The Rise of YouTube University

Not only has YouTube revolutionized the world of entertainment but it has given us the power to become experts at pretty much anything with just a single click.   For me, one of the most amazing things about YouTube is how it has made learning easier and more accessible than ever – anytime, anywhere, and for anyone.

I am astonished, for example, at how much of everything my 22-year old nephew knows. He is a guy of multiple talents.  That combined with a curious nature and a self-imposed autodidact personality, and you have the making of a very successful person. I’m jealous. He has a formal education with a degree in Engineering from UC Irvine, but college has certainly not been his only form of learning. As a matter of fact, in his own words, “without YouTube, I may have not graduated.”  While in college, he used YouTube to complement everything he was learning in the classroom. He learned theory and basics from professors, but he used YouTube for concrete examples and learning the application. YouTube helped him solve sample problems for math, physics, thermal dynamics, control systems, and fluid mechanics, to name just a few. But it doesn’t end there. Thanks to his persistence and passion for music, he is a self taught drum and guitar player.  Can you say WOW?! Also, need to repair a broken washing machine? YouTube. Want to learn French? YouTube. Need to assemble a bunk bed? YouTube…forget the assembly manual, who even reads those nowadays?

Thanks to YouTube, podcasts, and other sites offering how-to videos, we are becoming a generation of experts and DIY’ers. Education never stops now. People are educating themselves into a better, more robust life.  If you’re committed enough and willing to put in the hours, the sky is the limit. Everything is within your reach. Want to become a calculus expert? A marketer? A painter? A musician?, Well go for it. YouTube University has got you covered. BTW, YouTube University is obviously not real (I just made that up), nor accredited, but skills are skills and the more skills you have, the more marketable you become.

As a strategic planner focused on the U.S. Hispanic market, this trend should be of great interest to advertisers given that Hispanics over-index on all things digital and social media. Education and learning new skills is fundamental for the Latino community in the U.S.  We are Latino immigrants or the children of Latino immigrants. We know the struggle, we know the meaning of hard work, we were bred to search for areas where we could thrive and move ahead in life. With our “go get ‘em” attitude YouTube University becomes a supplement for our formal education or another way to improve our skill set, and thus develop our own successful path. Some of the best learning occurs when it is self-taught because the desire, the will, the tenacity is there and that alone is half the battle. Having the right tools at your fingertips makes it all much more feasible. 

So how does this digital education trend affect advertisers? Well for one, advertisers need to be more nimble and go beyond the traditional model of selling of products/services. This revolution is about providing a personalized experience and the right tools that allows the individual to pursue their passions and goals. Advertisers that can demonstrate how their product/services will improve and teach them something new will win big and form deeper relationships. So I say to them, start your own tutorials and “how to” videos because your target audience is simply a YouTube away from connecting with you in their pursuit of their dreams...