S

AT

YouTube: How and why

ST

Anglia Ruskin Students’

Union can use it
• Of all those sampled, YouTube was the second most used platform
• Most used platform by 16-24 year olds
• Major engagement fall-off occurs around 45
• Excluding samples above the age of 45, usage increases to around 70%
• Data would suggest that the core ARU Student population are very likely
to interact with YouTube

• Some more important stats (from Google data collections)

• Top two reasons viewers watch YouTube – ‘To relax’, and ‘to feel good’
• Top four content categories – comedy, music, entertainment/pop culture,
and ‘how to’ tutorials
 • Google’s definition of ‘entertainment/pop culture’ is very broad, including:

T
• Gaming
N
TE • Reviews
N
• Political Commentary and News
CO

• Documentary Style videos

• Podcasts and Vlogs

• The core messaging of the Students’ Union would only fit in a podcast and vlog
format
• Podcasts have begun to gain huge traction in recent years, and the most
successful form has been that similar to podcasts such as ‘The Joe Rogan
Experience’
• Vlogs have been a mainstay in YouTube viewership ratings since the format
began to gain traction in the late 2000’s/early 2010’s, and are a great, informal
way to update viewers on day to day happenings
When deciding to use a platform, it is important to
understand how users are going to find you on that
platform, the main channels available for visibility of
content on YouTube are:

• Searches within the websites inbuilt search function

• Searches from external sites, predominantly Google
• The ‘Subscription Box’
• The YouTube ‘Home’ page
• YouTube ‘Trending’ page
• ‘Watch Next’ recommendations
Search Engines

What it is: How to appear in search results and get views:

• The YouTube search engine is very similar to that of • Buzzwords in titles, descriptions, and tags
Google • Captions
• Standard Search Engine Optimisation practises apply
• YouTube has an inbuilt tag feature, similar to other
social medias, which have a massive effect on both the
internal search function and search engines like Google
The ‘Subscription Box’

What it is: How to stand out and get views:

• Where all videos from a viewers subscribed channels • Visually appealing thumbnails
are shown • Descriptive Titles
• Not used by the average ‘casual’ viewer
• Easy for a video to be missed as it will only appear near
the top for a short time, based on the users
subscriptions

Only likely to receive views

from a small number of users,
with factors including
whether this element is used,
how many subscriptions the
user has, and upload time
The ‘Home’ page

What it is: How to be recommended and get views:

• Mixture of videos that YouTube recommends • Consistent uploads

• Changes based on users patterns on the website
• Often divided into segments with loose topics, such as
news, make-up, etc
• Normally suggests newer content, but can also
recommend older videos at times.
• Video length 10 min+
• Keywords in description and good use of tags
• Quality content that keeps the user engaged
with the site

With proper tagging and

quality content, it is very
possible that students will be
recommended videos based
on browsing data
What can YouTube be used for?
YouTube is a very diverse platform, and content on it can
be used for a variety of purposes, for example:

• General Message Communication

• Event Promotion
• Brand Awareness
• Product Promotion (SU Shop)
• Advice Videos

How can this be achieved?

If the SU are to use YouTube for any of the above,
viewership would need to be increased by:

• Regular upload of decent quality videos (a series such

as the Lockdown Series with Omkar Singh)
• One off videos of the above topics
 Purpose Monday Tuesday
Wednesd
ay Thursday Friday

• Increase viewership and engagement of the Societies

(whats
AngliaRuskinSU YouTube Channel ARU
Lockdow
on,
Officer
society
n Series Update
spotlight,
(Rotation
• Through increased viewership, not only share general  
etc.)
  )

communication, but also push users to other platforms

where applicable, i.e. societies, advice, SU website
(especially angliastudent.com/whatson), commercial
outlets (92 and SU Shop), etc.

Why
• YouTube is constantly growing, especially under 25y/o
• Watched more than TV, and more attentively
• Will allow for more creative content than other outlets
 How Monday Tuesday
Wednesd
ay Thursday Friday

• Start with making consistent, repeatable videos (see Societies

(whats
schedule, right). ARU
Lockdow
on,
Officer
society
• Increase the quality of content uploaded, in order to n Series
spotlight, Update
etc.) (Rotation
increase watch time     )

• Where possible, make sure videos are 10 minutes long at

least
• Ensure all content uploaded has organised structure, with
strong titles, descriptions, and proper tagging
• Ensure all content is subtitled

• Once a strong viewer base has been created, other

departments can begin to create content
• Campaign Reps, minority group experience at ARU
• Student Spotlights
• Commercial (92, SU Shop, etc.)
 Audience

• Data suggests those within the 16-24 demographic are the

most active users of YouTube, visiting it more than any
other platform.

• Content will be general, as most SU communications are,

however, it would be less effective to post any messaging
or content that is focused around the mature student
population, who are much less likely to engage with the
platform than other social medias such as Facebook.
 Key Staff Members
Staff Member/s Role

Malgosia Benham Creating Graphics, including: Thumbnail design templates, graphics for
videos (borders, end screens promotion, etc.)

George Mason Organising video uploads, video editing, liaise with all staff members
regarding content of videos and ideas.

Activities Team Liaise with George Mason and within their own team to create
content, including possible department updates, and content ideas to
push messaging from their departments

Executive Officer Team Continue work with series such as ARU Lockdown, and create weekly
officer updates.