How to Learn From YouTube

The biggest help to me during my pre-college grad years was YouTube learning. Although, I had to be careful. Why?

Not everything on YouTube is correct. Marketing is an ever-changing field of information. 

On YouTube, some ideas are old and outdated, some are using correct info but jumping to incorrect conclusions, and unfortunately there are just some really bad ideas that people knowingly put out there to mislead and misdirect. Why do they mislead? Well, because they jealously guard some skills, strategies, and ideas so that others (namely competitors like you and I) cannot use them. 

Being able to go through several short tutorials to get a rough ideas before jumping into a longer tutorial will save you lots of time and effort. Focusing and taking notes on these videos will really help you absorb what you learn. (Even if you think you don't know how to take effective notes).

So, you ask, "how do I know what content is good and correct and what is bad or incorrect?" Great question! 

The answer isn't clear-cut, but I will show you how to help judge whether content is good or not on YouTube in 3 steps.

The best way to clarify data is check the date it was posted. 

If you are looking up a tutorial on "how to use Google Ads [Insert current year here]"; you'll want to check the original posting date, as some people will simply edit the title and description of an old video to match the current year. 

Like this person here:

The video says it's for Google Ads 2022, but it was posted in January of 2021 - at the time of writing that is over a year and a half old. Google Ads has gone through several major updates since then and most of the info will not be relevant or correct anymore.

You will want to look for videos ideally that are posted within 1-4 months of the time you are searching. This will ensure that the ideas posted are the most up-to-date and correct.

If it seems to good to be true, it is.

Misleading or misdirected information to get clicks and views is a common practice among content creators and influencers. The more people view their content, the more ads that are shown, and the more money that the creator gets.

So how do you tell what is correct? You have to do some trial and error. Searching for "Google Ads Tutorial 2022" yields thousands of results. Typically, a video under 15 minutes will not give you a good enough idea of how to perform most marketing manager tasks. 

Short 5-15 minutes videos WILL, however, begin to give you an example of what is correct. Watch say 5-8 videos within that length on a subject from 5-8 different creators, and you will start to see common themes among them on what is correct and common knowledge. Then, once you have an idea of what is right, you look for a long video to watch.

If you want to learn from start to finish how to do an activity, say Google Ads, you will want to watch a video that is about an hour or two long. These in-depth guides will show you in-detail how to do what you need to do.

"Woah! That's a lot of my time, Hunter!" I know. Getting to see exactly how something in depth in marketing is done like Google Ads, Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, etc. will end being VERY much worth your time. 

So check out a few short videos from different creators to get an idea of what seems standard and correct, then move on to the longer and more in-depth tutorials and see if they do the same thing as the short ones.

Taking notes and focusing is key to retaining your YouTube knowledge base.

When I first started learning online, I would be on my phone, eat some snacks, and glance at other tabs or maybe check emails while I was watching. I ended up having to watch the same videos 3-4 times just to get a decent amount of info out of it.

Taking the time to close out of all your other tabs, put your phone down and force yourself not to check it, or send that text, or check that notification for even just 15 minutes chunks of time will help a ton. When you do look at your phone or break focus, do a full pause and break. Don't try to watch the video while responding to a text, don't say to yourself it will just take a second, because it won't! (Trust me, I still do it haha).

Take a minimum of 15 focused minutes and give all your attention to whatever you're learning. Then, if you need/want to do something else, pause the video, minimize the tab, whatever, and take a full break for a few minutes before going back for another 15 minutes or longer focus chunk.

Take some notes! Even if they seem redundant or obvious, take notes on what you are learning. Grab a paper and pen ideally, or, if you use your phone, only have the notes app or Google Docs app open. Jotting down a few ideas or notes while learning will help retention and trick your brain into focusing more closely than it would if you were casually watching.

Focus hard with no distractions for 15 minutes at a time minimum, and take notes while learning. You will learn so much faster and retain so much more info!