YouTube and Video Updates for 2026
Here are my notes from Social Media Marketing World 2026!
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YouTube Strategy: How to Turn Viewers Into Buyers by Liz Germain
https://www.youtube.com/@lizdoesvideo
The difference between Shorts and Longform videos on YouTube:
Shorts
- Surface Level Scrolling
- Quick Dopamine Hits
- Works As A Discovery Engine
- Great for Attention
Longform
- Longer View Duration
- Longer Watch Time
- Works As A Loyalty Engine
- Great for Trust
5 Video Formats That Drive Sales
- Product Reviews Highest-converting video format for ecommerce and physical products. 64% of shoppers are more likely to buy after watching a product video.
- Tutorials & How-To Positions your product as the solution. Builds authority, trust and drives significant purchase intent at the consideration and decision stage.
3. Case Studies & UGC Real-world social proof. Brands using case studies like the “I Tried” format on YouTube see higher authenticity signals and increased trust.
4. Numbered Lists Perfect for integrating solutions. These education videos help users make informed decisions, and you can position your offer as the best choice.
5. Shorts for Discovery 200B+ daily views as of 2025. Short-form product videos drive higher engagement for impulse purchases.
Optimize Clicks Through:
- Info Cards
- End Screens
- Description Links
- Pinned Comments
- QR Codes
- Simple Text URL in Video
- Channel Homepage
- Community Posts
The YouTube System That Gets You Suggested, Not Ignored, by Jerry Potter
https://donebylunch.co/world26/
https://www.instagram.com/mrjerrypotter
YouTube is recommending more videos from small creators.
People are going to YouTube to get answers they can’t get from ChatGPT, or because ChatGPT sends them to a video.
Make bingeable content.
Magnetic 8:
- 8 weekly videos for the SAME person
- Each video is helping that person solve the same overall problem
- They should be bingeable
Jerry introduced his “Channel filters” concept:
- Who is your channel for?
- What are they chasing?
- What are they escaping?
He actually says his channel filter in his videos. “This video is for people who blah, who are looking for blah, and who don’t want blahblah.”
“Helping Washington wine drinkers find the perfect tasting room without paying too much and without hunting for parking.”
You want your niche to be as narrow as you can, to get YouTube to understand what your channel is about.
How to get your viewers to recommend your videos:
It helps to have really good videos. It’s not by asking them at the end of the video “please like, comment, subscribe” but have a unique premise for your channel that makes people care. For example, Jerry’s channel is about growing YouTube channels – that’s bland, boring, why would anyone share that? But the lead premise changes to “How to grow a lead-generating YouTube channel in 90 minutes a week” or something similar. That’s something people will share.
3 criteria in your unique premise:
- What’s something your competitors can’t or won’t say?
- Emotionally compelling – they need to feel something
- Easy to remember, easy to understand, easy to repeat. If not, how are they going to tell anybody about it
How to get people clicking on your videos? Besides obviously good title and good thumbnail?
He recommends using AI to help you make better thumbnails.
How to get yourself to create videos faster? The secret is not AI. Top concerns from businesses – they think they don’t have the right video backdrop, they don’t have the right gear, they don’t have anyone comfortable on camera. YouTube is not a place for perfection. Videos with simpler editing are performing very well. Emotional connection is more important than technical quality. Don’t strive for perfectionism and don’t stress over the production quality of your videos.
Decide how your videos will be edited once, and then repeat the process each week. Don’t make the editing decision every single time you film a video.
He doesn’t recommend faceless channels because you can be immediately copied and not have much recourse. The 3 things that make your video more unique are your face, your unique stories and your unique opinions.
All videos on YouTube are either educational or entertaining.
One of the things YouTube looks at is “what videos do people in this region like to watch?”
If one of your videos does really well, stop what you’re doing and make many more videos like it.
He doesn’t think descriptions are as important as they used to be – don’t spend a ton of time perfecting them. Have the first two lines describe your video, and then put your main call to action right below it without a line break so they see it right away. He says it’s worth the time to make chapters.
Every video should be as long or as short it needs to be to convey your info.
He doesn’t think it’s worth worrying about perfect posting times; youtube shorts; livestreams.. They all disappear off the feed too soon; hashtags and tags. They’re all distractions. Instead, work on your thumbnail and your script. Depends on your unique premise.
Embracing the New Rules of YouTube for More Views, Greater Trust, and Proven Results, by Sean Cannell
https://www.instagram.com/seancannell/
https://www.youtube.com/@seanthinks
Just having subscribers isn’t enough anymore. Most of your subscribers don’t see your new videos.
What used to work – Post consistently = grow; subscribers = views; good content wins.
But there’s been a shift.
#1 – Competition is higher than ever. 20 million videos are uploaded every day to YouTube.
#2 – Subscribers don’t guarantee views. Every video has to win on its own merits.
#3 – Good content is no longer good enough.
Content is king, but Packaging is Queen. Packaging is: Topic, Title, Thumbnail.
Why the opportunity is bigger than ever:
YouTube now has 2.7 billion monthly users. It’s the town square of the Internet now. Money follows attention, and right now the attention is on YouTube. YoUTube makes more ad revenue than Disney, NBC, Paramount, and WB put together. It’s the king of all media. World’s largest media company. It’s also the most watched streaming TV.
YouTube videos are now 30-90 minutes long, with podcasts, episodes, etc.
YouTube videos can go viral in 60 seconds, and your video can live on and get views even six years later.
He pays attention to VPH, views per hour. He gets those analytics from the VidIQ service he subscribes to. Your older videos can be getting views while you sleep! Have a long game mindset. Even if views are down, income can still be up.
5 rules of YouTube success in 2026:
- The right views is more important than more views. Depending on who sees your video. Perhaps only one person views your video, but it’s someone who wants to pay you, hire you, spend $ at your company, etc. Figure out the business you’re building, not the content you’re making.
- Authenticity is the antidote to AI fatigue and the trust recession. People aren’t opting into things or signing up for many webinars. Audiences are flooded with content right now and they aren’t fooled. We’re seeing two extremes: big budget thoughtful storytelling; and raw, relatable vlogs. Stripped down content. People don’t trust perfect, they trust real.
- Your brand is the only differentiator left. Ai can copy your content, but it can’t copy your brand, your voice, your sound, your word choice. Everybody now has AI and can access information and look it up, but people want your unique point of view. What do you believe that others won’t say? What’s your hot take, your angle, your unique perspective? What’s your story? Your convictions. Your niche authority. 70% of consumers say they will buy from brands that reflect their values (although we aren’t supposed to talk religion/politics as it’s bad manners) What’s the thing you’re not sharing right now that you can put into your content that communicates your values? 75% of millennials will switch to a brand that champions a cause they care about.
- Act like a media company or fall behind. YouTube rewards creators who are willing to invest and not dabble. If you want to get results, you have to commit to it. Invest time and money and resources, or don’t do YouTube. You’re either in or you’re out.
- Master Packaging or get Ignored. Learn about title formulas, get help with thumbnails. “Give me 12 minutes and I’ll save you 17 years of trying to lose weight” etc.
Over 90% of the videos people watch on YouTube were recommended by the algorithm.
Use AI title tools, and use YouTube A/B testing. Your competition doesn’t.
How to ‘Stop The Scroll’ with Short Form Videos by Eden Hazan
https://www.instagram.com/pov.eden/
https://www.instagram.com/socialdrop/
You’re here today because..
- You struggle to create enough content for your brand Your content looks good, but it is not performing
- Your content is not connecting with your community
- Your competitors are winning attention faster than you are
- Creating content keeps getting in the way Content feels expensive, inconsistent, and unsustainable
The problem is not your content, the problem is the attention.
Strategize; create; assess; repeat.
The content dilemma:
- Brands are making a lot of content
- Even “good” content never really gets a chance
- Most content is not engineered to earn attention
What is classified as good content? People do not stop scrolling for content alone. They stop for tension, emotion, curiosity and story.
Storytelling needs structure: beginning, middle and end.
Are your goals with this content to sell/earn, or to get engagement/growth, or to share culture and connect?
Is your content on brand? Pay attention to the core values, audience fit, and align it to your strategy.
Good content:
- Sparks interest
- Earns and keeps attention
- Has a clear structure
- Has a goal/purpose
- Is aligned with your brand
Every strong short form video has three parts:
- The Hook – Stop the scroll
- The Body – Retain attention
- The CTA – Direct Momentum
Hooks – Why are they important?
- Combat short attention spans
- Communicates your value up front
- Algorithm prioritization
Put the very most engaging 1-3 seconds of footage at the start of your video.
5 Hook Opportunities:
- Text overlay (but position it in the right place)
- Caption (reiterate the communication)
- Voiceover (immerse the senses)
- Audio (get even more creative)
- Visual (locations, product, transitions)
Visual Hook Bootcamp:
- Inspiration – explore and pay attention
- Value first – flex the value!
- The peak – maximize interest
- Length – short and sweet
- Creativity – stand out!
His example was if he was doing a video about pizza, he wouldn’t start with the dough. Beige, boring. He wouldn’t show the sauce, or the cheese. He’d skip ahead to immediately show the pizza coming out of the oven, or one gooey slice being removed from the whole pizza pie.
Body: The Art of Viewer Retention
- Bring value (entertainment vs. education)
- Progress the plot (new clips, new visuals and new communication points)
- Stretch the suspense (ask questions? Present problems)
- Build anticipation (don’t give it away just yet)
CTAs: Not every CTA needs to sell, but they all need to direct the viewer to take an action. CTA’s should:
- Be goal dependent (DM/like/share)
- Be the payoff (the climax)
- End on a high note (don’t drag it out)
- Reiterate the ask (reinforce in caption)
Transitions:
A technique used to smoothly move from one shot/scene to another. They can help convey a change in time/place and guide the viewer’s attention to ensure they watch until the end. More watch time = More engagement. Algorithms pay attention to the consumption rate of your content.
Use perspective, pattern interruption, and presenting boring information in an entertaining way.
He showed us one of his pizza videos.
- Avatar: Fitness or parent persona
- Setting: Kitchen, living room(s), front door, grocery store (inside/outside)
- Props: Cooked pizza and / or packaging
- Action: Bite, reaction, receiving, opening pizzas/box.
- Callouts: Better frozen pizza, high protein
Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Business with YouTube + AI by Roberto Blake
https://www.youtube.com/@robertoblake
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, and has the monopoly of intentional viewers, and the platform in which over 60% of consumers look for product reviews before making a purchasing decision. 3 billion monthly active users.
YouTube for Business Owners
- Generating Traffic (Gaining Organic YouTube Traffic and Converting This To Website and Landing Page Traffic)
- Building Trust (Becoming an Authority, Creating Credibility, Demonstrating Relatable Results and Gaining Qualified Leads)
- Earning Transactions (Convert Viewers Into Customers and Into Super Fans Who Support With Their Wallets and Not Just Their Eyeballs)
88% of all longform videos uploaded to YouTube in its entire 21 year history, have less than 1000 views. That means the majority of YouTubers are making content for which there is no demand. People are making what they want to make instead of what people want to watch. As a hobbyist that’s ok, as a business it’s not.
Content for Building a Buying Audience
Gateway Content (HELP CONTENT) – Onboard new viewers onto your subject matter and help them better understand the basics and establish credibility with beginners.
Authority Content (HERO CONTENT) – Content that makes you credible as a thought leader. Consider posting clips from speaking engagements or entire keynotes, host live workshops or webinars that can evergreen, post disruptive paradigm shift content for your niche/industry that challenges the status quo.
Evergreen Content (HELP CONTENT) – Create search friendly evergreen content that will always drive attention and traffic at some level, ideally set a foundation of this being at least 50% of all of your content as it will create a sustainable view floor to onboard new viewers and sustain returning viewers who need specific answers. Primarily “how to” videos, complete beginners guides, step by step guide, demonstrations, and explainer videos.
Community Content (HUB CONTENT) – a live show format, ideally weekly or 2x per month that can be a magnet for returning viewers, and where you can answer questions to further establish credibility and establish a sense of community. This format is ideal for lead generation and direct sales while demonstrating value. Show instead of just tell.
News Content (HUB CONTENT) – this content covers NEWS topics within your niche or industry that allows you to reach both new and returning viewers who want to keep up to date with the latest industry trends and emerging opportunities.
While using AI to create some of your content, you can show “proof of human” which builds trust. Show it by livestreaming, producing content from real-world events, and video podcasts.
He recommends Claude for pre-production and planning. Use Claude as your AI creative strategist for Youtube-first content.
After publishing your video, he recommends OpusClip for repurposing your content to publish on other platforms.
Use AI to scale human value, not replace humans. Use Al to enhance content quality and focus, not to replace human content.
- Use Al to Scale Distribution and Awareness by automating repurposing workflows
- Use Al to repurpose content for device context and for platform formats
- Use Al to better understand your audience by accessing large amounts of behavioral data
- Use Al for better workflows to reinvest time savings into higher quality content
YouTube Business Strategy
- Place CTA (Call to Action) in the pinned comment of your YouTube videos
- Use the YouTube Community Tab and Schedule Posts that Directly Promote Your Products and Opportunities Weekly, as much as 2x per week, 3x per week. Post polls and text based posts that help qualify your audience or educate them.
- If applicable, host weekly livestreams that allow you to demonstrate value and establish credibility and authority with your audience, and bring your community together.
- Use short form content to create awareness for your brand or interest in your subject matter.
- Use Google Ads to directly run video remarketing ads exclusively to your own viewers, so that you are reaching people who already know, like and trust you, and putting your offers in front of them.
- Create Beginners guides that establish you as an authority and thought leader.
- Use tracking link tools such as GENIUSLINK to be able to effectively track clicks from your YouTube content and measure the ROI of your actions. You can bulk update across your channels and add tracking links to all your descriptions using a great Al tool called CREATIVE FUEL. https://creativefuel.ai/
Converting Viewers into Customers
NEWSLETTER Use your free content to funnel your audience to joining your email newsletter and go deeper with you as a community member. Make sure you’re communicating what is in it for them. Make being part of the newsletter about helping them achieve something and have access to specific experiences or information they want and need to know.
COLLABORATION – Collaborate with other creators who share your audience avatar and customer avatar, but serve the community in a different way, and cross promote your offers to each others audience and help each other establish authority and credibility with your shared audience and customer base. (Restaurants and wineries work together)
DIRECT SALES – Don’t be afraid to directly sell to your audience through a VSL, (Video Sales Letter), live streams to your community or making a direct offer in your community tab. Also make sure to have links to your offers in all of your video descriptions.
LIVE STREAMS – going live is the best way to directly sell to an audience overall and the strongest opportunity you have to connect directly with customers.
How to Produce Studio-Quality Videos with Google Veo—Without a Studio Budget by Leslie Samuel
https://www.instagram.com/iamlesliesamuel
https://www.youtube.com/@iamlesliesamuel
History of making videos
Era 1: Traditional Pro Video: Expensive equipment. Slow cycles. Large crews.
Era 2: Social Video: Smartphones, DSLRs, YouTube. Fast production for anyone.
Era 3: AI Video: Studio grade output. More affordable. Accessible to everyone.
Google Veo is Google’s AI model that generates videos from your text prompts.
It makes 8 second clips, and you can make audio if you want to. It costs between 10 and 100 credits to produce one 8 second clip, and you only get 100 credits a month on the free plan.
What Veo can do for marketers:
- Short form content
- Ad style videos
- Visual stories
- Creative angles
You can access Google Veo through:
- Gemini: Directly inside the Gemini chat interface, quickest path for one-off clips.
- Google Flow (Recommended): The AI filmmaking tool. Scenes, ingredients, extensions, object edits, the full workflow.
- 3rd-party platforms: Veo 3.1 is appearing inside third-party AI video tools, convenience plus integrations.
Character consistency between each 8 second clip can be difficult.
He recommends Flow:
https://labs.google/fx/tools/flow
His 4 Step Process:
- Pre-Production – do this before spending credits
- Scene Design – design characters, products, scenes before generating. Use Gemini or Claude or ChatGPT to help you design a video prompt.
- Video Generation – Use ingredients (product image, model image, scene prompt) and generate your clip or clips
- Editing & Sound – Use Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, or Capcut etc. He recommends Elevenlabs.io if you want to generate audio instead of your own voiceover.
His prompt to create a scene of a product was:
“Extreme macro closeup of a dark amber glass bottle with a gold dropper cap, placed on a wet black marble surface, a single drop of golden serum falling in ultra slow motion, catching warm light, deep bokeh background, rich warm directional lighting from the left, cinematic 4K luxury beauty commercial, dark and moody with golden highlights, camera locked off, no camera movement.”
Action steps:
- Come up with an idea for your first video (keep it simple)
- Script it with your favorite LLM (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude)
- Design the character and scene in Google Flow
- Create your first video with Veo 3
- Post it!
Thank you to Goose Ridge for hosting us today!!!
-Carrie