Project your brand and share content with your audience by creating and managing your YouTube Marketing Channel. Create multiple channels for brand accounts that vest control with multiple people. Cards (annotations) and Captions can help interact with users through crafty, captivating artwork and attractive thumbnails. Cards help to add interactive links to videos that aid in selling products or conducting surveys. Utilize captions to communicate within videos in numerous languages. Upload video content and edit videos inside YouTube’s built-in options after you have posted your file on YouTube. The playlist that you create must assist navigation to help users watch similar subject videos. Manage YouTube Creator studio (interface) and remain connected with your community through live streaming. Monetize your video content by signing into the YouTube partner program.
YouTube Marketing – Basics
Adjust volume, display full-screen video mode, turn closed caption on, etc fig1 using controls at the bottom of your YouTube video. Upload and edit, like, comment, and share videos. Trending, popular, and recommended videos feature on the homepage. Like videos appear in the liked video playlist. Disable comments by turning on restricted mode. Navigate to playlist, channels, view history, etc from the primary menu located at the top left. With Wi-Fi or an internet streaming device connected to a TV eg Roku, watch YouTube videos directly on TV through the YouTube App, The share icon on YouTube opens up a number of sharing options with other social networks and copy/ paste links to the video with embedded videos in websites or inclusions in emails.
Subscribe to a channel using the subscribe button. The primary menu> subscriptions allow you to view recent videos from the channels. In the settings tab, you can choose “Playback and performance” fig2 to control your video viewing experience by checking the Always show caption.
YouTube Marketing – Creating & Managing a playlist for your video
To create a playlist select save at the bottom of the video. From the menu displayed choose from options – add the video to an existing playlist or create a new one. For a new playlist enter the playlist name and select the privacy level before hitting the create button. After the playlist has been created you can add more videos to this playlist. Manage your playlist by accessing it through the primary menu.
YouTube Marketing – Setting up an end card for your video
Cards, appear like pop-ups on any YouTube video. Add cards to videos to link to other videos or provide a link.
YouTube Marketing – Editing your YouTube video
The built-in YouTube editor fig3 can help with simple edits in your browser for trimming, cutting, or splicing any videos after upload. Go to YouTube Studio and click the “Content” tab in the left pane and select the video you want to edit. Next, click the “Editor” link in the left pane to apply editing functionalities – Trim, Blurr, End Screen, and Info Cards.
Alternatively, edit your YouTube videos using video editing software such as KAPWING.
Adding intros | outros to your videos
One can create intros/ outros to your YouTube videos using software fig5&6 such as panzoid, Canva, etc.
YouTube Marketing – Manage your Channel and Videos
Anyone with a Gmail account has access to YouTube. Set up a YouTube Brand account by going to the profile icon located at the top right of your YouTube homepage. In the menu displayed click on Your Chanel. From the option, click on use a custom name. In the ‘create your channel name’ page display add your channel name and click on create. Follow best practices while setting up your channel for YouTube Images & Videos. For customizing your channel, click on the “Customize Channel” tab to add a channel icon (800*800px size), channel art (2560*1440px), channel description, links to your websites, and social media. Use high quality (HD) video resolution from 720p to 1080p.
To encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel include a catchy trailer video on your homepage that describes your brand. The thumbnail (1280*720px) for your video must adhere to the 16:9 ratio. After the channel is 30 days old and has >100 subscribers, has a channel icon, and channel art in place, you become eligible for a custom URL. Access to different team members to your YouTube channel through their own Google accounts is possible based on the level of the role they play in your organization such as Owner, Manager, and Communication Manager.
For producing YouTube videos use a microphone eg Blue Snowball Ice, free software for video editing & screen recording eg Screencast-O-Matic, a camcorder eg Canon VIXIA HF R800 for filming, and free music from the YouTube music audio library
YouTube Marketing – Developing a YouTube Strategy
Use S(Specific)M(Measurable)A(Attainable)R(Relevant)T(Timebound) objectives to build a profitable and successful strategy for your YouTube channel.
Define what type of content to create and the timing of release related to the best times and the days of the week on which to publish your videos. Research your competition, and optimize videos for search. Create content for your audience by exploring creative and useful ways for presentation. Make an introductory video on your channel for subscribers so that they are aware of what to expect. Format videos, edit videos even after posting your file on YouTube, and be consistent in indexing your videos and attracting viewers that constitute the right audience.
Reach out to the dominant YouTube Influencers in your niche and leverage organic exposure to your brand. Aim for a win-win situation for both by working jointly with those people having a similar audience. Include a CTA link either in the annotation within the video or provide a link in your description box that leads users to your website.
YouTube Marketing – YouTube SEO
Rank well in searches by leveraging SEO and optimizing the length of your title, keywords, and description. Add relevant tags to enable YouTube to connect your videos with visitors’ search. YouTube recommends tools such as Google Keywords Planner or Google Trends.
Videos must satisfy users’ search intent. Boost engagement by creating videos that reverberate with your audience and ask them to like, comment, share and subscribe. The visibility of your videos on YouTube depends on metadata and engagement. To optimize your videos ensure that it is indexed correctly by web algorithms for Google search. On-Page YouTube video optimization has got to do with writing relevant information in the metadata (title, description, tags, playlist, category, and subtitles – CC closed captions). Target keywords in metadata with search volume to gain traffic from search. Target keywords used by your competitors for competing videos.
Title
Use keywords in the title and keep it within the 60 characters limit. Moreover, titles should be catchy and evoke a response. Spot out the benefits that users can get by watching the video.
Description – Video & Channel
The visible text below each video is known as a description and is limited to 5000 characters. Craft a unique video description for best results that helps visitors find your video and decide to view it. Keywords in the description will aid your video to feature in search results. Descriptions can include links to your website, resources, social media, and CTA. Default description that tends to be repetitive includes settings, categories, titles, and metadata that get added to the description of each video automatically. But the description in the ‘About’ section (keywords included) informs visitors more about your channel.
Tags
Tags are significant ranking factors. Use tools such as Tube Buddy to find and draw comparisons with competitors as regards the keywords they use for ranking. TubeBuddy finds tags of competitors for competing videos which you can use. Your video will appear in search results whenever users type keywords that relate to your tag. Tags in YouTube classify the keyword search results for which your video will show. Use a YouTube tag generator to generate effective SEO tags for your videos.
Playlists
YouTube content creators use playlists to organize videos for viewers’ convenience A youtube playlist is a function to group together with other videos under a common subject. Such videos in a playlist start playing automatically one after the other. A simple way to create a playlist is by going to your youtube channel dashboard > content. Click on any video and scroll down to find the playlist drop-down menu fig7. Create a playlist or add your videos to any other playlists that you created earlier.
Closed Captions (SubTitles)
Share your videos with audiences who may be deaf or have a hearing problem using subtitles and closed captions. Enable the CC features fig8 by clicking on the CC button alongside the settings (fig8) and the same can be turned on or off while users watch YouTube videos. When CC is active a red line will appear below and the audio track generates descriptions with notations about what occurs on the video.
Thumbnails
Thumbnails have to be relevant to your title. A clickable thumbnail provokes interest in visitors to click on the video thereby boosting views and enhancing CTR.
YouTube Marketing – Live streaming on YouTube
To Live stream from your Youtube channel click the camera icon in the toolbar at the top and select ‘Go Live’. Next, choose whether you want to live stream now or later. Next, select the webcam option. Enter the title/ description and have your preferred privacy policy settings for the Livestream. The Thumbnail Image for your live stream will be by automatic selection on Youtube or you can upload your own image. Click ‘Go Live’ and when you are finished click the ‘end broadcast’ at the bottom. Your channel has to have at least 1000 subscribers for live streaming on mobile.
There are 3 Ways to Live Stream. They are 1- Mobile Live Streaming 2- Using a Webcam 3- Streaming Software.
YouTube Marketing – Advertising on YouTube
Heed notice and attract the attention of your customers by advertising on YouTube to promote your products and services. Create video Ad Campaigns and manage short videos for engaging or remarketing to your audience that meet YouTube guidelines. Create Ad groups by assigning realistic budgets meant to target the right audience considering their interests and demographics. Ensure you obtain the greatest ROI on ad spend by leveraging output ad performance and calling for required adjustments. Improve your ad performance by interpreting or reviewing analytics in Google Ads. Optimize YouTube ads performance and Implement conversion tracking on your website.
YouTube Analytics
Use YouTube Analytics to find the reach of your video content to your target audience. It helps direct your efforts to areas where improvements are most needed.
In YouTube Studio, click on the ‘Analytics’ tab fig9 in the left pane to get an overview of your channel analytics page giving you a glance at metrics such as view, watch time (hrs), and subscribers. Find other metrics by clicking the tabs categorized under Reach, Engagement, Audience, and [Revenue-(if a channel is monetized)] located in the top menu bar.
You can also view video analytics for any of your videos by selecting the videos that are shown at the bottom of the page.
Key YouTube Metrics are fig10 –
Views> This metric can be applied for both your channel or individual videos and is accounted for when people watch 30 secs of a video.
Unique Views> can be seen under the Audience tab and comprises people that have watched your video over time.
Watch Time > total amount of minutes views spent watching a video. (the higher the watch time the better). In watch-time reports, the average percentage viewed is the percentage of the video shown to the average viewer. Also, view your end screen and card metrics from watch time reports.
Subscriber Count> shows the number of people who follow your channel for new videos.
Audience Retention> The higher the audience retention means viewers are watching the whole video. The lower the audience retention rate means that viewers are dropping off. The report provides two views – absolute and relative audience retention.
Impresssions> refers to the number of people that have seen your video’s thumbnail while browsing and watching YouTube. The impression click-through rate shows how frequently people watch a video after seeing it in recommendations.
Engagement> show the level of people that participate and engage with your videos by likes/ dislikes, comments, and shares
Click-through-rate> If your click-through rate is higher it implies a higher than average view duration.
Demographics> gives you insight into who, when, and where your YouTube videos are watched, their age and gender, subscribed viewers, etc. Depending on when your audience is most active on youtube allows you to upload videos at the most appropriate time. Top geographies provide insights from which part of the world your audience is watching from and include age and gender and subscribed viewers
Traffic source types> indicates where your traffic is coming from on the YouTube platform.
Revenue – The YouTube Analytics Revenue report provides your channel’s estimated earnings along with their sources.
Estimated revenue> comprises income from all revenue sources such as RPM (Revenue Per Mille) and CPM (Costs Per Mille/Thousand). It allows for a view of how much money your channel has made in a specific time frame if you have monetized your channel by joining the YouTube partner program.
Suggested videos, browse and search features> manifests what people are searching for?
YouTube Marketing and Monetization
Link your YouTube channel to your Google AdSense account, to make it possible to submit videos for consideration of monetization through AdSense. Your video channel needs to meet the monetization benchmark standard set out by YouTube for being authorized for monetization. Your channel must meet requirements such as at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months to be eligible to join the YouTube Partner Program. Moreover, you need to reside in a country that is having access to the YouTube partner program. Make sure to abide by all YouTube monetization policies and community guidelines.
