In the virtual world, just like in the real world, sex sells. For this reason, many YouTube marketers utilize video and images of beautiful women to promote their products and websites. The more provocative the thumbnail image, the more clicks the video is bound to receive. However, there is a precarious balance that must be maintained to keep such videos from suffering severe blows to their potency and effectiveness.
Are Flagged Videos really Useless?
Okay, maybe the title is a little bit extreme. Once a video is flagged as “may not be suitable for minors”, it is not completely useless, but it is severely handicapped. Why?
Just like most every other social driven website, there are vast amounts of “lurkers”, or unregistered users, all over YouTube. The lurkers actually make up a signiciant portion of YouTube’s traffic. Since there are so many unregistered users snooping around YouTube at any given time, as an internet marketer it is in your best interests to get their attention (along with the attention of registered users). However….guess what happens when one of your videos is flagged for potentially being unsuitable for minors?
Instead of being able to click your enticing thumbnail and view your content, the lurker is instead present with a page that informs them that in order to access the video, they will need to log in to their YouTube account and confirm that they are over 18 years of age. If they do not have a YouTube account, they will need to sign up for one. Obviously, this inconvenience can cripple your CTR, as many lurkers will simply lose interest and not want to bother jumping through any hoops to get to your video.
Now, on the brightside, there are plenty of YouTube users who actively search for videos and will confirm their age to see your video (it just takes the click of the mouse). In fact, as long as they’ve confirmed their age once since they’ve been logged in, it isn’t necessary for them to confirm it when viewing other videos that have been flagged. But still, it is in your very best interest to avoid having your videos flagged. Even if YouTubers wanted to search for flagged videos specifically (which I’m sure some of them do), it just isn’t possible.
How to Avoid the Dreaded Flagging
The hall monitors of the YouTube community are lurking around every corner, and they can’t wait to flag the videos that they deem to be inappropriate. It’s your job to do a bit of a balancing act between getting as much exposure as possible to your videos while simultaneously staying under the radar.
When posting video responses, try to keep them relevant. This may not always be possible, but it makes a big difference. At the very least, don’t post your potentially objectionable videos as responses to things like children’s cartoons, where they will most certainly be caught and flagged at light speed.
Commenting on other videos from the account that has your videos is a great way to create additional traffic and views. However, many YouTube marketers have the tendency to take the spam route, and leave irrelevant (and sometimes offensive) comments just about everywhere. That’s a great way to get the attention of the flagging elite, and therefore something you want to avoid.
Follow the TOS… Sort of. Don’t include any nudity in your videos. Frontal nudity will usually just get the video removed entirely, while rear nudity will usually get it flagged rather quickly (and removed, in some cases). If you decide to include any sort of nudity, at LEAST refrain from having it appear in your thumbnail image (thumbnails are created from the 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 mark frames of your video).
example
A Crazy Idea
Think outside the box! Sexy thumbnails aren’t the only way to provoke clicks to your videos. Use your imagination and find new and creative images and videos. Do something no one else is doing. The only way you’ll know if an idea works is to try it. An original idea is much more sustainable in the long term than a bunch of risqué videos that will most likely be flagged eventually.
Tags: avoiding flagging, flagged videos, not suitable for minors, youtube videos
