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YouTube is a home for videos. Whether you’re looking for educational explainer videos, meme compilation videos, or even perfect omelet recipes this platform has it all.
With more than 2 billion users worldwide, this second-largest search engine worldwide has now become an ideal channel for every savvy marketer out there to promote their brand and products.
According to a report, more than 62% of businesses use YouTube to post their marketing video content. Now that the competition is getting fiercer, YouTube marketing has become so much more than creating videos and uploading them to the platform.
You need to make sure that your channel and videos stand out from the rest of your competitors.
Here are some YouTube marketing tips you need to know so you can get your channel off the ground as well as boost your marketing videos visibility.
Tip #1— Fill Out All the Details of Your YouTube Channel
Some marketers get too excited to start their YouTube strategy so they leave out some important information about their channel. Make sure you spend extra time and effort to fill out all the details of your channel such as:
- Profile picture
- Art banner
- Channel description
- Channel location
- Contact email
- Social Media accounts
- Featured links
Remember that those points through which YouTube users will learn about the business behind the YouTube account. They also make your channel more professional and trustworthy.
Here’s an example of a professional-looking YouTube account from Breadnbeyond. To increase brand recall, it uses a profile picture and a customized art banner. And in its About tab, you will find all the basic information about the business, such as descriptions, contact emails, direct links to the website, and other social media channels.
Tip #2— Go for Unique, Original, and Creative Content
Do you know that people upload more than 500 hours of fresh video to YouTube every minute? Users have endless options for content. In this case, you need to make sure that your video content is not similar or the same as any of your competitors.
Once you define your unique form of content, you will not only be able to differentiate your channel from your competitors but also attract more users and eventually increase brand recall as it makes them feel like they are watching something new and interesting.
The best way to do this is by learning and taking notes from your competitors on the platform; how they use their channel, what kind of content they create, how they interact with their subscribers, and more. Then, you can analyze how you can do better than them.
A great example of original and unique YouTube marketing content is Blendtec. This blender company uploads the “Will It Blends?” series, where the founder, Tom Dickson attempts to blend various unusual items (mostly gadgets) using the blenders. All videos are entertaining as well as show off the power of the product.
Tip #3— Optimize Your Videos
After all, YouTube is a search engine for online videos. Since it works just like Google, it has its own SEO rules. Just like you want to get your site high up on the Google SERPs, you want to get your videos high up on the YouTube SERPs.
To make your YouTube videos more SEO-friendly, you should:
- Put the keywords in your video title and description.
- Make it accessible for mobile users
- Add a transcript for subtitles so people can search it easier, which ultimately helps with SEO as well. The more transcripts you have on your videos, the better chance of them ranking high up on YouTube’s SERPs
- Add timestamps to your YouTube video descriptions.
A well-optimized YouTube video will also show up on the Google SERPs when a user searches specific keywords, like this:
Tip #4— Create Enticing Thumbnails
Along with your video titles, thumbnails are the first thing users see when they find your video. It’s safe to say that those tiny images are a big deciding factor in whether or not a user will click on your video.
Instead of using the default thumbnail that YouTube provides you, you can make even more clickable and cool-looking ones using tools like Canva or even create one yourself if you have the skills.
When you design your customized thumbnail templates consistently– using the same color pallet, layout, number of subjects, arrangement, font, and other elements, they will become a characteristic of your channel and brand. That is how viewers can easily identify your videos.
Tip #5— Create Your Channel Trailer
YouTube channel trailer video is the first video that viewers see on your channel. Like the thumbnail of a regular video, it is also an essential part of your YouTube marketing strategy and can greatly affect how many people subscribe to you or not after watching only this short yet informative preview of what you have to offer. This is where you can introduce yourself and your channel to the audience.
You can tell them why you created a YouTube account, what topics or genres of videos you post, who is in charge of running the channel (if there’s more than one person), as well as other relevant information about you and/or your channel that viewers must know.
Not only will it help users understand what your channel and videos are all about but it also makes it much easier for them to set their expectations.
Tip #6— Create an Intro and Outro Clip
Having an eye-catching intro and outro clip shows that you have a brand and are dedicated to your channel. You can use customized graphics or simple animation for both your intro and outro.
For the intro, you can encourage users to subscribe, like, and leave a comment on your videos. And by placing an outro at the end, you can add end-cards, break the chain of auto-play, and divert your new viewer to more of your content.
Even if you do not have basic design skills to animate your intro and outro clips, there are a bunch of video tools (e.g., Crello, InVideo, Veed, Canva, etc.) that provide you with ready-to-use templates.
Tip #7— Be Consistent
There’s nothing such as an overnight success when it comes to YouTube marketing. It takes time and effort to build a successful channel. And the key here is that you need to be consistent in creating content regularly.
Try to upload new videos at least once a week, and you may gradually increase the frequency to daily, if possible. Of course, all of the new videos don’t have to be polished with a high production value. You can simply create videos using your smartphone camera and upload them to YouTube Shorts.
You might consider doing some research for the best time to upload to YouTube for maximum exposure and engagement.
If you can’t create new videos regularly on your own, try collaborating with other YouTubers who have a big viewer base already, as this will help in generating quality traffic which is ultimately beneficial for both parties involved in the collaboration.
Final Thoughts: Start Your YouTube Video Marketing Now
For small businesses, YouTube offers a huge opportunity to promote their business and take it to the next level in a low-cost, budget-friendly way. That said, you need to remember that the competition on the platform is getting fiercer each day. This is why you need a more advanced strategy to stay ahead of the game.
With those tips mentioned above, now you’re ready to take your YouTube video marketing campaign to the next level and enjoy the benefits that come with it.
Have you ever tried YouTube for your marketing channel or at least considered the platform to market your product or service? Let me know in the comments below!
About Andre Oentoro
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
