The Complete Guide to YouTube Marketing

Here is a fact that you might not have known. Video consumption on the internet is increasing rapidly every year. YouTube has been at the forefront of this movement. In fact, it has been the biggest source of entertainment content for years. However, recently, YouTube is also rapidly becoming a valuable tool for marketing. Nearly half of marketers are already considering the addition of YouTube to their marketing strategies in the near future.

Statistics show that YouTube currently has over a billion active monthly users. It is also important to note that a third of the time spent online by people is spent on watching videos. The platform offered by YouTube is massive. After all, it is available in 76 languages.

If you want to take advantage of this platform, the following YouTube marketing guide is what you need.

Creating YouTube Videos

There certainly are diverse videos on YouTube but not all of them will suit or serve your brand. To get the best results, you need to know about the best types of videos you should be creating. The following YouTube marketing guide lists 8 of them.

1. Customer Testimonials: These are short interviews with customers who are satisfied with your products or services. Such videos can help in building the credibility of the product, service or even the company.
2. Product Demonstrations: As the name suggests, these videos demonstrate the proper use of your product and the benefits it offers.
3. Tutorial or Explainer Videos: These videos are more in-depth compared to product demonstration videos. They properly explain how to use a specific product or use specific functions of the same product. They can also answer customer queries or demonstrate new features.
4. Interviews: These interviews are generally conducted with experts in your field or even with thought leaders. They can improve the credibility of the company.
5. Case Studies: Videos depicting the results of case studies or project reviews can be quite engaging when filled with demonstrable results and researched statistics.
6. YouTube Live: YouTube Live is a relatively new feature that allows creators to broadcast video content to their viewers in real time without filters and edits. Audience is able to engage with your video live with reactions and comments.
7. Event Videos: These videos, as the name suggests, are videos about any events that you are hosting or a part of. This can be anything from conferences to expos to trade shows.
8. Video Blogs: These videos are the video equivalent of periodical blogs. They document daily life. This can be about your employees or your company.

Guide to YouTube Marketing Strategy

You simply cannot upload videos on YouTube and expect results to follow. You need a strong guide to YouTube marketing strategy to get the best results. Here are some tips that you should follow.

Social Media

Social media offers one of the easiest ways to gain additional viewers for your YouTube channel and videos. It also offers you a way to generate more insights for your videos while engaging with your viewers. This becomes easier thanks to the inbuilt features of YouTube. Sharing across multiple social networks is as easy as clicking a button.

However, you need to be strategic while sharing on various social networks. For example, consider that you have made a product explainer video. In that case, go through your social networks and see if your customers need help with the product use. Share the video directly on those comments with a short note. This not only solves your customers’ problems but also gives you a chance to engage with them through the videos. Of course, you should also share them directly on the timelines of the different social networks. Encourage your followers on different platforms to subscribe to your YouTube channel as well.

Websites and Blog Posts

You should definitely take steps to market your channel and your videos on YouTube through your site and your blog. The first step is to add a YouTube button to your site and blog. This will enable site and blog visitors to directly follow you on YouTube easily.

Now, YouTube also offers the option of embedding videos on sites and blog posts. As such, consider creating blog posts that can accompany the videos you have created and vice versa. For example, you can present a case study in the form of a blog post and a video. Embed the video in the post to allow readers to view the video easily without having to visit YouTube. This method will drive traffic to your YouTube channel and your blog posts no matter how the viewer first accesses the topic at hand.

Email Marketing

You should certainly leverage the leads and customers that you already have for your YouTube marketing strategy. Share the videos you have made with your leads via emails. However, you must make sure that the videos are sent to the relevant leads. You can even make videos a part of your regular newsletters campaign. For this, you need videos that are not only informative but also engaging.

Viewer Engagement

To be successful with your YouTube marketing strategy, you need to engage with your viewers. As such, take some time to respond to some comments or answer questions. You can even directly ask for feedback and ideas in the videos. You can even create videos that are all about replying to customer queries and comments. Even thanking the viewers for their support and asking them to subscribe can go a long way. Many YouTube channels tend to forget this simple step in the guide to YouTube marketing and thus suffer the consequences.

Collaboration with Other Channels

While using YouTube, you are sure to come across a variety of other channels run by other companies with whom you have overlapping audiences. As such, it is a great idea to ask for a collaboration with them for a video. This is a fun and entertaining way to gain increased exposure to a whole new audience. All you need to do is ensure is that there is an overlap of goals and audience. Otherwise, the viewers will be left confused.

Additional Tips for YouTube Marketing

This part of the guide to YouTube marketing strategy deals with some more tips that will help you make the most of your videos.

• Ensure that the channel branding is consistent with the other social accounts of your brand.
• Always optimize the video titles and descriptions for searcher intent and SEO
• Select the right thumbnail for your videos. The thumbnail should accurately depict the content of the video.
• If possible, feature animations or real people in the videos. They should not only be images and words.
• Simplify the process of sharing the videos and encourage the viewers to share.
• Make sure that you create and upload videos on a regular basis, such as one video every week.
• Create playlists that gather your videos under similar topics for easy access by your viewers.
• Do not forget to add calls to action in all of your videos. At the very least, you should ask viewers to subscribe.

As you may have guessed, a YouTube marketing strategy requires careful attention to detail in order to become a success. With the right strategy, you will find YouTube to be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. If you want to add YouTube to your digital marketing and content marketing strategy, you can contact us at Cogito Software.