YouTube is the next biggest search engine after Google. Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has continued to grow and become one of the most popular digital platforms. Currently, there are more than 2 billion YouTube users, and this number keeps growing by the day.
Thus, for businesses looking for ways to market their brand, YouTube is a great platform. Its massive number of users and increasing popularity make YouTube an indispensable advertising and marketing tool that companies in the tourism, education, and healthcare industries can use to grow their businesses.
Discover how you can effectively use YouTube to grow your business.
- Create an Attractive Layout for Your YouTube Channel
Since YouTube already has the information on the easy process of creating a YouTube video, we will jump straight to the importance of having an attractive channel layout. Your YouTube channel page serves as a landing page for your visitors, and as such, it is the first thing they see when they land on your channel. Thus, you need to be creative when creating it.
NeilPatel.com recommends that you create a YouTube channel that people won’t have to take long to figure out what your channel is about. The channel layout should also inform people of the types of videos you post.
- Know Your Audience
Once you’ve created your YouTube channel, the next step is to get to know your audience. Get to know what your potential audience likes and what they would wish to see on your channel. For instance, your audience could like educational content regarding their career or entertainment content to help them relax after a tiring day.
If you already have an active website, you can use the information to understand what your audience may want to see on your YouTube channel.
- Optimize Your YouTube Content
There can be no talk of content marketing without mentioning Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you already have a website, you know the importance of optimizing your content. However, how do you optimize YouTube content?
Optimizing YouTube videos is pretty simple. You only need first to have a ready set of keywords that you will include in the descriptions and titles of your YouTube videos. Then, you need to ensure you mention these keywords in the video.
According to HubSpot, YouTube’s algorithm will then use these keywords to know the type of content found on your channel. This will help you rank high on YouTube search results pages when you get an engagement. This ultimately means that your brand will be reaching more people as it grows.
Other steps that NeilPatel.com recommends when it comes to optimizing YouTube content include the following.
- Adding closed captions on videos
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a screen such as a video screen. Or other visual displays to interpret the information in the particular video.
Closed captions can help viewers find your video easily on YouTube, since they can search for one of your videos using the closed caption you have provided in your videos. YouTube will immediately display the video they are searching for on the results page.
- Use YouTube Tags
Before coming up with a tag for your videos, think about what your audience is likely to search for on YouTube. Then, provide enough tags that accurately describe your video. Also, you can use a blend of long-tail and common keywords.
Be sure to optimize tags that include your most important terms.
- Drive Comments, Likes, and Subscribers
YouTube tends to rank videos with the most engagement in the form of comments, likes, and subscriptions. This is because videos with the most comments, likes and subscriptions show that people talk about them and rate them. Consequently, YouTube ranks such videos higher in their search results.
Thus, be sure to drive comments, likes, and subscribers in every video you post.
- Create YouTube Videos Consistently
One sure way of keeping your YouTube channel feed active is by regularly uploading great videos on your channel. Not only does being consistent earn you more followers each time, but it also increases your presence on the video-sharing platform.
As a start, you can aim for one video per week and later add more as you keep progressing. However, the amount of content you publish ultimately depends on your target audience, your goals, and the kind of video you create. Popular types of YouTube videos include:
- Vlog – A blog made in the form of a video
- Haul videos – Videos discussing what the person recently purchased and can include their purchasing experience
- Educational videos – Videos whose primary purpose is to educate
To make your work easier and your audience coming back for more, you can pick a theme and then upload a video each week on the same theme. Once you exhaust the theme, you can select another theme and make several videos on it. This will keep your audience coming back for more as they will be engaged.
- Promote the Videos
Creating an engaging YouTube video with the right title, description, closed captions, and tags is insufficient. For the video to reach your target audience, you have to keep promoting it. To boost your video and increase its views, you can do the following:
- Attach the videos to your blog.
- Email your YouTube channel’s link to your contact list and close associates.
- Ask the people you email your channel’s link to inform their contacts too.
- Post the video to other social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
- Create an exciting article about the video and then share the article on article forums and directories where you are likely to get an audience.
Alternatively, you can include a line on your video asking people to share the video once they are done watching. You can have this line at the beginning and end of the video.
Having a YouTube channel with excellent, consistent content is one of the best ways of growing your business. Be sure to implement the above points and watch as your business grows by the day. If you are in healthcare, professional services, manufacturing, or tourism we are more than happy to assist you in tapping into YouTube marketing. Contact us today.
