Sometimes you are so caught up in the moment that you got lost in time. You have spent all day watching one video after another. That’s how YouTube is– a source of entertainment.
But is that all YouTube is?
Recently, YouTube has become the biggest streaming platform. It has 2 billion active users and 27% of the Internet users spend more than 10 hours watching videos. Its accessibility greatly influences the worldwide impact of YouTube. YouTube videos are accessible in 76 different languages.
With the number of YouTube users and its impact, YouTube stakes as an essential tool for digital marketers. They did not bluff on this. In fact, recent statistics show that 55% of digital marketers use YouTube as one of their marketing strategies.
Today, let’s tackle these few things with YouTube marketing.
Youtube Marketing: Right Solution for Businesses
“The second” is currently YouTube’s nickname. Not only it is the second most popular website, but it is also the second-largest search engine. Although most people do not see YouTube as a search engine, that’s what users do on the site– search. With this, YouTube brings a huge potential reach for your business.
Aside from YouTube as an intimidating tool for brands, it is a combination of SEO and video. The most resource-intensive form of media coupled with strategic principle. Don’t you see how powerful that is?
If you are concerned with video production, creating marketing videos is not as difficult as it seems. You do not need a huge budget nor a substantial investment in production equipment. Resourcefulness is the key.
Now, you probably have an account already– if you haven’t, it’s easy to create a YouTube account. Whether you have a stack of awesome video content to upload or are still in your idea pad, you need to develop a first video marketing strategy.
Develop a YouTube Marketing Strategy
Do not be overwhelmed with the statistics you have read. Marketing on YouTube is most likely similar to marketing on other social media platforms. The first thing you have to do is develop a strategy.
1. Define Your Goals
Start by defining your goals. Write down the specific target you want to achieve at the end of the quarter or year. It could be the number of subscribers, engagement, click-through rates, or web traffic. That’s all on you. What’s important is you have a goal, and you know where you are going.
When creating your goals, use the SMART model: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The SMART model ensures that your goals are specific, attainable, and you can achieve them with a deadline.
Having specific goals help measure your progress accurately. At this point, you are establishing your key performance indicators (KPIs), which help measure your results.
2. Create a Schedule, Commit to It
In every social media platform, consistency is important, and that’s the same case on YouTube. The more content you post, the greater chance you will reach a wider audience.
Most successful YouTube creators follow a strict publishing schedule. You have to determine how often you post when to release your videos and commit to your schedule. According to Oberlo, the best day to post on YouTube are Thursdays and Fridays. Meanwhile, the best time to post is between 12 PM to 4 PM on weekdays and 9 AM to 11 AM on weekends.
It has been known that most viewers watch videos on the weekend in the evening. Thus, post earlier so it would be indexed by the time most users open YouTube.
YouTube Nonprofit Program
The fun part of YouTube marketing is populating your channel with several contents. Relax– if you are overwhelmed with the process or uninspired and lost, take time to decide. Ask yourself, what videos should I create and publish?
Here are some types of YouTube videos:
- Case Studies: These videos are a recap of a successful project or campaign. It often discusses results and statistics.
- Casual Video Blogs (or Vlogs): Recently, more and more content creators are into vlogging. Casual video blogs are documentations of your daily life or events uploaded daily or weekly.
- Customer Testimonials: Most of these videos are short-form interviews with satisfied customers. It helps build your business reputation and product credibility.
- Event Videos: Features influential speakers and discuss their in-person experiences at an expo or conference. A popular YouTube channel for this is TEDx Talks.
- Expert Interviews: Inviting well-known influencers and experts is the best way to attract new viewers. Moreover, experts have their followers. They can help drove traffic to your channel.
- Product Demonstration: It is an excellent way to showcase your products and services. You can show your target audience how to use its features, new update highlights, or new service offerings of your business.
- <Tutorial Videos: In-depth explanation on how to use a product or important key functions of services. Tutorials are the best content to support questions or new product feature explanation./li>
- YouTube Live: Users can broadcast live content to their viewers. Live broadcasts are unfiltered moments. Your audience can participate with real-time comments. After your YouTube live is done, it is recorded and uploaded like any of your other videos.
Now you have the ideas on what type of videos to upload on your YouTube channel. It’s time to know some tips on how to optimise your videos for SEO.
Optimize YouTube Videos for SEO
Remember, YouTube is the second-largest search engine. Thus, engaging content is a must. There are a few things you should do to optimise your videos and make them rank high on both YouTube and Google search results.
Title
The same with on-page SEO, optimising video title and description is important. Titles are what your target audience first read when scrolling through your videos. Thus, make it concise and compelling.
Always include your main keyword on the title and keep your title around 60 characters.
Description
YouTube shows the first to three lines of your video description. Thus, ensure the important details and main keywords is in the first 100 characters of your description. Always include links or CTAs at the beginning of your description.
If you can, include a video transcript in the description. Video transcripts can greatly improve your SEO as your video is full of keywords. Moreover, do not forget to link your social media channels in the description or video credits.
Meta Tags
Do not forget to highlight the primary keywords in your tags. When tagging videos, always use the most important keywords along with long-tail keywords. Tags associate your video with related videos. Thus, it broadens the reach of your video.
Category
Always sort your video into categories. Users that search in categories will find your video in related content.
Thumbnail
When viewers scroll through your video list, the video thumbnail is what they see first. Use an interesting video thumbnail as it has a large impact on the number of clicks and views. Although YouTube can auto-generate your video thumbnail, it is best to upload a customised one.
YouTube recommends 1280 x 720 px images for your video thumbnail. Thus, ensure your shots are of high quality to make them represent your video.
Playlists
Are your videos categorised into specific themes? Creating a playlist is the perfect tool. You can curate a collection of videos that are related to each other. It does not only organise your video content but also encourages your viewers to watch similar content.
Final Thoughts
YouTube is not merely for entertainment videos anymore. With its 2 billion active users, it has become a serious marketing platform. It allows companies and nonprofit organisations to promote their content visually and engagingly.
Create exciting video content and provide your viewers with valuable information. Do not forget to market your content across different platforms. Moreover, optimise your YouTube video.
At first, it may be overwhelming, but as soon as you become familiar with things on video marketing. It becomes easy to share and digest content. Always update your YouTube marketing strategy. Entertain, engage, and be the source of information to your audience.
