Video Made the Marketing Star

YouTube Tips: Video Made the Marketing Star

Despite rising competition from Facebook and other smaller competitors, YouTube remains the world’s most popular online destination for video creation and sharing, and it is absolutely fantastic as a marketing tool. Using the power of video in conjunction with other social media outlets to show your business off to the world has countless benefits, and this chapter will show you how to reap the rewards with YouTube.

YouTube Channel Optimization

Choose an optimum YouTube URL, link your account to Google+

Choose a YouTube username that reflects your brand for your channel URL – preferably not too long or complicated, and one that represents the name of your company or product. You will then be able to send people to this memorable

Your username will default as your channel title, but you may want to change this for SEO purposes, or – as YouTube will ask for all new accounts – reflect the name associated with a Google+ profile or business page. Having a public identity that is consistent across Google will allow you to optimize your sharing, content distribution, content discovery, channel management, and more.

 Create an engaging YouTube profile and description

Don’t ignore your YouTube account’s “About” section. Use it to sell your channel and its benefits to potential subscribers, and include all relevant social media and web links. Fill out a keyword-rich description that will tell people all about your channel, what they will gain from it, why they should subscribe, what your upload schedule is, etc.

This text will be picked up by search engines and help your channel to rank higher in search results. The first 45 or so characters of your description will be visible when your YouTube channel appears in the “Channels” sub-section of the site’s search results, so pack it with keyword-rich information

Fill out your Channel Keywords

When people search YouTube, the site does not just return individual videos for people to watch, it also suggests whole channels that a viewer might be interested in. So, in the Advanced section of your account’s Channel Settings, be sure to fill in the Channel Keywords section with keywords relevant to your channel. Think about the types of search terms that your viewers will be using and be sure to throw them in.

Associate your website with your YouTube channel

Visit your Channel Settings’ “Advanced” menu again and you’ll see an option to associate your channel with a website. Doing so will help YouTube to improve the quality of its search results and verify your channel as the official representation of your brand on the site. Enter your website URL and verify that you own it via the options listed, including an HTML tag or through Google Analytics.

Read Also: video editing

Brand your YouTube channel background and add a high-res avatar image

Upload a square, high-resolution (1600 × 1600 pixel) profile photo that is recognizable at smaller resolutions. This avatar will be your channel’s billboard all over YouTube, including in search results and comments. If you have chosen to link your Google+ account and YouTube channel, your Google+ profile or company page profile photo will have automatically become your YouTube avatar. If you want to change your profile image on YouTube, you will need to edit it via Google+, but be patient as the update might take a while to appear.

Optimize your YouTube banner art for all devices

In June 2013, YouTube rolled out a new channel layout called the One Channel design. This new look enables consistent branding across all devices (desktops, mobiles, televisions, etc.), allows you to reach out to non-subscribed viewers via a channel ‘trailer’ and shows off more of your content to existing subscribers to keep them watching for longer.

Create a trailer for your YouTube channel

On the YouTube One Channel layout, you can show a trailer that will only appear (and autopay!) to people who are not already subscribed to your channel. This is the perfect chance for you to let viewers know what your channel is all about and tell them why they should subscribe.

Keep it short and to the point, eye-catching – and include a clear call to action, inviting your audience to subscribe. My trailer is about 30 seconds long, and I used the simple tools at Animoto.com to create a snazzy video that far outperforms anything I could have created alone with my limited video editing skills. If you’re like me, I’d certainly recommend giving the site a look.

Last Words

Fan Finder is a YouTube service that promises to find and connect your channel to new viewers at no cost to you. When Fan Finder spots a potential fan, it shows an ad promoting your channel before another video plays in the hopes of encouraging them to click over and become a new, loyal viewer. Fan Finder videos must be 2 minutes or less in length. Best practices include quickly introducing your channel and hooking people in (don’t assume people will have heard of your channel before and remember that they can skip the ad after the first 5 seconds has played).

Entertain the viewer with teasers relevant to your content, include a strong call to action to explain why they should subscribe, and make sure your branding is clear and repeated throughout. This way, even if the viewer does not click through, it gives the best chance possible that they will remember your channel and visit on their own accord in future.