People watch YouTube videos for over six billion hours each month — nearly one hour for every person on Earth. That’s more than just a whole lot of cat videos. It’s also a great opportunity for brands who want to be put front and center of a massive (and growing) audience.

Yet many businesses shy away from building a presence on YouTube because they fear they don’t have the equipment or technical skills to start creating videos. They imagine that everyone with a YouTube channel has a big budget to build a mini movie studio in their office.

The reality is that you don’t need a fancy studio, good lighting, or even a camera in order to dive into the world of video content. As long as you have some basic video editing software and a drive to create interesting things for your audience, you can see your subscriber list grow day after day.

To give you an idea of how this is possible, here are three brand channels that don’t use film to connect with YouTube users. Swipe their ideas to make your own mark on the second-largest social networking site the world.

1. Fun Facts

Learning something new is always fun. There’s just something satisfying about getting a fascinating factoid you can share at your next cocktail party. The people database site, Instant Checkmate provides its subscribers with a weekly dose of cool information with its informative videos. Using nothing more than still images, text, and free background music provided by YouTube, each two to three minute video explains a handful of facts revolving around a specific topic. The subject matter includes science, celebrities, and history, so people of varied interests are sure to get a kick out of their content.

2. Clips From Other Movies

You might not be able to use your own filmed content, but it’s possible to build a channel using clips from movies. Watchmojo.com did just that, building fun top ten lists with little more than short snippets from popular films. Without creating a single original frame from a camera, they build a YouTube channel that is two-point-eight million subscribers strong.

How can they they get away with using copyrighted works in their own videos? Watchmojo claims that each short clip falls under fair use. Since the clips are “transformative” (that is, they are used to create something new), they are short, and they don’t damage the name of the source material, they are legally entitled to use them without getting permission from the copyright holders first. So if you go down this route, make sure you’re conscious of the law beforehand.

3. Helpful Advice

People are always looking for a motivational pick me up or a new way to think about their problems. Wellcast gives its subscribers a therapeutic dose of video on topics ranging from anger management, nutrition, and relationships. And it’s all done with very simple hand-drawn images that are about one notch above stick figures in terms of complexity. But as simple as they are, it’s the charm and earnestness of the images and video that keep the nearly 200-thousand subscribers sticking around.

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