At ATA, we're talking with today's auto DIYers all the time, and if there's one thing they've consistently told us they love, it's YouTube. When DIYers need to learn something new, or they run into a problem during one of their projects, YouTube is the first place they've told us they go for help: before Google, Facebook, forums, or even actual mechanic. These self-reliant DIYers overcome speed bumps in their work through both a passion for the work itself and an insatiable appetite for information and research — mostly gathered through videos.

Bottom line: if your brand wants to learn more about today's innovative automotive DIYers and become a trusted part of their process, YouTube should be a crucial part of your content strategy. By sharing tutorials on YouTube, you can reach your target audience when they need your help the most. For more hints on how to make the most of auto DIYers' favorite social platform, keep reading.

Top Auto DIY YouTube Key Phrases

ZEFR Insights' research series on the YouTube car community returned some results that are incredibly useful for any brand that wants to get started with how-to videos on the platform. The DIY segment of the research revealed some staggering statistics:

• There are 35,ooo videos on YouTube related to auto DIY.
• Those videos have received a sum of 949 million views (and that number can only continue to grow)
• Auto DIY videos have received 4 million engagements from viewers

While auto DIY encompasses a massive range of topics, specialties, projects, and specific part and projects, ZEFR also compiled a helpful chart ranking the most popular key phrases in auto DIY videos in terms of views:

From the chart, we can see that "how to install" videos are far and away the most popular type of auto how-to video. Because installing a part can be such a technical and intense job, it makes sense that DIYers want to do their research before diving in to an installation project. Trailing just behind in number of views are topics like how to replace, change, fix/repair, and paint— all jobs that DIYers choose to do on their own to avoid the time and cost of taking their vehicles to the mechanic or body shop. As we move farther down the list, the key phrases become more specialized, but as you can see by the number of views, still in the millions and hundreds of thousands, DIYers are certainly still interested in learning more.

Why YouTube Matters in the Auto DIY Community

While many social platforms are integrating video more heavily into their interface in response to the consumption habits of their users, YouTube is the only major platform that revolves entirely around sharing and interacting with online video. In the auto DIY community, access to videos on a variety of topics (as well as various vehicles, parts, brands, and more) means that DIYers are continually empowered to take on more and bigger projects.

Manuals and guides can be a good start for understanding a part or process, but you can only learn so much on paper. Especially for visual learners, the ability to see a repair or installation job before they attempt it themselves can be a huge factor in deciding to DIY in the first place. How-to videos on YouTube not only offer DIYers information; they pass on the confidence to get the job done right. As DIYer Cameron VanDerHorst told us, he appreciates a brand that says, "Here’s a YouTube video of one of the guys in our shop doing it, and it doesn’t seem so daunting anymore, so I’m gonna buy that kit; I’m not gonna take it to the dealership."

Considering that the majority of automotive DIYers are self-taught and trying to avoid a trip to the mechanic for a variety of reasons, the immersive nature of video content on a searchable platform like YouTube is incredibly valuable. While brand-produced videos are certainly popular for their industry expertise, DIYers also watch plenty of videos produced by other DIYers in their own garages. In addition to producing your own branded videos, it's also important to remember that DIYers make up a powerful, influential audience of their own, and delighting these influencers is a great path to making your products part of those "homemade" how-to videos as well. Either way, if your brand is wondering where to catch the attention of today's auto DIYers, YouTube is worth your attention and effort.