Industry experts estimate that over 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. YouTube brings in over one billion unique users every month. This article will discuss some of the basic factors a beginner needs to know about this marketing powerhouse, all of which are covered by our video marketing services (watch the video to learn more).
Make a compelling video
Effective videos provide value to viewers. The video world depends upon information being compelling, action-oriented, and entertaining. Taking the time to develop an effective script goes far toward how successful a video will be in this arena.
Have an attention-getting introduction that lasts less than 30 seconds to keep viewers interested. Make certain the main presentation contains keywords like the company name, products, goods, services, or mission. Placing a company logo clearly in the scene’s background will improve brand awareness. YouTube allows standard video lengths of less than 15 minutes. However, we’ve found two minutes or less to be optimal.
Before uploading your video to YouTube, test it out on impartial viewers. These viewers could be outside business associates, industry professionals, or family and friends.
Customize your channel
Another way to think about your YouTube channel is an alternate home page. As with any Internet presence, developing an effective and engaging channel can play a major role in how powerful a video is to the audience. YouTube offers users a number of tools for customizing your channel (similar to your Facebook page). Customizing a channel to suit your company’s goals, objectives, image, reputation, and personality will improve viewer engagement levels. Use tags that match your keywords to improve SEO.
Choose an appropriate layout
YouTube provides default layouts. Customizing these layouts can help a company differentiate itself. Use of your logo, a featured image and background color consistent with existing branding.
Design a compelling About Us page
An About Us section on a YouTube channel is similar to one found on websites. It gives viewers the opportunity to learn more about a company, its mission, goals and objectives, plus ownership.
Make certain this area relays information in an efficient manner. Be short, definitive, and authoritative in communicating your value. The best About Us sections appear like compelling elevator pitches, or a 30-second commercial. Be sure to optimize for SEO by including important keywords.
Optimize mobile viewing
An ever increasing number of people are using their mobile devices to receive information, watch videos, and stay connected. The mobile marketplace is growing. It remains the fastest growing sector of the Internet. Make sure your video will look good on the most popular devices (iPad, iPhone, popular Droid devices, etc.) – test it. Nothing lowers lead generation or interest levels more than getting excited about clicking on a video and having it appear distorted (especially when so many businesses take the time to produce high definition video.
Use the subscription widget
YouTube has a very powerful tool known as a subscription widget. Prominently displaying this widget on your web pages and after blog posts is a great way to increase subscribers to your YouTube channel.
Use social media
Placing your videos on YouTube is just the beginning, the ante. If the topic for your video is competitive, you’re going to have to work to improve it’s ranking on YouTube. Just like Google, if your video isn’t on the first page of results for a YouTube keyword search – you’ll miss the majority of potential viewers (however, video viewers tend to go deeper on YouTube than on traditional search engines). One effective approach to improving video rank is to mention your video and link to it from social media, particularly Google+ and Twitter.