It’s no surprise that video marketing continues to be a major marketing trend. People love to watch videos, and they love to use YouTube to find the best video content. YouTube is the second most popular website in the world, so it's basically a guarantee that your audience is on there.
Here are some of our tips to help you build your brand on YouTube:
Create goals
There's virtually no point in any marketing strategy if you don't have goals. Your business can use these goals as a benchmark on how well you're performing on YouTube.
For example, let's say you create a goal to have 1,000 subscribers in three months. This helps you determine the call-to-action of each video, which is to encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel. Without this goal in mind, you may end up with different call-to-actions for every video, which won’t help you achieve this primary goal.
Read More: Identifying and Fixing a Broken Content Strategy
Use keywords
YouTube is a lot like Google in the sense that using relevant keywords is important. Keywords can help you come up during a search, and you'll want to use keywords in places like your video title, video description, and channel description.
Bonus Tip: Don't forget to add links to your website and social media handles in your video description. If you mention any resources in your video, be sure to include those links too!
Create a custom thumbnail
Most of the popular videos from businesses have a custom thumbnail. The thumbnail is the cover of your video before people click on it, and it's critical to piquing the interest of your audience. The thumbnails usually include an intriguing headline or a reason why people should watch the video.
Check out this example from the Snappa YouTube channel. This thumbnail explains what the video will cover and what resources it’s offering.
Bonus Tip: You can use Canva for free to create your own custom thumbnails.
Add captions to your videos
Captions are crucial to ensuring that your audience watches your video. Not only does it make your videos more accessible, but 80% more people will watch videos to completion if they contain captions.
YouTube adds auto-generated captions to your video. But you'll want to double-check that the captions are correct since it doesn't always do the job well. The last thing you want is for a viewer to stop watching the video you put time and energy into just because the captions are incorrect!
Make a channel trailer
When people go to your channel page, you have the option of highlighting one video. This is a great opportunity to show your audience what your YouTube channel is all about.
Some people simply share their most popular video, but you can also create a channel trailer. A channel trailer can introduce your brand, why people should watch and subscribe, and captivate your audience's attention.
Check out how DigitalMarketer uses a channel trailer on its YouTube page, and the video explains the company and their mission.
Evaluate your analytics
Finally, don't forget to analyze your YouTube metrics. Analytics will help you determine if you are reaching your YouTube goals, and understanding metrics is a pivotal evaluation of your efforts. This can also help you decide what, if any, change needs to be made to your YouTube channel or video strategy.
What do you think of YouTube marketing?
YouTube is a great place for businesses to build brand awareness and present content that is easy for an audience to consume.
Are you using a YouTube channel as part of your marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments!