The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Marketing

What was launched as an online video streaming site in 2005 has now taken the form of a powerful marketing platform. Yes, we are talking about YouTube. Since its inception in the year 2005, YouTube users count has reached over 1 billion. The platform alone attracts 11% of total global video traffic. Moreover, people are spending more time on the platform.

In this digital age, where video content is becoming the new marketing norm, YouTube offers businesses a perfect opportunity to get on the bandwagon of video marketing. In fact, 48% of marketers aimed at making YouTube a marketing strategy in 2018 to tap on the global reach the platform offers. If you wish to dominate your industry through video marketing, there is no better tool than YouTube to help you reach your goal.

YouTube allows businesses to market their brands in two simple ways. One is by allowing businesses to create their own YouTube channel to execute marketing strategies. Another is by letting them advertise their products on videos that run on the platform. However, the road to success in YouTube marketing is filled with hurdles. With more than 50 million content creators keeping YouTube flowing with fresh content every day, making a mark of your own can be challenging. If you’re contemplating how to use YouTube to market your brand and where to start from, start taking notes. This insightful YouTube marketing guide will help maneuver your moves.

Step #1 Create a YouTube Channel for Business

Between 2017 and 2018, watch time for YouTube videos on “which product to buy” doubled.

Image Source: ThinkwithGoogle

Imagine how much profit you can earn just through video marketing. Having a YouTube channel is essential if you want to start marketing on it. When creating your channel, instead of using your Google account, use a Google Brand Account.

Here is why.

If you create your brand’s YouTube channel using your personal Google account, only you will be able to log into it. However, if you create your channel using a Brand Account, multiple Google Account holders will have access to the channel.

Keeping a YouTube channel up and running requires managing every part of it. With multiple people having authorized access and editing permission to your channel, they can work on it simultaneously. This way, you can streamline the activities on your channel better.

Here are the steps to create your YouTube Channel:

Go to YouTube. If you’re logged into your newly created Google account, go to your account module and click on “My Channel.” If not, Sign in through your new Brand Account first.
Image Source: Markbrinker
In the drop-down menu, you will see an option to create a channel. Here, click on “Use a business or other name” option present at the bottom.
You will be asked to create a Brand Account. Enter your Brand Account name and hit the “Create” icon. Voila! Your own YouTube channel is ready.

It’s easy to change or update your channel’s name whenever needed.

To give your YouTube Brand Account access to your team,

Tap on the Google account icon present on the top right side and open the menu

Now click on the “Settings”

Select “Add or remove managers.” Then click “Manage permission”
In the upper right corner, you’ll see people icon
Click on it to add the Gmail addresses of people who want to give permission and choose their role

YouTube offers three roles – Owners, Managers, and Communication Managers.

Owners: Besides having full editing rights over your company’s Google properties, someone marked as owner can make changes in the page roles, edit brand information, and much more.
Managers: The only difference between owners and managers is that later can’t manage page roles and listings.
Communication Managers: The job role of a communication manager is limited to responding to the comments and reviews on the video.

Step #2 Optimize Your YouTube Channel

Now that you have your Brand YouTube Channel, it’s time to customize it.

The first step to having a personalized channel is adding a unique channel icon and channel art. Whenever a viewer visits your channel, the first things they will notice are channel icon and channel art only. To make your channel stand out and easily recognizable, use images that resonate with your brand perfectly.

For that,

Click on the “Customize Channel” tap

To update your channel icon, move your mouse over the blue profile picture present at the top left-corner and upload the new picture
Be patient while your new profile picture gets updated and appears
Now, to add the channel art, click on the “Add Channel Art” icon in blue in the middle of your channel. You would require to check the template for design specifications

Once your channel icon and channel art is all set, it’s time to update the “About” section.

In the About tab, you can add a description of your channel, links of your business’s website and social media accounts, and email address.

Customizing Your YouTube Channel

One of the coolest features offered by YouTube is that it allows one to customize how the channel appears to those who have subscribed to the channel and those who haven’t.

Viewers who have subscribed to your channel will see different content than those who are not your subscribers yet.

To make use of this feature,

Turn on the customization option by clicking on the icon present next to the Subscribe Button
Now, you need to make sure that the “Customize the layout of your channel” option is on. Hit on “Save”

To take your YouTube channel a notch higher, add a channel trailer.

To upload a channel trailer, click on the arrow present on the upper right-hand side of the dashboard, and select the video file.

To optimize your trailer for SEO, add keywords to your trailer’s name and description.

When your video is uploaded, click on the “For new visitors” icon on the channel homepage. Now click on the “Channel trailer.”

You can either choose to have the trailer you have uploaded as a featured video or enter the URL of the video.

Save the setting to complete the action.

Step #3 Create Compelling Video Title, Description, and Tags

Now that you have your business YouTube Channel, you can start uploading videos on it.

But here is the thing about videos. There is no guarantee if the video will garner the desired views, no matter how good it is.

Optimizing the title of the video is key to ensuring it gets its fair share of viewers.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating an optimized YouTube Title.

Keywords have a significant role in SEO. In YouTube marketing too, keywords help in getting a video in front of its ideal audience. So, add relevant keywords in the video titles.

Image Source: Youtube

What’s important here to remember is that 60% of viewers give preference to content that is relevant to them. So, keep a title that resonates with your audiences’ interest.

Your title should be short and concise. An ideal title is of no more than 60 characters.

Although it’s advisable to keep the title short, make sure it describes the essence of the video clearly.

Your title should compel the viewers to click on your video.

To create a compelling and clickable video title, just follow these steps:

Find out the essence or theme of your video
Look for keywords that are short and perfectly describes the video
Create a title based on the most pressing questions of your viewers

Adding keywords in the description section is as important for the visibility of the video. Having high-volume keywords can significantly boost the ranking of the video on the search engine and its visibility.

Tags are another key component in making videos reach a wider audience. How you tag videos can help YouTube filter the keywords you have used and rank you accordingly.

Besides title and tags, spend considerable time in deciding channel keywords. Channel keywords are terms that make it easier for viewers to search for videos when they are outside of YouTube.

Step #4 Design an Attractive YouTube Thumbnails

If you want to attract more viewers to your video and make them click on it instantly, ace the art of creating perfect thumbnails. A perfect YouTube thumbnail is the one that perfectly describes the video. To enhance the effectiveness of your video, add a short description of the video or images.

Here are some technical aspects to keep in mind when creating a thumbnail:

Small-sized videos tend to pixelate, so use video sizes from 1280×720 or 1920×1080
Choose high-resolution images that are either JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF, or TIF
Add the title of the video on the thumbnail
Keep the theme for the thumbnail constant.
To create the thumbnail you can use a tool like InVideo. It has templates for not just creating YouTube videos, but also the thumbnails that accompany them.”

Step #5 Conduct Audience Research

Image Source: Youtube

According to a study conducted by YouTube, teens aged between 18-34 years access the platform on their mobile phone.

Currently, YouTube has over 1 billion active monthly users. To put it in simple terms, almost ⅓ of all the people on the Internet watch YouTube Videos.

These figures indicate that YouTube harbors billions of potential leads ready to be turned into ideal customers. Now converting them needs strategic planning. To win over your audience, you need to know them up close.

Having a clear understanding of your audience and their preferences is vital when creating video content. Luckily, YouTube Analytics simplifies the audience research. YouTube channel for business comes with several statistics and insights that are helpful in analyzing audience behavior, viewers count, rate of interaction, ROI, and more.

Subscriber demographics is another important insight offered by YouTube Analytics. With the help of the Demographics and other data, you can find out the age-group of your audience, gender, location, interests, and more.

By comparing these numbers with your assumptions, you can identify the loopholes in your strategy. This way, you can rest assured that your YouTube marketing efforts are going in the right direction.

In marketing, qualitative Intel on the audience is important as quantitative metrics. On YouTube, you can do so with the help of comments and reviews your audiences leave on your videos.

Reviewing the comments, no matter how harsh they are, can give you vital information like what kind of content your audience prefers the most. How much time do they spend on your channel? What content they want to see next.

How the way you respond to the comments and act on the suggestions can further enhance your grip on your audience.

Step #6 Competitor Analysis

Audience research is only a small aspect of marketing. Building a well-rounded YouTube marketing strategy requires a deep insight into the competitors. With a comprehensive competitive report, you can analyze where you currently stand in the market and how to gain an edge. Similar to audience analysis, YouTube offers plenty of ways to conduct a competitor analysis.

To do so, go to your competitors’ YouTube channel. Now go through the videos they have uploaded and analyze the content. You will get an understanding of what the audience likes to see and what they don’t.

Another way to track your competitors’ performance is by going over the comment section. Read the comments to understand what audiences like the most in their video and how you can replicate it in your content.

When you’re going through your competitor’s YouTube channel, check their descriptions. Look for keywords they have used to boost their SEO. Try to use the keywords in your descriptions to get higher recommendations.

Step #7 Brand Your YouTube Channel

Although almost 70% of YouTube videos watched are recommendations generated by algorithms, on average, a YouTube visit includes 6.5 page views. Meaning, active users go through the platform to look for new content and channels. Here, the branding of your YouTube channel becomes essential.

Branding the YouTube channel is another strategy to increase its visibility and reach. Branding also helps in enhancing brand awareness and enticing visitors to watch the videos. If you are a brand or a business, use your logo as the channel icon (you can create one using a logo maker tool).

To help your audience find your videos with ease, add creatively crafted descriptions and titles. Adding company bio is another way to enhance the personality of your brand online. By adding an informative bio about your company, you can instill interest in your audience to watch your videos.

Now, let’s discuss some strategies to enhance your YouTube marketing efforts.

Strategy #1 Keep the Videos Short

As discussed above, audience watch time is an important factor in devising a sound video marketing strategy. Many marketing surveys have pointed out that the majority of audiences prefer videos that are 5 minutes shorter.

Creating lengthier videos with nothing much of substance will not help you gain more watch time. Instead, it’ll make your audience leave your channel or even unsubscribe you.

To figure out the ideal duration of your video, experiment with the length.

To optimize the watch time, keep the videos less than 5 minutes.

Besides creating high-quality videos, keep the content informative, and engaging.

Strategy #2 Create Call-to-Actions

Call-To-Actions are must have in videos. They are very effective in engaging the audience to the video and converting them into paying customers.

But here is the catch!

Most audiences don’t like coming across CTA. Recurring CTA can irritate the audience and wade them away. You need to use CTA creatively to not sound like you are giving a sales pitch. Use clear action words and commands. Whether you are eyeing for more subscribers or likes on your videos, use the CTAs at the start of the video or when it ends.

Adding bumper ads and watermarks, and cards are another creative method to use CTAs. Since such clickable CTAs don’t disrupt the viewers while watching the video, they are effective to use.

Let’s quickly look at what they are:

Bumper ads: Bumper ads are micro ads of six seconds duration that appear at the start or end of the video.
Cards: These types of CTAs are small in size but expands when clicked on. You can link your website or landing pages to these types of ads.
Watermarks: These are custom subscribe buttons that are aimed at your non-subscriber. Only those who haven’t subscribed to your channel will see them.

Strategy #3 Schedule Your Videos in Advance

YouTube has taken over television as a most favored platform for entertainment. In fact, 6 out of 10 people prefer YouTube or similar video streaming sites over TV.

If you wish to have a steady stream of audiences coming to your YouTube channel, keep it regularly updated with fresh content.

According to your convenience and needs, prepare a schedule to shoot your videos. Since your loyal viewers would be awaiting your video, try to stick to the schedule. Doing so will also help you establish your brand as a professional one.

Many YouTubers and marketers schedule their videos ahead of time in advance to avoid unforeseen glitches. By scheduling your videos, you can rest assured that it will get uploaded on the set time automatically.

Strategy #4 Create Playlists

On YouTube, the longer your audience spends time on your channel, the higher the success rate.

By creating a playlist of all the videos you have updated on your channel, you can make your audience stay for longer. This further enhances the average watch time count.

Here is how it works.

When you create a playlist on YouTube, all the videos autoplay until it reaches the last video in the list. This way, your viewers spend more time on the channel.

To build a playlist,

Go the Guide and click Library
Here, you will find “Create a playlist” tab
Now look for the video you want to add to the list
Click “Save” underneath the video
Select between “Watch Later”, “Faves”, or “Playlist”
Now, go to the drop-down menu to change the privacy setting of your playlist. Make it public
Click “Create” to save the setting

One needs to be very thoughtful when creating a playlist. Make sure the videos in your playlist are logically ordered.

Adding keywords in the playlist title is another way to enhance the reach of your videos.

Strategy #5 Translate Your Videos

Image Source: ConvertSolutions

The best part about YouTube is that it has a global audience base. No matter what corner of the world your audience is, YouTube can help you reach out to them.

According to YouTube, more than half of the viewers of a YouTube channel are people from outside the creator’s homeland.

This is your chance to expand your reach beyond your boundary. All you need to do is add subtitles to your videos.

You can either hire a professional language translator or take a free route.

You can ask your fans to help you translate the video content through a free translation feature offered by YouTube.

For that,

Hover your mouse over your account name present at the top right corner
Go to the “Creator Studio”
In the left, you’ll see a menu
Click Translations & Transcriptions > Community Contributions

It’s advisable to switch on community contributions for all videos. However, you can choose only one video to test the quality of translation.

Strategy #6 Advertise On YouTube

YouTube Ad Example

Running ads on YouTube is by far, one of the most effective methods to promote your business.

You can either run your ad on other YouTube videos or let someone run their ads on your video. The latter option allows one to generate revenue as well as enhance the brand value.

Besides these two advertising models, you can run retargeting and remarketing ad campaigns on your YouTube channel.

Remarketing and retargeting strategies are used to pitch potential customers who haven’t turned into a buyer yet.

On YouTube, when you remarket to such viewers, your ad appears to only those who haven’t subscribed to your channel yet. Through these ads, you can remind your audience of your brand and offerings. Another effective way to convert your audience into subscribers is to provide them with offers and discounts.

Another way to strengthen the reach of your YouTube channel is through Google AdWords.

But remember – you can’t grow your channel purely with AdWords. Besides running ad campaigns, keep focusing on producing high-value video content for your channel.

Success in YouTube marketing calls for constant efforts. You can’t just stop at creating the channel. To make the use of these tactics, keep experimenting with strategies. This will also help you learn about your audience and further enhance your reach. Keep an eye on the latest video marketing trends and try to incorporate them into your strategy.

But in the end, stick to your brand value. Whatever you put out on your channel should resonate with your brand’s ideology.

We hope this insightful article helps you ace the YouTube marketing game and boost your brand presence.

Keep following this space for more such marketing-oriented posts.

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