The YouTube algorithm is MASSIVE, and takes thousands of factors in consideration when ranking and featuring content.
BEFORE YOU START…
Your first step into YouTube marketing is your approach, you should avoid looking at this in the same way you create content for social media marketing. Users don’t often come to YouTube to socialise, so treat this as a platform to entertain and educate, rather than deliver content in short, sharp bursts.
CREATING A YOUTUBE ACCOUNT FOR YOUR BUSINESS
This is the first step you will need to do before you do anything else. Set it up specifically for your business. This will help you get more clicks and users will recognise you as an authority quicker.
All you need for this is a Google Account. Then, simply go to YouTube, click Sign In, then “Create Account”. Make sure you choose the option “To manage my business” as this will give you more options when creating and managing your account.
Then all you need to do is fill in your details, come up with a channel name (keep it short, simple and memorable) and voila, welcome to the world of YouTube marketing.
CHOOSE YOUR PROFILE ASSETS CAREFULLY
The next step will be to pick your images for your channel. There will be two images you need to upload; one will be your smaller profile thumbnail picture which works in a similar way to your Facebook profile picture.
The second one is your channel art; this will be presented along the top of your channel page. These images may well be the first things your potential consumers see when they find you so make sure they are relevant, attention-grabbing and reflective of your brand.
Recommended channel icon size: 800 x800 pixels
Recommended cover size: 2560 x 1440 pixels
Make sure you include your website address and information about your company in the cover art, to help users know where they can find your business. However, don’t make the picture too complex or over-detailed as this could put off consumers and you want them to find out about you primarily through your channel.
FILL IN YOUR PROFILE
Make sure you add your links and contact info onto your profile. You can add one email for business enquiries and then 5 custom links. This can be your website, social media platforms or anything else you want to direct them to. To do this, simply click the pen icon at the top right-hand corner of your cover picture and select “Edit Links”
Another very important thing which many YouTubers forget about is the channel description. This is your chance to summarise your business so that users know who you are and what you do before watching your videos. This is added in the same place as your email address and links.
CONSIDER CREATING A CHANNEL TRAILER
This is not a mandatory step, but we do highly recommend this. A channel trailer will be placed at the top of your channel page and so will stand out from the rest of your content.
This is a great excuse to make an introduction video stating who you are, some of your values and what you sell or offer.
Your channel description will not appear on your first page, but this will, so make it attention grabbing and interesting to hook potential consumer’s attention.
Marketing Mix of YouTube
The marketing mix is the set of actions, or tactics, that a company employs to market its brand or product.
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
SWOT Analysis of YouTube
A SWOT analysis is a model that helps to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a company. Its primary goal is to assist organizations in developing a comprehensive understanding of all the factors involved in making a business decision.
Let’s take a look at YouTube‘s SWOT analysis below:
1. Strengths of YouTube
- Largest Video sharing site: Simply put, YouTube is the world’s largest video-sharing website. It has billions of views and continues to grow every day.
- Viral concept: Viral marketing is a concept that arose as a result of YouTube videos. In fact, when social media first emerged, it was primarily focused on YouTube videos, which quickly went viral. YouTube can be considered the birthplace of viral marketing.
- Huge revenue driver for Parent company: Google, which is now Alphabet, was YouTube‘s parent company. Because of the number of viewers who visit the site daily and the advertising revenue generated, YouTube is one of the most important revenue generators for its parent company.
- Multi-lingual support: YouTube is available in 34 languages, including several localized versions. This multilingual support goes a long way toward making users feel at ease and increasing traffic to the site.
2. Weakness of YouTube
- Podcasting is increasing: More and more bloggers and podcasters are shifting away from YouTube and toward their own private podcasts, where they earn money directly from brands. Even Vimeo is growing in popularity, and many users believe that YouTube has become too noisy for brands.
- Social Media shared videos: The majority of videos shared on Facebook and Twitter are uploaded directly to the social media sites, and these social media sites do not allow YouTube-linked videos to be uploaded. As the popularity of social media videos grows, the popularity of YouTube videos declines. Even social media platforms like Facebook are experimenting with new ways to monetize video content.
- Copyright material: A major issue that YouTube has repeatedly encountered is users uploading copyrighted material as original content, resulting in revenue loss for the original content creator. Even movies are being leaked online at an alarming rate.
3. Opportunities for YouTube
- New customers from online channels: The company has invested a significant amount of money in the online platform over the last few years. This investment has provided YouTube with a new sales channel. In the coming years, the company can capitalize on this opportunity by better understanding its customers and meeting their needs through big data analytics.
- Adoption of the Internet and Smartphone: The adoption of the internet is accelerating. Even the most remote locations now have access to the internet. The same is true for smartphones. With its app becoming increasingly popular and Android being the most widely used mobile operating system, YouTube comes pre-installed on all phones, resulting in increased usage.
4. Threats to YouTube
- Intense competition: Over the last two years, stable profitability has increased the number of players in the industry, putting downward pressure on not only profitability but also overall sales.
- Isolationism: The growing isolationism in the American economy may prompt a similar reaction from other governments, negatively impacting international sales.
7 Ways to grow your channel
- Make compelling titles
- Create perfect youtube thumbnails
- Limit Videos to under 5 minutes
- Brand your youtube channel
- Include Calls – to- Actions (CTA’s)
- Share videos via social media
- Work with other Youtubers
M. C. Escher said that “only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible”. If you want to grow your YouTube presence, you should start to promote your YouTube channel and experiment and learn what works best for you and adhere to these tactics.
Staying true to your brand is as important as your personality. Keep monitoring any changes, see how they are influencing your audience’s behavior and update your YouTube strategy.
Create quality, interesting video content for your viewers, grab their attention with thumbnails, hook your audience, stick to your word, and deliver on your promises.