How You Can Get Started with YouTube Marketing

Is YouTube marketing really a good idea for your business? Absolutely!

Why? Let’s start with some of the obvious reasons. First off, we’re talking about the #2 ranked website in the world — second only to Google! That’s a lot of potential eyeballs on any marketing materials you add there.

Sticking with a numbers theme, people don’t just go to YouTube and click away. The average daily time that visitors spend there is over 13 minutes. How many people spend 13 minutes on your site?

Moreover, companies that produce their own videos seem more professional. More authoritative. More trustworthy.

But simply throwing up a few videos willy-nilly is not the best idea. So, how do you get started? What are some tips and best practices to follow?

Come up with a Content Plan

What topics are you going to cover? Start with FAQs you get from clients. Video is your opportunity to educate your clients in a friendly, easy-to-digest way.

Say Hi!

Create a short Welcome video for your YouTube channel. And set it as your channel trailer. This video will be shown to people who land on your YouTube channel for the first time. Let them know who you are and what you do. Most importantly, invite them to subscribe.

Make Sure You Optimize

Search engine optimization isn’t just for your website. You need to do it for YouTube channel, too. That means writing a keyword-rich (but not keyword-stuffed!) description, creating a branded banner, adding your logo, and using hashtags. In your description, include your URL as the first word. It will help drive more traffic back to your website.

Aim for Around 2 Minutes

For short videos. Longer videos have their place, too. But if you can cover the information in a shorter amount of time, strive to do so. Viewers will click away if they don’t feel like their question is being answered quickly enough. Keeping it short will help keep you on topic.

Double-Dip with Zoom

If you’re hosting a live event on Zoom (and have a Zoom Pro account), record the event. You’ll get the benefits of the live event itself and whoever can attend in real-time. And you’ll be able to upload the entire event or clips to YouTube later, so more people can see it over time.

Avoid Overhead Lighting

Overhead lights will create unattractive shadows, so turn them off. Instead, set up two sidelights. You should experiment with closing windows, too, to see what looks best.

Don’t Forget Your Logo

Include your business logo at the beginning of your video – either as a static screen or an animated logo. Then add your contact info at the end of the video as a static screen.

Speaking of Double-Dipping…

Make sure you publish the videos on your website and social media as well. You can even link to the video (on your site preferably) in your newsletter.

Taking that first step to get started with YouTube marketing can seem daunting. But it’s definitely worth it. Videos can boost perceived trustworthiness, social media engagement, search rank, email click-through-rates, site visit length, and much more.