It shouldn’t come as a surprise that YouTube is the second-most popular search engine in the world (second to Google, of course). YouTube is Google with strictly video answers: If you want to watch how something is done, or hear the voice and meet the face behind a product review, there is no better website to visit.
Video marketing has experienced a recent increase in popularity, and more and more businesses are finding YouTube to be the best platform for uploading video marketing content. Statistically, over 1 billion unique visitors visit YouTube each month, 6 billion hours of YouTube content are watched monthly, and 100 hours of video content are uploaded onto the platform every single minute.
If your business is considering using YouTube as a marketing platform, there are a few things to keep in mind while getting started:
Time
Because so many hours of content are uploaded each day, there is much to compete with. Before you begin your YouTube marketing efforts, you must ensure you have the time and equipment to produce consistent, quality content that will reflect well on your brand.
Schedule
According to a new study by New York-based multi-channel network Frederator, the best time to upload your video to YouTube is during any weekday between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Although the highest amount of traffic on YouTube is between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., posting earlier will allow your video to be indexed and show up in search results later that day. On weekends, it is best to schedule posts between 9 a.m. to 11 am. The weekends are when users are the most active on the platform.
Design
Your video’s thumbnail (small preview photo) is often what drives people to click. When users choose your video over others after a search, your video (eventually) moves from position 2-10 to position 1 — meaning more video views for you and less for your competitors. Use a few keywords in your thumbnail image, making sure that it’s clear and easy to read. This goes for all aspects of YouTube marketing: If you have the design resources, make sure you use them to really amplify your YouTube efforts.
Titles & Descriptions
Before writing your descriptions and brainstorming your titles, do some keyword research around your video topic or based on your general audience. Try to incorporate these keywords into your video’s title and towards the beginning of your description. This will do wonders for your video and your channel’s SEO.
SEO
The titles and descriptions of your YouTube videos aren’t the only factors that impact SEO. Your channel’s hashtags and your individual video’s hashtags play a huge part in the optimization of your YouTube presence. Adding a transcript for users who may wish or need to listen without sound is not only great for viewers, but also great for SEO. In addition, the amount of time users spend watching your content, all likes and comments you’ve received and audience members who subscribe right after watching a video all contribute heavily to your ranking.
Content
Read this previous post about the types of video marketing content your company should consider developing for YouTube.
Before starting your company’s YouTube channel, dedicate some time to planning your posting schedule, integrating unique design elements throughout your profile, educating yourself on the best way to optimize your videos, and experimenting with content.
Trust me: Your audience will thank you and, later on, you’ll thank yourself.