find your channel and will likely partner and collaborate in a form of guest interviews to promote themselves and their products or services.
  

6 Essential Steps to Create a Successful Educational Youtube Channel

Starting an educational YT channel won't make you successful overnight. It takes time and effort. However, if you start now and stay consistent, you are more likely to succeed in the long run. So, how can you get started? Here are the six essential steps:

1. Start with a topic

The first step in starting your own channel is to consider a topic or start with one subject you want to teach and create content for.

Are you geeking about the unspoken stories in history? Do you know stuff that travelers should know about your country? Or are you a math teacher that can explain hard concepts like how to find the LCM in the simplest, clearest way possible?

To answer this question, think of a topic or subject you're passionate about and that you can easily talk about for 30 minutes. Something that you can teach online and create hours of video because you are knowledgeable about it.

Since Youtube has videos for any kind of topic, you can be creative as you want and choose something even though it’s not popular as long as people want to learn about it. 

2. Identify your audience

Although YouTube has a wide range of users regardless of age and location, you should still know the audience you want to target in order to understand how you want to execute your video content. Identify the basic demographics and geographics of your content.

Do you want to teach children ages 6-12 about science? Or do you want to create educational content for teachers ages 25-40 who want to know about different learning styles? Are you targeting local or international audiences?

Once you have identified your audience, it will be easier for you to plan out your content from scriptwriting to filming. There are many creative ways to do this on YouTube.

For instance, you can explain pedagogy concepts to teachers through YouTube Shorts. Or create an animated and entertaining video for children who want to learn about science.

You can also decide on the language of your video according to your preferred geography. If you want to target local people, then it's better to create the video in your local language. If you prefer a global audience, then you should use the English language.

If this is challenging for you, don't be afraid to check out other YouTubers that have similar interests to your channel. Analyzing their most-viewed videos and how they are creating their content can give you several ideas for your channel's content.

3. Find your format & create your first educational video

Based on our examples in the second step, you need to follow what your target audience genuinely enjoys. YouTube creators don't create interesting content by themselves; some of them hire freelancers who are experts in scriptwriting, animation, voiceover, filming, and so on.

If you don't yet have the capacity to outsource these tasks, you can also make your content on your own. Begin with a simple explanatory video that is easy to understand and can capture the attention of your audience. It doesn't need to be perfect if you're just starting out; the most important thing is the concept, which will come from you.

Apps to help you upload and make videos without a sweat:

• InVideo
• Canva
• Animoto
• Veed

4. Create your Youtube channel

As easy as 1-2-3, you can create your channel by signing in to your Youtube account. Click on the profile icon and choose “create a channel”. You can customize your channel by uploading a profile photo & banner and adding descriptions & relevant links. To give your channel a professional touch, use eye-catching photos for your profile and banner, and you can find a variety of these photos on websites like Freepik.

Remember, you need a Google account in order for you to create a channel. So, if you don’t have a Google account yet, better to create one first.

5. Optimize for SEO

Like Google, it is important to optimize keywords through your content and descriptions for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in order for your videos to be visible on YouTube & Google's Search Engine.

Don’t have any idea how to start? Brian Dean, an SEO expert explained how you can rank #1 on Youtube.

6. Publish 1 video per week ‘consistently’

What needs to be done is you need to be consistent in publishing content and don't stop because your audience will anticipate new videos from you.

For a channel to succeed, you should publish at least one video per week consistently. It's time to learn the best practices to start and grow your channel.

In the long run, you will progress and your educational videos will look more professional with more quality content. This can drive YouTube ads, sponsorships, affiliations, and collaborations allowing you to earn passive income with more or less five to six figures per year.

Create Content Consistently, Get More Views, and Convert Them Into Paying Students

Once you get more leads through views and subscribers, don't forget to convert them into paying students. Direct them easily to your online courses.

If you don't have a learning platform yet, sign up at Teachfloor for free to scale up your educational business with its several automation features that allow you to create courses in just minutes.

Done with all these steps? Move on to the next stage by learning how to grow your Youtube channel and increase subscribers.

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