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After I began recording content for YouTube under Yoga with Kassandra, I figured that I could simply teach class the identical way I might at a studio but in front of a camera. I couldn’t have been more fallacious.
After spending the last decade constructing my YouTube channel to greater than two million subscribers, I’ve come to know many things about teaching yoga on YouTube—including the indisputable fact that you’re not on the mercy of studios’ class styles and structures.
Should you’re curious to know what it takes to construct a successful channel for yoga classes on YouTube, the next is what I’ve learned.
12 Things to Know About Teaching Yoga on YouTube, Based on Yoga With Kassandra
1. Don’t Expect Recording a Video to Be the Same as Teaching In Person
Since you’re instructing YouTube content without students’ energy or a capability to watch them, there’s more performing in comparison with studio classes. It’s almost more like an acting job. Recording classes for YouTube might take some acclimating. Also, not everyone likes being on camera and teaching when there’s nobody else within the room, so you may determine that it’s not best for you.
2. Learn What Your Audience Wants…
Originally, I used to be stuck in yoga studio mindset. Even once I received requests for 10- and 20-minute classes, I used to be hesitant to step away from the studio model of longer classes. As an alternative, I recorded only 30- and 60-minutes vinyasa and yin yoga sequences.
It took me some time, but I began to know what YouTubers wanted based on their comments and what they watched over and once again, so I began leading 10-minute yoga classes. Such a brief practice feels more doable and makes it harder to seek out excuses as to why you possibly can’t get in your mat. What I’ve noticed is that subscribers often start with a 10-minute class after which they carry on adding one other and one other and one other until they’ve been on their mat for 40 minutes.
After I gave myself permission to reply to what students wanted, every thing modified for my channel. When your audience tells you what they need, listen.
(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)
3. …And Then Share More of That
I assumed I needed to supply a broad array of classes and sequences, but followers kept saying to me, “We would like more yin yoga and we wish more morning yoga.” I initially thought, “Well, I have already got a few those classes.” But simply because you’ve done a hip opening class once doesn’t mean students won’t ever need to teach a hip opening class again. They need that week after week.
You don’t need to totally reinvent the wheel. You only have to make certain that you just’re leading students through something that you just’re qualified to show, that you just’re really good at teaching, and that your students actually want. That’s really the way you elevate your presence.
Should you do occur to release a video that does quite well, that’s the time to ride the wave while you might have it and to maintain making similar content. Whatever is doing well in your channel, keep doing more of that.
4. Focus On What You Do Well
One other mistake that I made early on was attempting to offer all different kinds of yoga and all different lengths of classes to all different levels. I wanted everyone who landed on my channel to seek out what they needed. But unfortunately, while you attempt to please everyone, you find yourself serving nobody.
You’re a lot better off specializing in your strengths, your skills, and what you’re actually qualified to show and pairing that with what your students are requesting and what your numbers are telling you they’re watching. Finding that sweet spot is absolutely, really necessary.
5. It’s Okay to Turn Down Requests
I receive quite a lot of requests for prenatal and postnatal yoga. I’m trained in it, however it’s not my area of experience, so I don’t teach it. I truthfully think I can be doing a disservice to students to start out offering those classes. And I don’t think they’d find yourself being successful because that’s not authentic to my practice.
6. Don’t Compare
Don’t compare your channel and your classes to other teachers’ videos, especially while you’re starting out. You’re learning a latest skill, so in fact you’re going to often fall short. But it’s essential to undergo that learning curve. It might be similar to should you’re learning to color and also you’re comparing your first work to someone who’s been creating art for 20 years.
Successful yoga teachers on YouTube find their following because they’re authentic of their approach. You’ve got to focus what you do well, especially at first while you’re easily influenced to go in a single direction or one other. Even should you tried to recreate a preferred video by one other teacher, odds are it’s just not going to give you the results you want. That video was likely the right marriage of the proper teacher bringing the proper practice to the proper audience. Stay true to yourself, be patient, and grant yourself some grace. You’ll find your tribe.
7. Entice Your Followers to Stay On YouTube
It’s tempting to supply something small on YouTube and take a look at to send people elsewhere, whether to your website or to a different platform where you offer paid classes. But YouTube desires to encourage people to remain on the platform—and it rewards channels that encourage followers to do the identical. Should you want YouTube to be a functional platform for you, it’s smart to treat it as its own entity and with respect.
I’ve found that “more is more” here. Don’t worry about offering an excessive amount of content free of charge. I do know that a few of us are hesitant to dive into that mentality because we expect we should always hold back and perhaps offer only just a few select free classes. But should you’re going to embrace YouTube, the more content you possibly can offer, the more your students will receive, the more they’ll come back to your channel, and the more it is going to profit you and your teaching in the long run.
8. Select Your Class Title Rigorously . . .
It’s easy to forget that YouTube is a search engine. Users engage with the platform in the identical way that they do Google—they type in what they’re trying to practice. Based on those keywords, YouTube decides which videos to indicate.
The primary technique to make certain that somebody sees your class is to title your video accurately. Keep it easy. Ask yourself, what’s the main focus of your class? Who’s it for? What amount of experience do students need? How long is it? What style is it? Do they need props? Remember, your class is solving an issue for practitioners by offering something that’s in keeping with what they’re looking for. Title it accordingly.
Also, YouTube offers built-in tools that recommend keywords relevant to your area of interest, including video titles that might resonate well together with your audience.
9 . . . But Don’t Stress Out About web optimization and Algorithms
Many yoga teachers change into overwhelmed and think that they should have a bunch of web optimization savvy to optimize their YouTube content. Not true. If you might have even a minimal amount of web optimization awareness, use that here. But it surely isn’t needed.
Along with being literal while you create a title, be thorough together with your description, as should you’re writing a blog post. You may also include a playlist in your description. Also, optimize the wording in your thumbnail image, which is the small image on your video that users are shown within the search results, in the identical way you do the title of your video. And YouTube allows 500 tags for every video. Don’t be shy about using them, although make sure that they’re truly relevant to your video.
At the tip of the day, people will find your videos in myriad ways. Sometimes, they’ll be watching another person’s video and yours will pop up since it’s offering something similar. Perhaps your video will come up in Google search results. Someone could share your class on Facebook or Pinterest. In those cases, it’s so simple as someone looking for the title of your video, equivalent to “evening yoga,” after which quite a lot of classes will pop up they usually click on one–perhaps yours.
(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)
10. Set a Schedule and Be Consistent
Yoga rewards consistency and so does the YouTube algorithm. YouTube tends to share content from channels which might be consistent and don’t disappear for long stretches of time. For the last nine years, I’ve released a minimum of 1 video every week, and I at all times share them on the identical day of the week and at the identical time. There’s even a tool in YouTube that recommends the most effective time of the week and time of day to publish your videos, based in your audience’s digital habits. So set a schedule and persist with it.
Posting with predictability and consistency also establishes trust together with your viewership. It’s difficult when a student notices that you just’ve uploaded quite a lot of classes in just a few days and you then disappear for several months. They may not be as prone to subscribe to your channel because they don’t know should you’re going to return. It’s higher to set a schedule and remain accountable to it and your followers. It’s higher to do less and stay as consistent as possible. You possibly can add more classes to your weekly schedule later should you find that it’s manageable for you.
You may also include a reminder in your video description to subscribe to your channel and switch on notifications so your audience knows while you’ve shared latest content.
11. Wait to Spend money on Equipment
Everyone asks about the most effective equipment to film and edit YouTube videos. But I at all times recommend that teachers wait until after they consistently record content for YouTube for six months to purchase a camera and sound system. Six months is enough time to know should you even like teaching on the platform.
Should you determine to speculate in equipment, concentrate on a mic greater than a camera, because a student at home in Downward Dog is hopefully listening greater than they’re watching and never turning their necks in a bunch of how trying to take a look at you. (This implies you furthermore may need to pay careful attention to your cues.) Within the meantime, use the camera in your smart phone and make certain that you just’re in a well-lit place, equivalent to in front of a window with natural light.
12. Be Patient
The one query that at all times comes up is “When can I start earning income from YouTube?”
That’s difficult to reply. You’ve got to fulfill certain criteria before you possibly can apply to be a part of the YouTube Partner Program. In the mean time, as a way to be in that partner program, you wish a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within the last 12 months as a way to qualify. YouTube is within the means of changing this system standards to permit access to more creators.
Once you might be accepted into this system, you’re in a position to earn ad revenue out of your videos, which implies advertisers place ads in your videos and also you share that commission with YouTube. If an advertiser spends one dollar, you get 60 cents and YouTube keeps 40 cents.
Until you’re within the partner program, YouTube can place ads in your videos, however the commission is not going to be split with you. (Perhaps they’ll revise that policy in the longer term, because quite a lot of individuals are displeased with it.) Also, you usually are not in a position to remove ads that interrupt your class until after you’re within the partner program. Only then are you able to delete ads, determine where ads go, and determine what number of ads you would like.
YouTube just isn’t a path for instructors looking for quick gratification. Should you’re pondering that you just’ll just put a few videos on YouTube and make a fast buck, it’s probably not going to give you the results you want. You must commit to it for the long haul.
About Our Contributor
Kassandra Reinhardt is an Ottawa-based Yin Yoga and vinyasa yoga instructor whose YouTube channel has grown to 2.2 million subscribers and has greater than 230 million views. Kassandra recently released her guided yoga journal, My Yoga Journey: A Guided Journal, her day by day affirmation card deck, I Radiate Joy, and her book, Yr of Yoga.