Since its creation in 2005, YouTube has done nothing but grow exponentially. With currently over 2 billion monthly active users, the site has become the ultimate spot for both live-action and animated videos.
And yet, there are still brands missing out on the many advantages of this famous platform!
You see, getting your business on YouTube can help strengthen the relationship with your audience, gathering loyal customers and subscribers. Sometimes it can also help to establish your brand as a reference in its field.
BUT—like with any endeavor worth taking—having a successful YouTube strategy requires time, effort, and above all, know-how.
So, this article is not just about learning how to get your business on YouTube, but also about creating a winning strategy that can work in the long run. Take a look!
Attract and retain viewers
To succeed in YouTube, you need to provide your audience with content that captures their attention and holds it till the end.
But, when it comes to making your videos attractive and enticing, more than one element comes into play. Let’s see:
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Thumbnails
Video thumbnails have the power of attracting viewers to your piece. Noteveryvideo thumbnail, though: only those that are customized accordingly can capture the audience’s attention.
Those freeze-frame images that YouTube offers as thumbnails are far from being tantalizing. We recommend you always go with custom thumbnails uploaded directly from your computer.
That said, bear in mind that only verified accounts are allowed to upload custom thumbnails. This has nothing to do with Verification Badges, which are limited to channels with over 100,000 subscribers. To have a verified account, all you need to do is provide your phone number to confirm your identity.
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Intros
Once your thumbnail has attracted viewers to your video, your mission is to make them stay. That’s why you need a compelling introduction.
This is a trick that you may have seen in many well-scripted promotional videos. They start with an intriguing phrase, a direct question, or a relatable situation that hints the viewer on what they will gain by watching the video.
Within the first minute, viewers should already know what value the video will provide them, prompting them to continue watching.
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Length
Contrary to popular opinion, offering long YouTube videos provides many advantages.
For starters, many YouTube users prefer watching long videos since these are often related to quality content. And, since they make people hang longer on the platform, the YouTube algorithm prefers them too.
On top of that, long videos help content creators have a long Watch Time, which is one of the essential requirements for their channel to be monetized.
However, take in mind most viewers aren’t willing to spend an hour of their time watching a single YouTube video (at least not on purpose). So, as a general rule, try to keep your video between 10 and 20 minutes.
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Content quality
Offering empty or meaningless content to your audience is like throwing your money to the trash. People will only click, watch, like, and share those videos that actually provide them with value.
Consider, for instance, making educational videos. They tend to be very much appreciated by YouTube users, who resort to the platform to learn both practical and theoretical knowledge in a fun and easy way. Moreover, these videos will go a long way to help you establish your company’s brand and reputation as an expert in its field.
However, great videos not only account for those that have educational value, but also for those that offer good-quality entertainment and beautiful visuals.
So, fill your channel with content that can’t be found elsewhere, making videos that are as enjoyable as they are helpful.
Mind your video’s SEO
Having an effective SEO strategy is vital for succeeding on YouTube. After all, this platform is a search engine—more precisely, the second largest search engine in the world, just below Google.
So, regardless of how good your content is, it won’t amass as many views as you would like without the right SEO strategy! And, as you may already know, effective SEO always starts with in-depth keyword research.
Here are a few ideas on how to conduct your research aiming specifically at YouTube:
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Paying attention to the platform’s search suggestions
When you write a generic keyword in the search bar, YouTube offers you some options to complete the phrase. Those suggestions can work like a charm as long-tail keywords for your videos.
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Visit related channels
Seeing your competitors’ strategy can give you an idea of what’s working for them and may work for you too. So, take a peek at the keywords on their videos’ tags, titles, and descriptions.
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Leverage Google Trends
Using a keyword research tool is an excellent method to find out the popularity of your potential keywords. This particular tool, Google Trends, allows you to search for keywords on YouTube and Google, enabling you to map out a video SEO strategy that works for both sites.
Make use of your keywords
Another essential step of a YouTube SEO strategy is to apply your chosen keywords so that your videos pop-up when users search for those particular terms.
There are certain places where your keywords should appear:
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The title
To make the most out of your main keyword, you should include it in your video’s title, especially at the beginning.
However, don’t let this attempt of including your keyword make your title sound unnatural. It should still be easy to read and even enticing enough to make viewers click on it.
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The description
The description box is a great place to include your keywords but, once again, remember to do so in a natural way.
Also, keep in mind the first couple of lines will appear on YouTube’s result page, so make sure to start the text in a compelling way to drive viewers in.
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Transcripts
Unfortunately, search engine crawlers can’t index audio. So, every keyword you mention on your video won’t prove useful for your SEO efforts… unless you include a transcript.
This is a text file that contains your video’s script (you may have seen one before under the form of captions). Since a transcript consists of written content, crawlers can read it, strengthening your keywords’ density and variety.
The takeaway
Video content is changing the way brands communicate and engage with their customers, and this is taking place mainly on YouTube.
This platform allows you to turn viewers into loyal subscribers and clients. All you need to do is offer good quality video content that your audience can enjoy and even find useful.
You do need to remember, though, that the devil is on the details: on your titles, thumbnails, description box… all those little elements can make or break your YouTube strategy. So, try to use relevant keywords to boost your SEO and make all those elements as enticing as possible to drive more clicks to your video.
Now that you know what it takes to triumph on YouTube, we hope to see your videos slaying on the platform anytime soon!
