Over the last few weeks I've watched 3 different marketers post on Facebook that they have had their YouTube Channel shut down.
These are marketers I know, and have seen MANY of their videos. I truly don't see where they are violating YouTubes community guidelines, but guess what? YouTube makes the rules and they can make them up as they go. Once your account has been shutdown it's almost impossible to get it reinstated.
So you need to REALLY be watching what you're doing on YouTube.
Make sure you have read their guidelines. You can see them at https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/policies/#community-guidelines
Break any of those rules and you'll find your account shutdown! Or follow the rules and you can find yourself shut down… 🙁
So here's my advice…
1. You need to treat all platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and the rest) you use a “fishing net“. Meaning they are specifically for you to use to bring in traffic to your site. Of course you want to create good content, that makes them come to your site, but keep your BEST stuff on YOUR site.
2. All of your content should point people to a lead capture page of some sort. Each piece of content needs to have a call to action in it to get people from the platforms you're using onto your email list.
I hear people saying “email is dead“. Well I haven't stopped making money and I rely on email marketing 100%!
3. Back up your content! Don't just upload/post content and not have hard copies of it on YOUR computer. That way if your accounts ever DO get shutdown or the platform disappears then you still have your content. You can simply move to a new platform and start posting your content.
Hot Tip: You can create a spreadsheet, list all your content, why you posted it, and link to the actual file in your spreadsheet. This is also a great way to repurpose content.
I want your biggest takeaways from all of this to be this…
1. Follow the rules!
2. Make sure your content is bringing people to YOUR site.
3. Keep your content organized and backed up!
Hopefully things will calm down with YouTube. There are so many people using it, and it's a great platform. They are just in a “crack down mode” right now, so be careful!
Talk soon!
Liz
Great advice Liz. This is not the first time this is happening, but we must remember the website owners are the rule makers, not us, the end users.
I’d be interested to know if YouTube’s shutdowns is in any political.
I wouldn’t put it past Google to punish people based on their political leanings.
Just thinkin….
Thanks for the post Liz. I was wondering what was going on and if I should even bother posting to youtube after seeing what has been happening.
I got affiliate links on a few of videos so I will probably get shut down eventually.
A lot of marketers who do reviews are placing a direct JvZoo or Clickbank link in their comments. Just like Facebook and many other big platforms, these are frowned upon, which such links are spam too them.
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801973?hl=en&ref_topic=2803176
Marketers need to cloak their links. Or better yet, send the traffic from YouTube to their blog, where on the blogs post, the affiliate link can be found. Even in the blog post, the link should be cloaked.
Keep in mind, that YouTube uses the same algorithm as Google. Spam and malicious sites will be blocked, and in YouTube’s case, the user will be terminated.
Great advice..for every platform. YT is super hard to convince you didn’t do anything wrong. ALWAYS back up is the best advice!
Great stuff, Liz. Couldn’t agree more! Digital Sharecropping is something I’ve been railing against for many years now. This is why I’ve also been recommending to my network and my clients to build your own forum on your own site, and not put everything inside the Facebook Group basket. You can keep copies of your content and move it away from Facebook, YouTube or other platforms. But you will not be able to move all those discussions and conversations and your community outside of Facebook. So use Facebook, YouTube and other platforms as a “Content Marketing Tool”, but build your community on your own platform – your own website – especially if you want to build a thriving, community that will last for the next several years. I actually talked about all of this in the latest episode of my podcast at SubscribeMe.fm. Please check it out when you get a chance.
Cheers!
– Ravi Jayagopal
Great tips! Another reason why building your email list is so vital for your business.
Thanks for all the comments guys! I’m glad this was helpful. 🙂