YouTube is a favorite site of everyone. YouTube is the most visited website after Google, with over 75% of Americans aged 15 and older.
YouTube is a great place to promote your business. Without a plan, shouting about your products from the rooftops won’t get anyone anywhere.
To succeed, you need a strategy. Here are the 10 steps to smash YouTube marketing in 2022.
Bonus: Get the 30-day free plan to grow YouTube. It includes a daily workbook with challenges that will help you get started on your Youtube channel growth. Real results in one month
YouTube Marketing: What does it mean?
YouTube marketing refers to the promotion of a brand, product or service via YouTube. You can use a variety of strategies to promote your brand, product or service on YouTube.
Creating organic promotional videosWorking with influencersAdvertising on the platform
You need to create what your target audience wants in order to market your YouTube business — no matter if you are an entrepreneur or a corporation. It sounds simple, right? It is simple, if you understand what your customers want. This is not a trap that many businesses fall into.
You must also ensure that your videos are found by the right people. YouTube is a search engine, so optimize your content for YouTube just as you would for Google SEO.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you promote your business on YouTube.
The 10-step YouTube marketing strategy
Step 1: Make a YouTube channel to promote your business
First, create a YouTube channel.
YouTube is part Google so you will need to first create a Google account to sign up to a YouTube channel. An existing account can be used or you can create one specifically for managing your business.
Here are some ways to get started:
Register for a Google account. Use that account to create your YouTube channel.
A Brand Account is better than a personal Google account for managing your YouTube channel. A Brand Account allows multiple people within your company to manage and update your YouTube channel.
For another, no one at work needs to know your personal email is sk8rboi2000@gmail.com. (Your secret is safe with me.
It also gives you the opportunity to grow your business with additional YouTube channels.
You have the account. Next, you need to make it look good.
Add your:
“About” information. Channel art (the profile picture and “header” photo).Social media and site links.
For more information, please see our step-by-step guide to creating a YouTube account.
We are now ready to tackle your YouTube marketing strategy.
Step 2: Learn about your audience
Okay, let’s get to the hard stuff. What do your customers really want?
Two questions are required to figure this out:
Who are you creating videos for? What are they currently watching on YouTube?
It’s useful to first understand the basic YouTube demographics. YouTube is used by more than 2 billion people and 72% percent of Americans regularly visit YouTube. YouTube is used by 77% of those aged 15 to 35. Unlike other social media platforms, there’s no drop in the number of older users.
Source: Statista
YouTube isn’t just popular in the USA. YouTube has over 100 localized versions for countries all around the globe.
Spend some time looking into who your target audience is on YouTube. What videos are they watching? (If you aren’t sure who your target audience is, we offer a free buyer persona template.
There are two ways to accomplish this.
Check out Analytics if you have already set up your YouTube channel.
This will provide valuable insight into your audience’s interests and demographics. This will allow you to see how many people have found your videos via search, their suggested feeds or other sources.
Social listening can help you find your audience.
What is the best way to make lasting relationships with people? You can spy on them from afar.
Social listening is a way to search for specific keywords or mentions of your brand on social media platforms such as YouTube.
You can see what people have to say about you and your industry. This will help you find the right information for video content.
Step 3: Research your competitors
YouTube can grow quickly if you find out what works for your competitors and then do it better.
Start by researching channels of competitors that you are familiar with. For the following:
Subscriber countAverage views/videoFrequency to postOverall video qualityWhat people have to say in the commentsThe most popular topics they post about
Then, ask yourself:
What are their most-watched videos? How do they present themselves? How can I distinguish my company from them? What ideas can you give me for creating new content on this channel?
All your notes should be incorporated into a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths and Weaknesses. Opportunities and Threats. It makes me feel like a Secret Service agent every time I mention that I’m going to do a SWOT at work.
To get you started, we offer a free SWOT template.
Your goal at first is likely to increase your audience and subscribers as quickly as possible. Keep track of your competitors’ subscribers and views. Monitor your progress monthly against theirs.
You can also be competitive, like me, and want to beat their numbers. This will drive you to continue your channel growth, even if it is slow.
Step 4: Learn from your favourite channels
You should not only learn from your competitors but also from your favorite YouTube channels. These channels don’t necessarily have to be related to your industry.
YouTube content is a great way to learn about what works and what doesn’t, since it changes all the time. Bonus: Get the 30-day free plan to grow YouTube following fast. This workbook contains daily challenges and will help you track your progress. Real results in one month
Get the guide for free right now!
Did you know that audio quality is more important than video quality? It is true. Bad audio can make people stop watching your video and/or subscribing to it.
YouTube videos are a lot of work. Pay attention to the following things when you are watching others:
Video thumbnailsChannel artHow others creators link to posts or productsHow other Creators edit their videos, text popups, and other special effects
You can even find entire channels dedicated to YouTube growth and video editing. These channels, as well as keywords related to YouTube growth can be tracked in your Hootsuite dashboard.
Step 5: Optimize videos for more views
Okay, let’s get more specific about what makes you famous.
YouTube’s 2Billion users view approximately 1 billion hours of video content each day. How can you stand out from the crowd and get YouTube to show your videos?
YouTube is similar to SEO and Google’s algorithm with one key difference: Personalization.
You’ll get roughly the same results when you search for a phrase in Google. Because some results can change depending on where you are located, I said “roughly”.
However, if you and your friend sat in the same room and used the same Wi-Fi to search for the same keyword, the results would be identical.
YouTube is different.
YouTube will show you search results based on keywords and similar terms Google searches for. These include how popular the video is, keywords in its title, and so forth. YouTube also considers your watch history, and what types of videos you enjoy watching.
This is why search results and YouTube homepages of different users will not be identical.
While personalization is important, it’s not the only way to make your videos searchable.
These are 6 ways to optimize your videos for more views.
Keyword research
You must first know the purpose of your video optimization. Keyword research allows you to see what phrases are being used to find content, so that you can also add it to your own. (Learn more about this later.)
Google Keyword Planner can be used to do keyword research. You can also use the YouTube search engine to find relevant topics. These are real searches. These can help you think of new keywords.
Add your keywords to your video
One keyword should be your main keyword, and several additional keywords for each video. These are the places to put them:
The video title (main keyword),The video description (main keywords + 1-2 related keywords),>Use your main keyword within the first three sentences of the video’s tags> YouTube says this has little impact but you can still use your keywords as tags. It takes only a second.
Use timestamps
YouTube timestamps are like breaking your video into chapters. This allows viewers to jump to the most relevant sections. This increases your chances of them watching more of your video.
Check out how the Hootsuite team uses Timestamps to help their audience navigate longer video clips.
Create a detailed video description
A description of each video should contain a section that explains what it is about. You can save time by creating default descriptions for any part of your video.
Here are the things you should include in your description.
Link to your social media accounts.Links to the products and services you mentioned in the videoA call for action
Make a video thumbnail that is engaging
Views can be enhanced by custom thumbnails. Your title is the only thing that users can decide whether they want to view your video.
Your audience will determine what constitutes a good YouTube thumbnail. Make sure that it’s not just a thumbnail of your video. To entice viewers, use a photo of your brand elements or add text — as Hootsuite does with the Hootsuite Labs channel.
Current specifications are a 16-9 format with a minimum of 1280×720 pixels.
Comment
YouTube is a social networking site, right? Act like it. You respond to viewers’ comments to show that you are there to build a community and not push for self-promotional content.
This will also increase your video’s popularity to the algorithm, as more comments equals more popular-seeming videos.
Step 6: Upload your videos and schedule them
You’re now ready to go.
Upload your video to YouTube Studio directly and you can publish it immediately or schedule it later. Hootsuite also allows you to schedule videos the same way as all of your social media content.
Here are some tips for scheduling:
What frequency will you post? You can pick a posting schedule, such as daily, weekly or biweekly. Then, think about when is the best time to post for your audience. What time are they most likely watch your content?
Step 7: Optimize your channel to attract followers
While optimizing individual videos is important, you must also optimize your entire channel. Your branding should be reflected in your profile photo and channel art.
YouTube offers many built-in features to help you get more subscribers.
Create playlists that organize your videos by topic.
When you watch a video, and the creator tells you to “like” and “subscribe”, it’s usually because it works.
Make sure you include the following in your videos:
Closed captioning is a must. Closed captioning is a must for accessibility.
Step 8: Use YouTube advertising
Are you not growing fast enough? Try YouTube ads.
While YouTube ads tend to be videos, banner ads can be placed on the website or in videos. Your video ads can be made skippable after 5 second or unskippable.
YouTube ads are operated through the Google Ads platform as a Google company. A strategy is essential to running successful ads. We detail this in our guide to Google Ads.
Before you start to test out paid ads, you should have the following:
You have a solid understanding of your audience. Uploaded at least 5-10 videos to give your new viewers a sense of what you are all about.
Step 9: Use influencer marketing
YouTube creators, also known as “creators”, are on the rise every year. YouTube reported an increase of 50% in creators making over $10,000 annually year-over-year and a 40% rise in creators making over $100,000.
YouTube is an excellent channel for brands, despite the fact that new social media platforms are constantly popping up and becoming the “hot place” to advertise. YouTube will be used by almost half of all brands that plan to use influencer market.
Source: eMarketer
YouTube is a well-known channel for sponsorship. 70% of YouTube viewers have purchased a product that was featured on YouTube.
You can’t just jump into an influencer partnership as you would with any type of paid advertising campaign or marketing campaign without doing some preparation.
Know your audience and your goals. You already know these parts. FTC guidelines for disclosure of paid and sponsored content. Follow the FTC rules for disclosing paid or sponsored content.
Nike’s “What’s Inside?” campaign shows how you can let your creator lead. The channel is known for cutting down everyday objects in half to reveal the inside. To promote a new Nike shoe, they created a series videos.
The video where they cut the shoe in half was the most popular. It has been viewed over 7.1 million times.
Step 10: Analyze, adapt and adjust
You should track your YouTube analytics at minimum monthly, as with all marketing. YouTube offers built-in reports that will allow you to see who your audience is viewing, what they are interested in, and where your traffic is coming.
Analytics can also be used to track channel growth. Keep track of your monthly numbers for:
SubscribersViewsView durationTop VideosWatch timeImpressionsYour click through rate (CTR).
This is your monthly benchmark for measuring your channel’s growth. Are you not growing? It’s time to adapt your YouTube marketing strategy.
Four YouTube marketing tools to help your business
These tools will help you increase your YouTube marketing success.
Mentionlytics allows you to monitor all social media platforms for mentions or keywords related to your company. You can track both positive and negative mentions, so you can respond to them with appropriate replies. The app also provides a Sentiment Analysis that reflects what people are saying.
Hootsuite is for everything
YouTube Studio allows you to schedule videos, but it’s not a good idea to leave your work flow. Hootsuite allows you to schedule all of your social media posts including YouTube videos.
Hootsuite’s dashboard is more than just a scheduler. It allows you to track brand and keyword mentions across all channels. Hootsuite allows you to do all things related to social media from one place: Hootsuite. This includes posting, advertising, and analytics reporting. You can also save tons of time by responding directly to comments from your dashboard.
All members of your team can access collaboration tools that enable you to manage social accounts efficiently at scale.
Hootsuite cannot call your mom for her birthday. It can, however, be used to schedule a birthday tweet in advance. Simply put.
Channelview Insights provides in-depth analytics
YouTube offers analytics, but Channelview Insights will give you a more detailed look at your statistics.
Channelview gives YouTube a Google Analytics-like feel with its familiar layout. It tracks everything, from demographic data to traffic sources to subscriptions. You can export reports to Excel as PDFs and CSVs.
TubeRanker for keyword research
This website is free and a great place to start your keyword research. TubeRanker allows you to enter keywords and gives you ideas for additional keywords.
Hootsuite makes it easier to grow your YouTube channel. All your team can access scheduling, promotion, and marketing tools in one place. Register now for a free trial.
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Hootsuite will help you grow your YouTube channel quickly. Hootsuite allows you to easily moderate comments and schedule video. You can also publish to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Get it free: The Complete Guide to YouTube Marketing 2022
