Monopoly™ and YouTube have more in common than one might expect. In fact, last week at Reel Video Summit 2014, Pixability laid out six reasons why lessons learned during childhood Monopoly™ games are applicable to YouTube marketing.
Brands, agencies, independent creators, YouTube advertising and marketing companies, and members of the media came together for ReelSEO‘s two-day summit on July 24th and 25th at the Hotel Nikko in the heart of San Francisco. With keynotes from Jonathan Klaff, Head of Media Solutions at Google/YouTube, Ogilvy’s Executive Director of Content Marketing and Advanced Video Practice Rob Davis and more, the summit was a must-attend for professionals in the video industry.
Pixability’s CMO Rob Ciampa and Senior Account Manager Michael Benson (both YouTube-certified) presented three times over the course of the conference to the 200+ video industry veterans in attendance. Pixability’s Friday morning seminar focused on engineering high-performing and measurable YouTube campaigns for brands, independents, and agencies. And Monopoly™.

There tend to be six key strategies to success when it comes to winning what some have called “the world’s most endless board game.” Pixability tracked down this gem of a YouTube video, created by BuzzFeed, which helped set the stage for the presentation.

So what does it take to win big on YouTube? A combination of factors, including developing your channel, adhering to a regular content publishing schedule, and actively engaging with the YouTube community around your brand. Click below to watch a full-length video of the presentation.

1. Developing Your Property Is Key | CHANNEL

• Your channel strategy will advise the goals for your campaigns. Are you driving subscribers or site visits? Earned engagement or conversions?
• Strong channels have: custom thumbnails, playlists, shelves, channel art, descriptions, annotations, SEO, etc. Channels that lack branding and shelves look empty and are less engaging. Which one of the below YouTube channels looks more inviting to you?

2. Avoid Getting Stuck in “Jail” – Make the Right Moves  | CONTENT STRATEGY

• What type of content do you have access to?
• What will your audience be interested in? Some of the most successful videos are boring but informative.
• Don’t assume shorter is always better. Brands typically post 30 second commercials to YouTube, but audiences are watching videos 1-20 minutes in length.
• You don’t need to break the bank to make great YouTube content.

3. You Can’t Play Alone  | COMMUNITY

• YouTube is a community and an ecosystem—not a place for your brand to shout into a vacuum.
• Brands need to engage with their YouTube audience.

4. Sometimes You Have to Pay to Play  | PAID VS. VIRAL

• There is no correlation between viral videos and sales.
• Every marketer wants a viral video—but how many are truly viral?
• Be careful of “sketchy” view seeding.

5. Buy The Right Inventory  | ADVERTISING

• Identify influencers relevant to your brand.
• Target your audience video by video, rather than channel by channel.

6. Winning Takes Strategy—and Perseverance  | MEASUREMENT & OPTIMIZATION

• Your goals should drive campaign optimization around relevant metrics.
• CPV is at the heart of other potential KPIs.
• Optimize, try different campaigns, and refine.
• Publishing one video to your channel is great, but it is only the beginning.
• Channel management and upkeep takes time. Just like Monopoly™.

The 2014 Reel Video Summit was organized by Mark Robertson, Dave Holland, and Carla Marshall from ReelSEO. Thank you to everyone who contributed to and attended this year’s event.