How to Use YouTube Marketing for Your Business

youtube marketing for business
Video streaming platforms have been gaining a lot of popularity in recent years with Youtube being at the forefront. Today, YouTube has become one of the largest video streaming platforms with over 2 billion monthly subscribers that generate billions of views per day. If you are looking for an effective way of reaching your audience, then YouTube might be just the thing you need.
In this article, we will be discussing the following topics:

What is YouTube marketing?

YouTube Marketing is a form of content marketing (primarily focused on video content) where your goal is to build an audience and educate them about topics related to your business.
1 billion hours of youtube content are watched everyday
The main reason why YouTube Marketing is blowing up right now is that most people prefer watching videos over other forms of content. According to a study, “On average, people spend 2.6x more on pages with video than those without.” So if you don’t have any video content for your business, then you might be at a disadvantage compared to those who do.

What can YouTube do for your business?

Now that you have an understanding of why YouTube is so popular, let’s take a look at what YouTube can do for your business.
  • YouTube can help increase the visibility of your business. 
  • Relevant YouTube videos can appear at the top of Google’s search results.
  • You can reuse your YouTube videos on your different social media platforms, as well as embedding them into your blog posts to increase engagement.
  • You will have access to a diverse demographic from all over the world. 
  • You can create backlinks with your YouTube channel and redirect your YouTube subscribers to your website.
As you can see, YouTube offers many benefits for businesses to increase their reach and conversions. Now you might be thinking, YouTube has already been around since 2005, is it too late to start? No it’s never too late to start. Despite its popularity only 9% of U.S small businesses use YouTube, so it’s better to start now or never.

How to get started with YouTube

Starting a YouTube channel is not as hard you might think. By following these simple steps, you can have your own YouTube channel up and running in no time.

1) Create a YouTube brand account for your business

create a youtube brand channel
If you already have a Google account then you can use the same account as your personal YouTube account. However, it’s better to have a separate account for your business called a ‘brand account’. The advantage of creating a brand account is that you can give access to your team members, whereas your personal account only allows you access.
To create a brand account:
a) Log in to YouTube with your Google account.
b) Go to your YouTube channels page and you should immediately see an option to create a new channel, click on it.
c) After, you will be prompted to create a channel name, once you are finished click ‘create’.
Now you should have 2 separate channels: your personal channel and your brand channel on your channel page.

2) Create your brand identity

elements of brand identity
To set yourself apart from the other channels, it’s important to have channel art that appeals to your audience. There are 3 branding elements that you should consider for your brand’s channel which are profile picture, banner image, and video watermark. Here are some tips to effectively use these branding elements to give your channel a professional look:
Profile Picture: This could be your company logo. It’s recommended for the picture to be at least 98 x 98 and 4MB or less saved in a png or gif format.
Banner Image: Having an attractive banner image really speaks a lot about your brand’s personality. When your visitors arrive at your channel for the first time, the banner image is the first thing they’ll see as it’s placed across the top of your channel. To get the best results for all devices, your banner image should be at least 2048 x 1152 pixels and 6MB or less.
Video Watermark: You can add a watermark (this can be your logo) which will appear on the right-hand corner of your videos. You can use your watermark to redirect viewers to your channel or prompt them to subscribe to your channel. It’s recommended for your watermark to be 150 x 150 pixels that are 1MB or less.
Apart from images, you can also add a channel description to give a brief introduction about what your channel is all about. As well as including additional links that your subscribers will be interested in.

3) Start Uploading

upload youtube video
Now that your YouTube channel is officially created it’s time to upload your first video! To upload a video, simply:
  • Click the video camera icon on the top right corner of your screen
  • Select the video you would like to upload
  • Create a title and description of your video with relevant keywords 
  • Click publish.
Congratulations! You now have your first YouTube video uploaded.

Tips to Get Your YouTube Channel Rolling

Now that you have your YouTube channel up and running here are some tips to help it grow.

Create valuable content

create youtube video for business
To make sure your business gets the attention it deserves, you need to have a solid content strategy in place to provide your viewers with high-quality, informative, and entertaining content that leaves them wanting more.
Here are some content ideas to get you started:

Educational Content

According to the SEJ, the number of people searching for “how-to” content has grown by 140% in the past 13 years. This is a great opportunity for you to create content about how to solve common problems related to your business’s industry. For example, let’s say you have a plumbing business. One content idea could be “How to unclog a toilet”. Education content helps build trust with your audience because you are providing helpful content for free. And if they ever encounter a problem they can’t solve themselves like a badly clogged toilet, they will more likely choose your business for the job.

Entertainment Content

Who doesn’t like to be entertained? Creating content around your product and service that appeals to your audience can capture their interest in your business. A popular approach is to create comedy sketches around your product or service to make it less apparent that you are trying to sell them on something.

Product Reviews

This is another content format that is widely popular on YouTube. It’s always more believable if you can show it. With product reviews, you can create an in-depth video on the benefits of your product or service. To go even further you can even do a comparison of your product with competitors and showing why your product is the better choice.

Create a channel trailer

create channel trailer
A channel trailer similar to a movie trailer gives new visitors a sneak preview of what your channel is all about. When non-subscribers visit your channel for the first time, they will be immediately greeted by your channel trailer. If done correctly, your channel trailer can instantly convert new visitors into subscribers.
To upload a channel trailer simply:
a) Go to your YouTube profile
b) Head to channel customization by clicking on the ‘magic wand’ icon
c) And you should see the “add’ channel trailer listed under the video spotlight.
d) From there simply select the video you want to use and publish.
To create a great channel trailer it’s important to clearly communicate the value proposition of your channel to show why people should subscribe to your channel.

YouTube SEO

youtube seo for business
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine after Google. This means your video needs to be optimized so that it will be promoted by YouTube’s algorithm. Similar to SEO for Google, there are many different elements of your video that needs to be optimized such as:
Keywords: Keyword research is the first step to any SEO strategy and this is no different for YouTube. You need to understand what search terms your target audience is using to find videos related to your business.
Engagement: You may have heard this phrase many times if you’ve been on YouTube, “make sure to like and subscribe if you enjoy the video!” This is to increase engagement. YouTube loves to recommend videos with high engagement. This not only improves your search result rankings but will also increase the likelihood of your video being suggested on the trending pages.
You can increase your engagement levels by encouraging your viewers to like, subscribe, or leaving a comment on your video. To make it even more enticing, you can even hold contests, where viewers can enter if they are a subscriber or leave a comment.
Title: You need a descriptive, attention-grabbing title that consists of your keywords you are targeting.
Description: Include a detailed overview of your video and link help resources (this is a great linking opportunity for your site). Your keywords should be included especially in the first sentence.
Meta Tags: Include related keywords in your meta tags to increase your chances of your video being suggested.

Be consistent

Consistency is key to growing any YouTube channel. You need to be creating content regularly, this could be monthly, weekly, or even daily if you have the resources. By uploading videos consistently you are more likely to see steady growth in viewership and giving your subscriber something to look forward to when it’s near the time you will be uploading a video.
A great example of this is the channel “Good Mythical Morning” which consistently posts 5 videos per week since its inception in 2008 and now has over 17 million subscribers.
good mythical morning youtube channel
Having a regular publishing schedule will keep your subscribers coming back for more.

Tracking your analytics

youtube analytics for business
After you have posted a few videos, it’s time to check how your channel is performing. YouTube has its own analytics tool ‘YouTube Analytics’ where creators have access to all the channel metrics such as subscriber count, real-time views, their top-performing videos, audience demographic, and many more.
Creating a successful YouTube channel requires consistent trial and error. And YouTube analytics will be helpful in monitoring your channel’s growth and keeping your business on the right track.

Start a YouTube channel for your business today!

youtube for business subscribe button
If you’ve made it this far, you should have a decent understanding of how to create a YouTube channel and how to make it stand out. The most important thing when starting a YouTube channel is to deliver great content. You may see slow growth at the beginning, but if you can consistently provide value with your content, you’ll eventually get the recognition that you deserve. With that being said, upload your first video today!
Ready to start your new project but have a few questions? We are here to discuss.