James Baxter

In the world of marketing, YouTube is just like the pair of dirty socks you can't bring yourself to wash or wear. Sure, it's great for doing quick jobs like dusting off the table when your crush is coming over but when it comes to listing your most useful items, you'd definitely leave it at the bottom of the list. For many years, marketers and content creators often left YouTube out of their marketing channels because it seemed like it was mainly for teenagers and 14-year olds. However, someone somewhere, woke up one morning and realised that YouTube marketing was a goldmine that anyone could harness. We don't exactly know who started this movement but so far, everyone seems to love it. With over one billion active users, it's no wonder that about 48% of marketers want to include YouTube in their marketing strategy. Today, there are tons of YouTube influencers out there who are hitting it big. Sure, you may not exactly be looking to follow the crowd but when it comes to marketing, you definitely don't want to leave any stone unturned. Ready to start YouTube marketing and expand your marketing channel in no time at all? Here's a list of all the steps you need to follow: Create a YouTube brand channel. We know this is a no-brainer but it still has to be said nevertheless. If you're trying your hands at YouTube marketing, the first thing you need to do is create a brand account. Now, you probably already have a personal Google account but trust us, you don't want to use it. If you create a YouTube channel with your personal Google account, it will be registered under your name and will connect viewers to your personal email address. Similarly, you'd be the only one able to access it, which isn't a great move if you'd have digital marketers working under you. On the other hand, a brand account is just perfect for your marketing needs. Not sure how to set up a YouTube brand account? Check out this handy guide. Study your audience. Just before you get started on YouTube, it's important to do a little underground work on your audience. Study YouTube demographics to get a quick rundown of what your target audience looks like and how they behave. For instance, what is the predominant age range? What are their viewing preferences? With this information, you'd be able to cater to their viewing needs. Pro Tip: Once you've opened a YouTube channel for business, you'd get access to an Analytics tab. This way, you can easily gauge how well your audience receives your content and assess the areas you need to change. Analyse your competitors. Here's one thing you probably already know but should still be told about: you're going to have a lot of competitors. Just like any other social media platform, YouTube is really competitive. If you aren't careful, you just might get kicked to the rung of the ladder. The first step to analysing your competitors is identifying them first. You could start off with about three or five, depending on how much time you have. Once you've identified your major competitors, stalk them a little. Sure, you may feel like a creepy ex but hey, anything for your brand, right? Check out key metrics such as viewership stats and subscriber counts in order to set a target for your channel. You could also conduct a SWOT analysis to identify their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats they pose to your brand. This way, you can easily gauge what they're doing wrong and carve a niche that works for you. Make sure your videos are optimised. Just like any other search engine, YouTube ranks search results according to keywords, titles and descriptions. If you want to garner more views on your channel, you have to make sure your videos are optimised enough to rank high on YouTube's algorithm. Here are a few tips to help you out: Start with a catchy title: When it comes to ranking videos, your title is the first thing viewers and the almighty YouTube algorithm will gauge and assess. Include relevant keywords in your title to make it pop up each time viewers search for the keywords. To help you find the right keywords, you could use Traffic Sources in YouTube Analytics. You could also search popular keywords on Google Trends to make your title more optimised. Create an exceptional thumbnail: If titles are your face, think of thumbnails as brightly coloured hair. It's the first thing your viewers would notice once they stumble upon your video. Over 90% of the best videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails. This just goes to show that your thumbnails are almost as important as the content itself. To make sure your thumbnail is as creative as possible, you could use a before and after thumbnail for your how-to videos. This way, you'd get people interested in what your video is all about. You could also use YouTube video manager to help you organise your videos perfectly. Write an optimised description: Just like your title, your description has to be rich in keywords. The first few lines of your description should contain a short summary of your video and should have the right keywords. You could also add links and hashtags, depending on what you want. However, bear in mind that YouTube has a character limit. You definitely don't want to exceed it. Optimise your channel. To get more people to visit your channel and subscribe, you'd have to optimise it first. Start by writing a really catchy channel description. This way, visitors can easily know what to expect from it. Ensure that your description is keyword-rich as well. You can never go wrong with the right keywords. Pro Tip: You want your channel logo to be a high-resolution image. Trust us, no viewer is going to be roped in by a blurry logo. If you aren't sure how to get a high-resolution logo, you could always contact a graphic designer to help. Final Thoughts. YouTube marketing is basically uncharted waters for a lot of brand owners. However, it's fairly easy to navigate once you've gotten the hang of it. If you're looking for ways to expand your reach, you could use YouTube marketing tools. Just like Google ads, these tools help you take your content to your target audience. YouTube ads can be either skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads. You could also get non-video ads if that's what you prefer. It all depends on your preferences and your budget, of course. We really hope this handy guide has taught you everything you need to know about YouTube marketing. Good luck! AUTHOR BIO. Contact Splento if you are in need of: Event Photography and Videography Professional Headshots eCommerce Photography and Videography