HOW TO MONETIZE YOUR AUTOMOTIVE YOUTUBE CONTENT
If you love creating automotive videos, you can absolutely learn how to monetize your content with a few simple steps.
My day job has always been in tech, but at night my wife and I love to work on cars. Our video content creation journey all started when we bought our first project car, a 1984 Datsun 280ZX. We started filming a Datsun build and never put the camera down. Four years later we’ve learned how to monetize our passion and we want to share how you can too.
Because f*ck gatekeeping.
First lets start with a snapshot of our overall YouTube monetization starting from the end of 2022 to the middle of 2024.
YOUTUBE MONETIZATION
Notice anything? We started generating income from the YouTube Partner monetization program around the end of 2022. It took two years of posting content before we generated any income. And YouTube isn’t the only way you can monetize your content which we’ll cover in a bit.
But when we first started recording we wanted to give up. It was hard and we had very little engagement or views. But, it’s like Mr. Beast says, make 100 videos, improve one small thing every video and then we’ll talk. Go watch one of his very first videos when he only had about 7k subs, he now has over 300 million subscribers.
PRACTICE IS KEY, BUT YOU MUST ALSO DEVELOP PATIENCE.
Before you can start to make money on YouTube it can take posting couple dozen full length videos or maybe even 100s to hit the YouTube ad’s monetization requirements which is 4000 hours of watch time and 1000 subscribers. But you can also unlock YouTube monetization by obtaining 1000 subscribers and 10 million short views in 90 days. Both can be challenging.
So FOCUS on creating content that SERVES your target audience.
STEP 1. FIND YOUR NICHE
WHO EXACTLY IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE? Do you own a Nissan and plan to drive it at the local track? Do you have tons of DIY projects? Or do you have a passion for teaching a skill or a difficult task? Find your niche or WHAT value you bring.
Our niche is automotive. Some may think there’s no room in the automotive space or even others such as food or health. But if you have a specific skill that resonates with your viewer, then there’s plenty of views to go around. More than 1 billion hours are watched on YouTube every day (YouTube Blog Press) and it keeps climbing.
We don’t recommend going too broad or covering varying unrelated topics at first. Become an expert in a specific topic, grow your audience, then start to expand. Spreading yourself across too many domains early on can be distracting to your main target audience. If you’re still struggling to come up with ideas, just:
RECORD CONTENT FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOURSELF
Watch videos on a topic you love. Think of ways to improve it with more visual storytelling or additional content. Brainstorm enough ideas that can scale to dozens of videos. As an example, lets say you love SCCA. Maybe challenge yourself to go to every local SCCA event and focus on lowering your lap time by 10 seconds every event. If you make those videos, I’ll be the first to watch :)
STEP 2. RECORD, RECORD, RECORD
Have your list of ideas? Now hit record. Don’t worry about details like an expensive camera.
THE BEST CAMERA IS THE ONE YOU ALREADY HAVE.
Start with your smart phone and just RECORD. Recording that first video will help you identify other areas you can improve on. One thing I love is go to my favorite YouTube Channels, sort the videos from oldest to newest and watch the first video. The first video always sucks, ours did. The lighting was bad, the sound wasn’t great, and the editing was terrible. But in between the first and latest video we’ve made small improvements.
COMPETE WITH NO ONE EXCEPT YOURSELF.
You are you. You are unique. No one else is exactly you. So don’t spend time comparing yourself to others. Gain inspiration from others and compete only with yourself. TIP: Read, “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (Austin Kleon)”
TIPS FOR MINIMAL CAMERA GEAR:
Use the camera you already have.
Record in 4K if possible, read next section…
Don’t be fooled like we were. Lighting is way more important than an expensive camera. We recommend something like this light with a soft box and tripod. Great lighting will make ANY camera look much better.
You also need clear audio, so pick up a wireless microphone system like the Rode Wireless Go. You want the mic as close to you as possible and with wireless you don’t have to worry about distance from a mic or turning your head and having the audio volume change.
If you’re going to be recording two people go with the Rode Wireless Go Dual that comes with two wireless mics.
Purchase a few stands that can hold your phone like a tripod, phone holder, and small handheld system. Composition is key. Make sure you are centered on the frame along with any other items you may be showing.
You’ll also need a computer with editing software. For beginners Capcut free version is great. It’s compatible with Windows and MAC.
We don’t recommend editing long form content on your smart phone.
The great thing about minimal gear is you can reuse everything you have if you decide to upgrade to a newer camera.
STEP 3. POST EVERYWHERE
When you’re recording those first couple of long form videos, one thing we recommend is recording in 4K if possible. With 4k you can take clips from your 16:9 footage and create vertical shorts. 4K will let you crop in to the appropriate vertical resolution without looking pixelated. Then post your short content across ALL social platforms.
Each platform will have its minimum follower and watch time monetization requirements, so posting across all platforms will help you work on reaching those requirements. Repost your original footage.
DON’T CROSS SHARE WITH WATERMARKS FROM OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS.
Posting across all platforms will help you collect data to identify what type of content each platform likes. Try posting different styles of videos. How-tos, voice over, dub with trending audio, and try different lengths. The goal is to post, post, post. Then after a few months, review your analytics to spot trends. Once you find what works, double down on that style.
These steps helped us monetize our social automotive content and we’d love for you to be able to do the same. If you have any questions please ask away in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you and what you’re working on :)
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