Videos are the most engaging form of content because they engage your senses like no other form of content. It is no surprise that movies, documentaries, vlogs, short films, vines, etc. have always been doing well. The world’s most popular video hub is YouTube. YouTube plays host to millions of videos and channels, making it an incredible platform to market your brand.
With content marketing on the rise, one can see businesses invest in an effective content marketing strategy to get ahead, of which YouTube is an integral part. If you want to expand your brand and attract tons of leads, you need an effective content marketing strategy. This involves using Instagram for business, learning how to build an email list using Sumo, Facebook marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and of course, YouTube marketing.
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How do you grow your YouTube channel?
It should go without saying that you need a YouTube channel. Head to YouTube, create an account or sign in using your Google account, and create a YouTube channel. Once you do this, follow these steps to grow your channel:
Customize your channel
Given the incredibly high competition and low attention span, you have to make an excellent first impression if you want your visitors to give you the time of day, let alone navigating your channel for more. The best way to create an excellent first impression is to come up with a catchy name for your channel and use a high-quality image with your brand logo as your profile picture. Remember, a good brand name is catchy and tells the visitor what to expect from you.
Besides this, include a concise description of your brand and what you have to offer. The bio needs to be informative and to the point.
Cross-Promotion
While you want to primarily focus on YouTube marketing, it would not hurt you to promote your brand on other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Most of your target audience is on at least one social media platform, which means you need to constantly keep your followers and potential followers in the loop about your brand. Share every new YouTube video on these social media platforms.
Furthermore, posting your content on Instagram, Facebook, etc. enables you to gauge the response using Facebook analytics and Instagram Insights, thus giving you a clear picture of what kind of content works best to drive traffic. You can determine the effectiveness of your videos by looking at parameters like search, social shares, engagement, and so on.
Add CTAs
Adding a Call-To-Action (CTA) button or multiple CTAs is another way to grow your channel. CTAs are buttons that direct visitors to your videos, websites, or social media handles. Including a CTA is an excellent way to get your viewers to stay on your channel and watch your other videos, thus increasing the viewership. You add CTAs to new YouTube cards towards the end, encouraging your viewers to take action.
YouTube Cards are generally used at the end of the video to get the viewer to subscribe or check out the next video in the same series. You can also use a YouTube card to direct the viewer to a related video to give them context. This is vital if you want viewers to watch more of your videos. Make sure each video on your channel has a YouTube card at the end. You could also add one at another point in the video, depending on the context.
The different types of YouTube End Screens are:
- Channel
- Videos/Playlist
- Subscribe
- Link
And the different types of YouTube Cards are:
- Video/Playlist
- Poll
- Link
- Channel
Optimize your brand for SEO
Ranking high on Google is incredibly vital for your brand’s visibility. If your channel or brand does not rank high, it does not exist for most people. The practice of getting your site to rank well on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is SEO.
If you want to be visible online and reach your target audience, your page needs to pop up when they search for you. While there are about 200 factors that affect your SEO strategy, using the right keywords in your video title and description, optimizing your channel, and a bunch of other essentials can help you stand out to your niche audience. Use keyword tracking tools online to use relevant phrases or words that are searched for, and decide which ones to use based on the search volume and ranking difficulty.
Additionally, you should hashtags to boost your visibility. There are primarily two types of hashtags at your disposal – Branded, which are specific hashtags relevant only to your channel or brand, and General hashtags, which are generic. General hashtags are searched for by more people. In any case, make sure you use hashtags that are related to your channel and niche.
Creating your videos
As far as video creation is concerned, here are a few things you should focus on to get high-quality videos:
- Come up with a script and storyboard, with each cast member knowing their roles before you start shooting. Everything has to be planned as well as possible to avoid wastage of time and money.
- Get some high-quality equipment. You do not have to get studio-level equipment, but you do need a DSLR camera or a phone with an excellent camera. In addition to this, you need to get a tripod or Gimbal to keep your camera steady while filming.
- Get an external mic to record the audio. While your phone can pick up decent-sounding audio, you should consider going the extra mile and record high-quality audio. Once you are done shooting, import the raw footage and the audio and synchronize it on your video editor.
- Be sure to shoot your videos in natural light and use other light sources as supplements, if need be.
This article should give you a quick run-through about YouTube video creation and marketing and help you kickstart your brand building and expansion endeavor.