YouTube Tips for Business

With sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter dominating corporate social media campaigns, many businesses often overlook the power and impact that YouTube can have on their digital strategy.  However, with over 3 billion views a day, YouTube has a massive potential of reaching and interacting with your audience in a creative and informative way.

YouTube has become the Internet’s second largest search engine (behind its parent company Google), so we’ve put together some tips on how to develop a successful YouTube presence for your business, so you don’t miss out on what the platform has to offer.

1. Create and brand your own channel. By adding a branded background image, changing font colours to match your company colour scheme, and putting in place some information about your business, your channel will promote your company and help fit in with your overall marketing.  These few tweaks will also help your channel stand out and bring a level of professionalism to it.

2. Offer interesting content. No matter what industry you work in, you can offer content that is valuable to your audience. Video clips answering frequently asked questions or offering “how-to” advice are great ways to gain viewers.  You may even want to do a brief newscast of industry events that will keep people up to date and regularly tuning in.  The best content is that which is relevant now and will be in the future, ensuring that your video will be watched and shared for years to come.  Don’t use YouTube as a platform to air television commercials, as these risk being flagged as inappropriate. You may even want to avoid directly mentioning your product since people will already know that your videos are linked to your company.  If people feel they are being overly marketed to, they will not return to your channel and you risk losing your viewers’ interest.

3. Label your videos properly. Once your videos are posted, make sure to tag them with keywords so people searching for that topic will find you.  Similar to SEO, you should focus on relevant keywords so that you bring the right traffic to your channel. Also, include a descriptive title and a brief explanation about the video, as well as a link to a relevant page on your website.  Since Google owns YouTube, the way you label your videos will also affect how your videos rank in Google search results, so do your best to label them appropriately.

4. Actively participate on YouTube. Just like any social network, the more you put into YouTube, the more you’ll get out of it, so actively participate by interacting with your audience, regularly posting videos, and favouriting videos you think your audience would find useful (in this instance avoid cats in funny situations and focus on professional or informative videos).  Keeping to a release schedule will allow you to maintain an active presence while also encouraging people to regularly check your channel for your latest videos.

5. Include a call to action. In addition to posting videos, try to get your viewers involved with your channel. For example, you may ask a question at the end of every video in an effort to get a conversation started in your comments area. You could also ask for questions that people would like answered in your next video post, or encourage your viewers to take part in a competition you are holding.

6. Monitor your comments. Unfortunately many YouTube videos end up with a lot of spam or inappropriate comments, so make sure to regularly monitor your channel and delete anything that fits these categories.  However, you should not remove comments that are critical of your company since you may be called out on it and risk an even worse fallout.  Treat any negative feedback as an opportunity to publicly address a problem and show your efforts to fix the situation.

7. Add a watermark. To ensure that your company always gets credit for your video, even if it is embedded on someone else’s website, make sure to add a watermark.  A watermark is text that is included within your video, such as the company name, logo, or web address, that will indicate ownership and drive people back to your site. This can be as simple as a credit at the beginning or end of the video, and can be added using basic video software.

8. Create Playlists. In order to give your viewers a good understanding of all the content your channel provides, create playlists that will group together your videos on similar topics.  You may also want to create folders for older videos, for example by year, so people can view videos chronologically.  This user-friendly approach will enhance viewers’ time on your channel and showcase all your videos appropriately.

9. Promote your YouTube presence. Like any marketing strategy, you want to reach your target audience, so promote your videos outside of YouTube. Use other social media to link back to your channel, embed your videos on your website or blog, and include your channel name within marketing material.  The more you spread the word, the more people will visit the channel.

10. Use analytics. YouTube provides free analytics service called “Insights” which will allow you to track who is watching your videos and how they interact with your channel. Having this sort of data is useful because you’ll be able to learn what is successful and how you can develop your channel further. Continuously checking these stats will leave you more in touch with your audience and how they respond to your marketing.

YouTube is a great way to reach audiences in an interactive and creative way.  You don’t have to be a professional director to make videos that effectively meet your marketing goals, so get out your camera, set up your channel, and have a bit of fun.

Have any more tips? Leave them in the comments area below.

For more information on our social media services, please contact Cite today.