Youtube marketing : Guide to creating , promoting and optimizing video content.
Let’s talk about YouTube. We’ve all heard of it, and chances are, we’ve all spent a wasted afternoon watching one silly cat video after another. Now you may be thinking, that’s great but my audience isn’t on YouTube. Think again. One third of all online activity is spent watching videos, and YouTube has more than a billion active users. The platform is so expansive that it can be accessed in 76 different languages, accounting for 95% of the world’s population.
How to Create a YouTube Channel
So, you’ve decided to create a YouTube channel? Great! We can’t wait to see the amazing content you promote. Before we dive in, it’s important to note that maintaining a YouTube channel takes extra time and planning.
Unlike other social networking platforms, YouTube exclusively hosts video content. If you’re only creating a YouTube channel to upload one video and have no intention of maintaining the platform, you might want to reconsider. You’ll need to set aside plenty of time to plan, film, edit, market, and analyze content on a consistent basis. You’ll need to define your brand’s goals and plan for how video specifically can help you achieve these.
How to Optimize Your Videos for SEO & Ranking
Now that your YouTube channel is up and running, let’s talk about search. Remember how we mentioned that YouTube is the second largest search engine? While creating engaging content is a must, it’s not the only factor for success. There are several things you can do to optimize your videos to rank highly on both YouTube and in Google search results.
The first step to becoming a YouTube marketing pro is creating and optimizing your video’s metadata. Simply put, metadata gives viewers information about your video, which includes your video title, description, tags, category, thumbnail, subtitles, and closed captions. Providing the right information in your video’s metadata will help to ensure that it is properly indexed by YouTube and appears when people are searching for videos like yours. Be succinct and straightforward when filling out your metadata -- your content could be removed if you try to promote it with unrelated keywords.
How to Market Your YouTube Channel & Videos
Social Media
Sharing your videos on social is an easy way to add additional insights to your video and engage with viewers. YouTube makes it incredibly simple for you and others to promote your video across other social networks. To share a video, just click the “Share” tab underneath the video. There you can select where to market the video. YouTube even provides a shortened URL to your video for convenient sharing.
Blog Posts and Website
Market your YouTube channel and videos on your website and blog. First, add a YouTube follow icon to your website and blog so your audience can easily find your channel. Second, embed relevant videos on your website or in blog posts. Consider creating a YouTube video to accompany a specific blog post or sharing customer video reviews or case studies on your website. Not only will this help market your YouTube channel and videos, it will also drive traffic to your website.
Email
While you’re on the quest to find and attract new customers and leads, don’t forget about the ones you already have. Share your video content and channel with relevant email lists. Encourage your contacts to check out a blog post you’ve embedded a video in to increase both the video and website traffic or direct them to a relevant playlist you’ve curated. Sending an email newsletter with valuable information and content is a great way to keep your contacts engaged.
Q&A Sites
Do your videos help solve a problem or answer a question? If so, engaging with popular question and answer sites like Quora might be a great marketing technique for your business. Monitor questions and share video content users will find helpful.
Collaborate With Others
Does your company have a relationship with another company that has a great YouTube presence? Ask them to collaborate! Collaborating with others is a fun way for both channels to gain exposure to another audience. Create a video or playlist together. There are a lot of options to creatively collaborate with other brands, just make sure that their audience and goal is similar to yours. The partnership should align with your marketing strategy.
Engage With Viewers
Finally, be sure to engage with your viewers. Respond to comments, answer questions, ask for feedback, and thank viewers for their support. This is an easy task to let fall by the wayside so try to choose a dedicated time to check video interactions and respond to users.