Although written content is definitely not out, video content is most definitely in — and it looks like it’s here to stay awhile. Busy people readily consume video content over written content when they need a quick fix for information or prefer to see a visual. That could be why YouTube is responsible for regularly delivering news to 23% of U.S. adults and currently has 74% of the U.S. adult population using it (Pew Research, 2021).
If you hadn’t already been convinced that YouTube is a must for your marketing strategy, perhaps those stats will entice you to click over. This beginner’s guide outlines a few legitimate ways to start marketing on YouTube today.
7 Ways to Market on YouTube
First, check out what brands expert digital marketers love watching grow on YouTube to get an idea of how they’re attracting subscribers. Then, follow along with these tips to learn how to grow your YouTube channel in a way that leaves it in a good position for marketing.
1. Optimize Your Channel and Videos
Image by harshahars from Pixabay
Successful YouTube channels are optimized YouTube channels. You’ll notice that they have a cohesive look and feel, complete with branding that makes them easily recognizable. From the start, make sure your channel has a cover banner, a hi-res icon, a detailed channel description, and a completed profile.
The same goes for your videos. Each video should have a description and an optimized title that helps YouTube users find it using relevant search terms. Use a tool like Canva or another free image creator to create YouTube video thumbnails that entice people to click on your videos. And, don’t forget to include calls to action in your videos to encourage viewers to like and share your videos, comment, and subscribe to your channel.
2. Get Into a Routine
While it’s not necessary to post daily on your YouTube channel, it is best practice to set up a schedule with a regular posting routine. As you grow, your subscribers will expect to see regular content coming from your channel. And, the more quality content you release, the better your chances of growing an audience when new viewers see and love your videos. Whether you can manage to get a new video released three times a week or just once a month, make sure you’re consistent.
3. Get Insights About Your Audience
If you have a YouTube business channel, you can use YouTube Analytics to your advantage. These insights allow you to see what videos your audience is latching onto, how long they’re watching for, how many subscribers you’re getting, and other metrics that dive deep into your channel and audience. This data can help you shape your future content by giving your audience more of the topics they love, the video lengths they want to see, etc.
You can also conduct some market research right on YouTube. Invite your audience to comment on your videos to let you know what they want to see more of for you. Or, if you have an email list or other social media channels, send out polls or surveys on them to learn more about what your audience needs and wants.
4. Cross-Promote Using Other Channels
Image by Tymon Oziemblewski from Pixabay
Your other ways of connecting with your audience can come in handy for cross-promoting your YouTube channel. Use your Facebook page or TikTok account to share clips of your YouTube videos and let people know you exist there, too.
You might also tap into an email list to notify subscribers when you drop a new video. Or, enhance your blog posts by embedding your best YouTube videos into relevant content. Embedded videos still contribute to your overall views count.
5. Run Giveaways and Contests
Who doesn’t love the chance to win something for free? Pull in new viewers and create some buzz in your channel by running a giveaway or contest. Before it starts, be sure to use your other social media channels to promote it as much as possible. Work toward getting engagement by encouraging viewers to leave a comment for an entry.
Be sure to follow YouTube’s rules for contests, which state that you must outline Official Rules and make the contest free to enter.
6. Optimize for Google
When people search on Google, they sometimes get YouTube videos in their results. Those opportunities are ones you’ll want to take advantage of. To make sure your videos get in the results in which they belong, optimize them for Google.
First, use categories and tags when creating your video. Google pulls from this information to learn more about your video and where it belongs. Next, make sure you’re getting engagement through likes and comments, as this helps rank your videos higher to give them a chance of showing up in Google Search.
7. Try YouTube Advertising
You can always skip the channel-growing techniques and head straight to YouTube advertising instead. This might be ideal if you have a product or service you want to advertise right away but don’t yet have a big enough channel to do it on. Use the YouTube ad creator to walk through each step, including setting a campaign budget and measuring your results.
Advertising your channel is also a possible solution that’ll help you grow an audience more quickly. There are virtually endless ways to market on YouTube, but many of them have the prerequisite of growing your channel into a popular one first. Get new subscribers to your channel by adding the YouTube follow button to your website. It’s simple to install and totally free to use!
