How to Unlock the Power of YouTube to Build Your Brand
In today’s tech world, where YouTube is the second largest search engine and engages over 800 million people every month with over 4 billion hours of video, having a well-optimized YouTube channel is just as vital as having a company website. Can your YouTube channel can be found by your target audience? Are your videos being seen by the right people? Web videos are the most powerful form of online media, but are also some of the most competitive pieces of content on the web – everyone is fighting for views, shares, and comments and the opportunity to go “viral.” Here are a few ways you can make sure your YouTube channel is working at its highest potential for your brand.
1. Make sure your video content is optimized for a targeted audience.
YouTube can be accessed from just about anywhere via desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, and even wearable technology. The key is to find out how and where your targeted consumers are watching their favorite videos, and with what technology. Younger demographics may be viewing all video content on smartphones or tablets, while older consumers may be surfing the Tube via desktop. Find out what your ideal customer likes to watch, and how they like to watch video, and optimize your content to be most relevant and accessible to them.
2. Apply basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to your YouTube channel.
YouTube channels are like any other website – and are viewed and crawled by search engines who are in search of fresh, relevant content – just like your viewers. Optimizing your YouTube channel is just as important as optimizing your website. Your YouTube channel description, video titles and descriptions, and tags and metadata should contain keywords relevant to your brand and the products or services you are offering. Create optimized playlists and link your videos together with video annotations to improve relevancy among your channel’s contents. Finally, build links back to your YouTube channel by engaging in social activity and liking, sharing, and commenting on other videos as well as your own.
3. Consider shorter videos rather than longer ones.
While your video can be as long as it needs to be in order to gain and maintain attention and get your message across clearly, shorter videos statistically perform better on YouTube. Video content under 3 minutes in length usually works best to improve engagement and number of views. Try to capture your viewers’ attention within the first 15 seconds by highlighting what you will cover in the time remaining – keep them watching and wanting more. Create calls-to-action and utilize your annotations to improve engagement and encourage multiple views on more of your channel’s videos.
Once you have properly optimized your YouTube channel, the final step is to get it seen. Share your video content on all social networks and bookmarking websites; send your videos out to your email subscribers, your family and friends, your co-workers; promote your videos through paid advertising services like Google Adwords or Facebook Advertising. Think of the web as your interstate highway system, and your videos are billboards. The more you put up, the more you’ll be seen. Build your brand with one of the most effective – and affordable – means of online media. For more information, contact the experts at In Focus Studios.
