Video marketing has shown to be one of the fastest growing trends in marketing and what better platform to jump in on this trend than YouTube, especially after ranking second most visited sites on the web, overtaking Facebook.

But why should video marketing and YouTube marketing as a whole be incorporated into your social media marketing strategy?

Let’s take a look at research and statistics gotten from Smart Insights‏ and Medium

Medium says;

• Users spend 88% more time on websites that contain video contents
• Videos generate 1,200% more shares and likes than images and texts
• The average viewer remembers 95% of a message when it is watched whereas only 10% when read

Smart Insights says;                

• 88% of marketers have reported that videos provide them with positive ROI (Return On Investment), as ROI increases with the amount of time people spend watching videos
• It is estimated that the average person will spend 100 minutes every day watching online videos in 2021.

Videos tend to be more engaging as they connect more with the audience than texts or images. They strike deep connections and evoke strong emotional responses that make people want to share, comment and like. The human brain loves videos because it is programmed to retain visual content better than a page of text.

YouTube on the other hand is one of the most populated social media sites, even though some marketers don’t often consider it to be relevant in their marketing strategy.

With over 30 million active users per day and 5 billion videos watched per day. Marketing videos on YouTube is an ideal way to reach millions of people, increase brand awareness, engage target audience and convert prospects into paying customers.

 WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS WILL BENEFIT FROM YOUTUBE MARKETING?

It is not just digital related businesses that can benefit from YouTube marketing. If you are selling a product or offering a service, you can use YouTube as a method of sharing information with your customers.

You can use videos to share instructions on exactly how people can go about purchasing your items, alongside value adding videos like educational videos example; “how to -“ videos . These types of videos not only increases awareness and not just sell, but add value to your audience.

GROWING YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR YOUR BRAND

Below are guides that teach how to optimize your channel, grow subscriptions and expand reach.

1. CREATE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR BUSINESS

To start your presence on YouTube, you need to open a YouTube business channel, a brand account. This is quite different from the regular YouTube channel you open with your regular Google account.

With a brand account, multiple authorized users can log in simultaneously.  You might not feel the need for this now, especially if it is a one man’s business at the start up stage. But on the long run, as your business grows, this will come in handy.

With a business channel, people will perceive you as an authority more quickly.

2. LEARN ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE AND COMPETITION

Take some time out to learn about your YouTube demographics. With a YouTube business channel, you have access to YouTube’s analytics tools on the analytics tab. If you already have a business channel running, you can use this tool to learn more about your audience. YouTube gives detailed information on audience demographics, location, engagement and other helpful data.

Having this data gives you insight on how to produce content that best suits and targets your audience then give them what they want.

If you are just starting up on YouTube, take a look at your competitors or other video creative in your industry, people offering similar products and services in the same niche as you. Check out their videos. look for the videos that get the most view and engagement. This will give you an idea of what your audience is interested in, what they want to learn about and what style of videos they prefer.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

This involves having a YouTube business channel for your brand, choosing the right profile picture for your account, putting up a banner or image that represents your brand, similar to the cover photo feature on Facebook, adding links to your website, social profiles and contact information to your YouTube profile.

Make sure to include a channel description. A well written description tells users why they would want to watch your content and subscribe to your channel. Include how often you’ll be posting videos so your subscribers know that you are active and also when to anticipate a new video.

Make and upload a featured video. This video will be pinned to the top and near the center of your channel. The content of the featured image should be an introduction to your channel and a brief description of what your channel is about, how the channel will benefit your audience. This is important because the normal description I explained before doesn’t appear on the first page of your channel.

4. PROMOTE YOUR VIDEOS ON OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

YouTube allows you to cross-promote your videos which is one of its amazing features. Share the links of your videos to your social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Encourage your followers to watch your videos. Be very specific with your call to action, which is what you want them to do.  Encourage them to watch, like, comment and share the video.

YouTube videos can be embedded on your website so it will be of great help to post your video embed on your website.

5. COLLABORATE WITH OTHER CREATORS AND YOUTUBE INFLUENCERS

Working with other brands and influencers is a good way to greatly increase brand awareness and share subscribers.

You can reach out to them by sending a direct message on YouTube or through other social medial platforms they operate on.

6. OPTIMIZE YOUR VIDEOS FOR SEARCH ENGINES

Google has shifted its algorithm to favor YouTube videos, often putting them near the top of its results.

In order to increase your chances of showing on search results, you’d want to follow some of the best SEO practices like;

Building your videos around a single keyword;

This is the best way to reach bunch of people through search engines, which is by ranking high in search engines like Google.

Doing keyword research before creating videos is advised, then use this keyword often in your video content so YouTube and Google can pick it up when closed captions are added. Use tools like keywordtool.io and Google Ads Keyword Planner.

Keywordtool.io allows you specify what platform you are doing a research for so you can specifically research for YouTube and Google.

7. SCHEDULE YOUR VIDEOS

Make sure you are consistent with your post schedule. YouTube favors content creators who post regularly. This may even get your video to show up on the “suggested” section and I’m sure we all know how well that will help you.

Besides, your subscribers will see that your channel is active, know when you post, they get excited and expectant waiting on a video to drop.

8. YOUR BRAND SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON A NICHE OR SUBNICHE

Develop content that focuses on a specific segment of audience rather than the broad bands which are already dominated by the bigger players. With this, you have a higher chance of sky-rocketing in a smaller time frame.

Example; instead of making general home workout videos, make videos that focuses on workouts and meals to relieve lower back  pain, take it a step further by focusing on workouts and meals that relieve lower back pain for females aged 40-above.

So instead of hopelessly competing with the bigger players, you should find a sub-niche that gives you a higher chance to gain YouTube dominance in a short period of time.

9. ADD CARDS AND END SCREENS TO YOUR TOP VIDEOS AND CUSTOMIZE YOUR THUMBNAIL

This is like a call to action. It is important as it encourages viewers to watch more videos on your channel.

End Screens are tools which help you extend watch time on your channel by directing viewers to another video at the end of your video.

Cards are preformatted notifications that appear on desktop and mobile which you can set up to promote the videos on your channel and promote your brand in general.

Cards work when they are placed together with scripted calls to action or when they are relevant to your video content.

Promote your channel by YouTube channel by creating thumbnails. Videos with catchy titles and appealing thumbnails usually rank higher.

10. ADVERTISE ON YOUTUBE

YouTube advertising is a great way to get your videos in front of a relevant, engaged audience.

Advertising videos on YouTube is very different from advertising on Google or Facebook. On YouTube, you pay for an ad only when a viewer passes the 30-second mark or watches the entire video.  It allows you target audience based on their Google search history, their demographics and much more. This helps incredibly in bringing about brand awareness and turning prospects into paying customers.