YouTube Optimization: 7 Simple Ways to Optimize & Increase Your Businesses YouTube Presence
With YouTube being the second largest search engine after Google, it is no wonder why a company’s YouTube Optimization of their YouTube channel is an integral part of their overall marketing strategy. As with anything online, the clutter and chaos can be overwhelming, so here are some tips and techniques on how to break through the crowd and get your channel noticed with important YouTube Optimization tips.
1. Customize Your Channel
Ensure that the branding of your channel is done in a fashion where visitors will be certain whose channel they are viewing. It should be cohesive with your other branding strategies, not only in the look and feel, but throughout the content as well, be it the video itself, the video’s description, or even your comments on others videos. As every point of contact with your audience is another opportunity to convert them into customers.
2. Engage with your audience
While some may think of YouTube as a place where businesses can simply upload and distribute their content, it is so much more than that. YouTube, just like other popular social platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, is also a place where you can actively engage with your audience. Through the comments section, your playlists, channel subscriptions and ‘favorited’ videos, you will be able to tell the story of who you are as a company, and in return understand who your customers or potential customers are as well.
3. Provide awesome video content
On the WebSEO Analytics Blog, Tina outlines her top 10 tips for optimizing YouTube videos. In there, her number one tip is to create original and interesting videos. Along with numerous other lists, I checked out, content was always a priority. As it doesn’t matter how many tricks and techniques you can employ if the content is not engaging there is no reason to attract people to it. You want each video you post to be a positive representation of your company and help your company’s overall marketing goals.
In order to do this, your video content needs to be engaging for your audience. At Keywest we suggest that videos going on YouTube or other social media avenues are short and sweet. Another priority is trying to create content that your customers can’t find elsewhere. Whether it is a great tutorial on how to use your product, secrets of behind the scenes at your organization, or simply funny stories from your staff. Think out of the box, and whenever possible think big!
4. Don’t forget a call to action
Once you have created your preliminary content there are several ways to optimize your video to further encourage viewer engagement. One of those techniques is provided right within YouTube and is called annotations. Annotations are a free and easy way to share additional resources and add an element of interactivity into your video. Annotations allow you to simply embed a link within your video which will then bring viewers to your website, a fundraising campaign, your YouTube channel or other videos you have posted. This is an excellent tool, as if you already have someone’s attention, you might as well steer them towards other content of yours that they may be interested in.
There are other avenues which will provide similar results. Creating a call to action or next steps can be done right within the video as well. In many of Key West Video’s video blogs we incorporate a call to action within the video content itself, by getting the host to say things such as ‘tell us your thoughts in the comments section’, or ‘email us at info@https://www.keywestvideo.com for more information’. This way, the call to action cannot be ignored as it is just as much part of the video as the rest of the content.
5. Make sure to cross-promote
Maybe you can write a blog post about a recent video you posted on YouTube. Or you can link to your other social media channels at the end of your YouTube video. There are many ways to integrate your company’s various marketing outlets within one another, so ensure that this is done. It will not only help promote your various content, but it will ensure that your brand is being consistent throughout their different promotional avenues.
Another important avenue, cited by the Search Engine Journal, is by embedding your YouTube videos on your website. Depending on content and relevancy, posting videos on your website can be a great asset for your company, and aid in a variety of ways from simply explaining your product or service, providing an overview of your company or employees, or highlighting event coverage. In return, this will be a great way to gain more views on your videos, which will in turn aid your YouTube profile. So it’s a win-win!
6. Be SEO Friendly
When uploading your content to YouTube always ensure that you are taking the few extra steps in order to optimize your content for search engines such as Google. Ways to do this include; writing a title that utilizes relevant keywords related to your business, providing a clear and detailed description of the video, including keyword rich tags, making sure the appropriate category is selected, and adding closed captions for the hearing impaired. All of these techniques are beneficial as they make the video more searchable and therefore easier for your audience to discover. Brian Honigman writing for KISSmetrics, clearly lays out why these SEO techniques, or rather the technical term MetaData, are so important. He also provides some in-depth analysis of well-known companies’ channels and their hits and misses in this department.
7. Invest in your content
YouTube is a great place for cost-effective promotion, as getting an account set-up and your content online is virtually free, minus your time and investment in the video. However, there are ways to guide those who may be interested in your content directly to it, and that is through paid video advertisements. There are numerous categories you can select from in order to target your key market. Including things as specific as age, race, gender, economic status, and as useful as online habits and likes and dislikes. If you are wondering about how useful online video advertising is, check out Key West Video’s recent video blog which discusses some important statistics about the growing marketplace.
As you can see from this list, there are a variety of reasons why YouTube optimization is important, and now you are equipped with some techniques to ensure that you are maximizing its true potential. If you follow these simple steps you are sure to make progress in getting your brand out there and encourage your audience to engage further with your company. Check out Key West Video’s YouTube channel and let us know what you think.
