Many marketers do not use YouTube for promotion. If you want to catch up, read the following short specific tips on how to promote on YouTube.
Why is it worthwhile to promote on YouTube?
Audience. It has almost every target audience a marketer dreams of. YouTube is used by people of all ages with different interests and purchasing power. And they are not just registered on the service but really do actively use the platform.
Advertising and influencers. A community is formed around the video bloggers, whose members vary in age, gender, place of residence, interests, etc.
Response. Normal ads are skipped, switched over, tried not to notice. But if the ads are made by a video-blogger, they are often seen through to the end. Subscribers are loyal to the video-blogger and its content, which your offer becomes a part of.
Key points
There are three important points to keep in mind when working with today's video advertising on the Internet.
1. Today's users are watching videos differently. Smartphones and tablets have become an integral part of everyday life and this has changed our habits. On the whole we watch more videos but it is not TV anymore.
2. Viewers are very active on YouTube. How do you watch videos? Naturally, they pay more attention to the content they choose to watch. YouTube viewers are not only attentive, they are also specifically looking on the platform for valuable and interesting content.
3. Relevancy is the main thing. Nowadays, it is no longer enough just to have an idea about the target audience. To generate interest in potential customers you need to consider what they are looking for and in what context. But how do you know what is important to a particular user?
Where to start promoting your channel
In order to choose the right promotion strategy, it would be worthwhile to analyze the niche that you will try to fill. You need to watch videos at the top of YouTube on your topic, assess interesting findings, and see the weaknesses of your competitors. It is important to pay attention to the following:
• what type of videos are most often found on channels close to your topic – interviews, reviews, unpacking, video tutorials;
• what is the average duration of the video;
• who are the owners of the channels – companies or bloggers;
• what tools are used to attract the audience – discussions, contests, etc.;
• what users write in the comments. Based on the feedback, you can understand how your topic is covered and what questions remain unanswered. When creating your own videos you can take into account the wishes and suggestions of users.
What is the preparation of the channel for promotion
Before taking any steps to promote you need to perform a series of preparatory steps. They consist of:
• uploading a company logo or a photo of an expert, depending on who owns the channel. The cover is designed in the corporate style, or you can choose images that correspond to the topics;
• placement of the description so the user can quickly understand the area of the advertised business;
• studying official YouTube recommendations and following them clearly when preparing and promoting the channel;
• creating playlists if the channel will have a lot of videos on different topics. This will make navigation easier and encourage the visitor to watch more videos in the selection. Playlists can be formed based on a variety of criteria: products, genres, speakers, and so on;
• creation of sections that add order to videos on the channel;
• listing video titles on thumbnails and placing relevant images;
• placing a trailer.
How videos are ranked on YouTube
No one knows the exact criteria for ranking videos on YouTube but some of them have been established by experience e.g:
• the relevance of the video to the search query;
• CTR - link clickability;
• number of real YouTube views and average audience retention;
• percentage of visitors who watch the video to the end;
• the number of subscribers to the channel after watching the video;
• commentator activity;
• the number of shares in social networks;
• the number of times the video was posted to third-party resources and links to videos from external resources;
• the ratio of likes and dislikes;
• the number of videos added to the "Watch Later" playlist;
• total reputation of the channel, i.e. how many popular videos, subscribers, and likes it has.
How to choose semantic score
The semantic core plays the same important role in the promotion of the channel as in the case of promoting the site in search engines. To get it ready, you need to collect queries relevant to your video clips. The vidIQ service and TubeBuddy (for Chrome and Firefox) and Clever (for Chrome) extensions are handy for this.
What should be considered when choosing semantics for YouTube: video will be faster in the "Related" or "Recommended" sections (where a large number of users come from) if you start promoting a new channel by using medium and low-frequency queries.
Where to place queries? The collected keywords and phrases can be used:
• in the content of the video. YouTube has speech recognition, so it would be better if during the first 15-20 seconds of the video you pronounce high-frequency queries that reflect the essence of the video;
• in the file or video titles, descriptions and tags;
• in the anchors of external links that lead to your video.
What are the paid ways to promote your YouTube channel?
Paid promotion methods are considered to be more effective and capable of providing a rapid increase in traffic.
• Buy YouTube views, likes, subscribers
Such a method can be appropriate, for example, at the start, when the channel is created, videos are uploaded, and you need to somehow push the promotion process. You will get your first views, subscribers, and likes, and then the snowball effect will begin.
• Buying advertising from a famous blogger
This is one of the most common and effective methods. It consists of the fact that a person mentions you in its videos, gives links, and as a result a wide range of potential subscribers learn about you. In this case, it is important to establish a partnership with a sufficiently popular person.
• Buying Google Ads
Google provides displaying ads on YouTube in one of the following formats: app, display, discovery, video, shopping, and etc. You need to study all the formats carefully and try them all to see which formats have an effect.
What are the free ways to promote your YouTube channel?
• Mutual PR
You can negotiate with any blogger (close on the subject and preferably famous) that you will advertise it and s/he will advertise you. Such a barter will allow you to promote your channel for free. In this case, you are, in fact, exchanging with the blogger part of the audience.
• Publishing announcements on social networks
If you have already managed to build customer loyalty in one of the social networks you will be easier to do the same on YouTube. By posting a channel announcement on the social network, you are likely to attract the attention of the subscribers who are already familiar with your brand. They are more likely to watch the video to the end, leave a comment, like it, or add it to their "watch later" playlist.
What is included in the promotion checklist
At the end of the article we offer a step-by-step instruction on how to promote YouTube. It looks as follows:
• choose a name for the channel you are going to promote. The name should be clear to what the channel is about;
• writing a description using relevant keywords;
• work on the design (cover, logo, thumbnails, etc.);
• content structuring (creation of playlists and sections);
• inserting keywords in the titles of files and videos as well as in descriptions and tags;
• regular posting of video content;
• use of different types of video clips (interviews, instructions, reviews, live broadcasts, etc.)
• involvement of the audience;
• mix of free and paid promotion tools;
• optimizing the strategy with YouTube Analytics.
Audience. It has almost every target audience a marketer dreams of. YouTube is used by people of all ages with different interests and purchasing power. And they are not just registered on the service but really do actively use the platform.
Advertising and influencers. A community is formed around the video bloggers, whose members vary in age, gender, place of residence, interests, etc.
Response. Normal ads are skipped, switched over, tried not to notice. But if the ads are made by a video-blogger, they are often seen through to the end. Subscribers are loyal to the video-blogger and its content, which your offer becomes a part of.
Key points
There are three important points to keep in mind when working with today's video advertising on the Internet.
1. Today's users are watching videos differently. Smartphones and tablets have become an integral part of everyday life and this has changed our habits. On the whole we watch more videos but it is not TV anymore.
2. Viewers are very active on YouTube. How do you watch videos? Naturally, they pay more attention to the content they choose to watch. YouTube viewers are not only attentive, they are also specifically looking on the platform for valuable and interesting content.
3. Relevancy is the main thing. Nowadays, it is no longer enough just to have an idea about the target audience. To generate interest in potential customers you need to consider what they are looking for and in what context. But how do you know what is important to a particular user?
Where to start promoting your channel
In order to choose the right promotion strategy, it would be worthwhile to analyze the niche that you will try to fill. You need to watch videos at the top of YouTube on your topic, assess interesting findings, and see the weaknesses of your competitors. It is important to pay attention to the following:
• what type of videos are most often found on channels close to your topic – interviews, reviews, unpacking, video tutorials;
• what is the average duration of the video;
• who are the owners of the channels – companies or bloggers;
• what tools are used to attract the audience – discussions, contests, etc.;
• what users write in the comments. Based on the feedback, you can understand how your topic is covered and what questions remain unanswered. When creating your own videos you can take into account the wishes and suggestions of users.
What is the preparation of the channel for promotion
Before taking any steps to promote you need to perform a series of preparatory steps. They consist of:
• uploading a company logo or a photo of an expert, depending on who owns the channel. The cover is designed in the corporate style, or you can choose images that correspond to the topics;
• placement of the description so the user can quickly understand the area of the advertised business;
• studying official YouTube recommendations and following them clearly when preparing and promoting the channel;
• creating playlists if the channel will have a lot of videos on different topics. This will make navigation easier and encourage the visitor to watch more videos in the selection. Playlists can be formed based on a variety of criteria: products, genres, speakers, and so on;
• creation of sections that add order to videos on the channel;
• listing video titles on thumbnails and placing relevant images;
• placing a trailer.
How videos are ranked on YouTube
No one knows the exact criteria for ranking videos on YouTube but some of them have been established by experience e.g:
• the relevance of the video to the search query;
• CTR - link clickability;
• number of real YouTube views and average audience retention;
• percentage of visitors who watch the video to the end;
• the number of subscribers to the channel after watching the video;
• commentator activity;
• the number of shares in social networks;
• the number of times the video was posted to third-party resources and links to videos from external resources;
• the ratio of likes and dislikes;
• the number of videos added to the "Watch Later" playlist;
• total reputation of the channel, i.e. how many popular videos, subscribers, and likes it has.
How to choose semantic score
The semantic core plays the same important role in the promotion of the channel as in the case of promoting the site in search engines. To get it ready, you need to collect queries relevant to your video clips. The vidIQ service and TubeBuddy (for Chrome and Firefox) and Clever (for Chrome) extensions are handy for this.
What should be considered when choosing semantics for YouTube: video will be faster in the "Related" or "Recommended" sections (where a large number of users come from) if you start promoting a new channel by using medium and low-frequency queries.
Where to place queries? The collected keywords and phrases can be used:
• in the content of the video. YouTube has speech recognition, so it would be better if during the first 15-20 seconds of the video you pronounce high-frequency queries that reflect the essence of the video;
• in the file or video titles, descriptions and tags;
• in the anchors of external links that lead to your video.
What are the paid ways to promote your YouTube channel?
Paid promotion methods are considered to be more effective and capable of providing a rapid increase in traffic.
• Buy YouTube views, likes, subscribers
Such a method can be appropriate, for example, at the start, when the channel is created, videos are uploaded, and you need to somehow push the promotion process. You will get your first views, subscribers, and likes, and then the snowball effect will begin.
• Buying advertising from a famous blogger
This is one of the most common and effective methods. It consists of the fact that a person mentions you in its videos, gives links, and as a result a wide range of potential subscribers learn about you. In this case, it is important to establish a partnership with a sufficiently popular person.
• Buying Google Ads
Google provides displaying ads on YouTube in one of the following formats: app, display, discovery, video, shopping, and etc. You need to study all the formats carefully and try them all to see which formats have an effect.
What are the free ways to promote your YouTube channel?
• Mutual PR
You can negotiate with any blogger (close on the subject and preferably famous) that you will advertise it and s/he will advertise you. Such a barter will allow you to promote your channel for free. In this case, you are, in fact, exchanging with the blogger part of the audience.
• Publishing announcements on social networks
If you have already managed to build customer loyalty in one of the social networks you will be easier to do the same on YouTube. By posting a channel announcement on the social network, you are likely to attract the attention of the subscribers who are already familiar with your brand. They are more likely to watch the video to the end, leave a comment, like it, or add it to their "watch later" playlist.
What is included in the promotion checklist
At the end of the article we offer a step-by-step instruction on how to promote YouTube. It looks as follows:
• choose a name for the channel you are going to promote. The name should be clear to what the channel is about;
• writing a description using relevant keywords;
• work on the design (cover, logo, thumbnails, etc.);
• content structuring (creation of playlists and sections);
• inserting keywords in the titles of files and videos as well as in descriptions and tags;
• regular posting of video content;
• use of different types of video clips (interviews, instructions, reviews, live broadcasts, etc.)
• involvement of the audience;
• mix of free and paid promotion tools;
• optimizing the strategy with YouTube Analytics.
