People watch millions of hours of video on YouTube every single day. The video platform has well over one billion users, many of whom are watching regularly.
Since so many people use YouTube — about one third of the online population, according to the site’s own stats — it can be a valuable tool for marketers who want to get their brands out there. But as with anything, there’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to YouTube content marketing. These 10 tips will help you put together a YouTube content strategy that gets you views and, ultimately, customers.
Go Mobile
More than half of all people who use YouTube view videos on the platform using a mobile device, according to YouTube itself. That means that you want to think of your small-screen viewers when you create and post your videos.
Make sure the content in the video can be easily viewed on a four-inch screen. When you’re creating the title of your video, keep mobile size limits in mind. You might get 100 characters for your video’s title, but maybe only the first 50 characters will show up on a mobile screen.
Don’t Neglect SEO
SEO! It’s not just for blog posts and websites. Not only does YouTube include a search engine in its own right, but videos you post on YouTube also show up in Google search results.
That is, they show up if you put a bit of effort into optimizing them. Keep keywords you want to rank for in mind when coming up with your videos’ titles, and use keywords in the tags and description of the video.
Most importantly, encourage people to subscribe. Remember, search algorithms value quality these days. The more people who like your video or decide to subscribe to your channel, the higher your videos will rank.
Create Multiple Channels
What separates the YouTube mega-stars from the also-rans? Lots of content and lots of channels. The 100 top global brands were likely to post 78 videos a month, on average. Additionally, the top 25 percent of brands had twice as many YouTube channels as the bottom 25 percent. More than half of the world’s top brands had more than 10 channels on YouTube.
Make Playlists
Want visitors to one of your YouTube channels to find your videos with ease? Want people to find the video they are looking for without having to hunt around your channel? Make playlists. A playlist lets you group videos by category, making it super easy for people to find what they are looking to view.
Use Cards in Your Videos
Want to make it super easy for viewers to take action after watching your video? Include cards on your videos to direct your audience to another video, to your website, or to a recommended product to purchase.
Don’t Forget to Amplify Your Videos
Putting your video up on YouTube is step 1. Step 2 is amplifying that video by sharing it on your social media profiles, and by getting influencers to share it with their followers.
Know When to Post
When you actually publish the video to YouTube can be the difference between lots of views and just a few. As Entrepreneur noted, videos posted on weekday afternoons get more views than morning or evening videos.
If you’re going to post on the weekend, do it early. Between 9am and 11am are ideal times for Saturdays and Sundays.
Don’t Be Too Long (or Too Short)
Keep your videos on the short side, but not so short that you can’t put any useful info into them. AdWeek reported that the average length of the top 50 videos on YouTube was 2 minutes 54 seconds.
Habla Espanol, Parlez Francais, and So On
YouTube is a global phenomenon. It’s available in 88 countries and 76 languages. Most YouTube views (60 percent) come from people who speak a language other than English.
While you don’t need to produce multi-lingual videos (but props to you if you do), offering captions in a variety of languages will boost your audience size.
Make a Channel Trailer
First impressions last the longest. Help newcomers to your YouTube channel get to know you and your brand by putting together a channel trailer.
Think of your channel trailer just like a movie trailer. Just as a great trailer for a film makes you want to buy tickets, a great channel trailer should make people want to subscribe to your YouTube channel.
