YouTube is an important marketing component when it comes to engagement and reach now-a-days. Video content is the king among audiences in the current age and YouTube is supporting just that. The complete process from uploading the video and combining it with your marketing plan is very easy. Written content is losing its popularity with more and more people consuming video content.
Using YouTube is a great way for online video marketing, there are three reasons to support this-
Trust building and increased credibility-
Images are photoshopped and words are often a lie in this digital era we live in. In this case, videos now have emerged as a trusted source of truth.
Businesses must give reasons to their target market for considering their products/services. Video testimonials are a good way to give these reasons along with the review about the performance.
Establishing authority-
As youTube is the second largest search engine on the web today, it enables you to establish brand recognition. When people have queries related to your industry they want to see products in action. So, you can build authority by uploading content featuring your input and expertise. This will also make them consider your products/services whenever they will think of your industry. You can also use YouTube videos on your website.
Effective engagement of target market-
YouTube lets you connect with people who are genuinely interested in your products and services. Engagement is an essential element to achieve long-term success. On YouTube, you can reply to the comments and answer any questions viewers may have. This will make new viewers feel that the business cares about its community and leave a positive impact.
There are many more ways you can increase engagement on your YouTube channel –
Thumbnails:
You can increase your engagement by 154% with simple and beautiful thumbnails. As humans, users are attracted to pictures and are more likely to click on the ones they find attractive. Usual and boring thumbnails are not generally liked by many. The key is to understand how much power thumbnails hold as 90% of best performing videos have custom thumbnails.
There are a few characteristics of a click-compelling thumbnail-
- Different thumbnails for every video. As users will then already get an idea of what the video contains.
- Add your branding or some custom video explainer text to the thumbnail.
- Readable text and high-resolution images (1280 x 720 pixels).
Also keep in mind that your thumbnail should work in cooperation with the title. Engaging thumbnails are not necessarily a turn off for your audience but clickbait titles are.
Add annotations:
If you want your audience to do something, state it explicitly. Want them to subscribe to your channel? Say it. You need to have a clear passage of communication to your audience, beating around the bush won’t help. If you want to see profitable customer action then you have to do so.
Annotations are little boxes that appear when the video is playing and reminds the viewer to take action.
Shorter videos:
Higher retention rate you get from your viewers the better. Video watch time is one of the key factors for video ranking. With decreasing attention span, having people to watch till the end is a task. You must have already heard that the first 10 seconds are crucial, grab the attention in those few seconds. Ways you can improve retention are –
- Get to the point as soon as possible. Remove your intro and outro section, if you can.
- Have a compelling storyline. Storytelling is an art that works wonders.
- Do not drag your videos longer than needed. The chances of viewers watching till the end decreases with longer videos.
Basic marketing and SEO principles:
Marketing principles stay the same on all platforms, only their implementation changes with different platforms. To rank top on the YouTube search results you can –
- Promote your videos actively to your email subscribers, through a blog post etc.
- Do Keyword research for determining competition and search volume. Make sure that the keyword appears on your video title.
- Optimize the video before and after uploading.
Stick to a publishing schedule:
Consistency is key on YouTube, post regularly as per a schedule. Establish a realistic schedule for when and how frequently you will post. This also allows subscribers to gain an idea of when they can expect a new video.
With more than 2 billion global users, YouTube is a go-to choice for marketers. Yes, there’s a lot of traffic on the platform but it also comes with ways to stand-out among the crowd. If you have a YouTube channel you must try the above tactics to increase your engagement rate.
We recommend you also read How YouTube can be your next go to marketing platform
