This is the second and final post on Fundamentals of video marketing. The first post Fundamentals of Video Marketing: A Complete Guide to Harness the Power of Online Video to Generate and Convert Leads [Part 1] is truly a must read as well.
YouTube Video Marketing: Utilizing Its Supremacy to Your Advantage
A few years back, sharing videos on the Internet wasn’t that easy – that was until video sharing sites were conceived. YouTube may have simply started as a venue for watching funny home videos but over the years, it has metamorphosed into one of the primary methods of media consumption. YouTube has indeed become the largest video sharing site; dominating the market with the highest number of users; which makes it the ultimate perfect place to get your videos published and marketed.
YouTube has over a billion users — almost one-third of all people on the Internet — and every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views. (source)
I’m pretty sure that you’re already wondering: With the colossal number of uploaded videos, how on earth do you attain your desired number of views on YouTube?
From a realistic perspective, you should be looking at a two-week window (rough estimate) of YouTube video marketing efforts to get that kind of optimum exposure you want and need. I have compiled quite a number of tips, guides, and techniques on how to get more views on YouTube, which I’m going to share some in this section.
Tips for Video Marketing on YouTube
- Harness the power of an authentic profile. One of the factors to consider when submitting videos on YouTube is an authoritative profile. Viewers tend to check a profile to see how many friends it has; how many channel views; and the number of subscribers it has so far maintained. If you submit a video using an “orphan” account that has no views or subscribers, it may raise some doubts and suspicions not only among viewers but the YouTube headquarters as well. Create an authentic profile and build it up by getting initial exposure and aspire to get more views, no matter how gradually at first. A power profile that conveys credibility is absolutely necessary.
- Involve yourself in the YouTube community. You might tend to forget that YouTube has an active community. Get your name around by making comments on other videos. Join topic-oriented Facebook groups in your niche (or you can spearhead and create a group if there are no existing ones). You can also answer questions on the YouTube community forum to make your videos visible to all friends listed on your profile.
- Ensure that your videos direct viewers to your website. Your videos may have thousands of viewers but unless you provide a direction for them to find your business after they watch, it would amount to nothing. You can start and end your video with a Call-to-Action slide that includes your website address, organization branding/logo and other contact information. Watch Ms. Ileane's tutorial with step-by-step instructions for How to Install YouTube End Screen on Your Videos and the benefits of using YouTube Cards.
- Update your channel regularly and keep your content fresh. Upload new quality contents as frequently as possible to keep your YouTube channel current. It is an excellent way to keep your existing subscribers engaged while also providing more contents to make new potential users find you. You should also consider setting a regular recurring schedule so that you become part of your viewer's weekly or daily routine.
- Take total advantage and utilize social networks to the fullest extent. You can either share through email or directly with friends attached to your account/profile. If you’ve already jumped into the social media bandwagon, you have most likely added friends you haven’t even met, connecting you to a huge network of millions and millions of people. Now that’s a tremendously valuable marketing resource you definitely have to tap and make the most of. Post your videos on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, guest post on other blogs, etc. Ask friends to share and post your videos on their blogs as well. Don’t get carried away, though; remember to keep the balance and not spam your friends’ feeds – or you’ll get the opposite reaction and cause everyone to ignore you!
- Don’t forget SEO. Smart online marketers never lose sight of the significance of video SEO or with anything created for the Internet. As you very well know, videos will rank highly in search engine results. Thus, it is crucial to optimize your videos using targeted keywords.
Video SEO: You Can’t Do Without It
Every online marketer – whether newbie or advanced – should carry out Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for video marketing. Let's dive into some basic and simple SEO tips that you will find useful in optimizing your videos to get them picked by search engines; which can even boost your views further as video sharing social networks use the same site search tools to find videos that users want to watch or are interested in.
- Keywords on Channel Name. Your user name on YouTube is also your channel name; believe me, it pays to get the suitable name from the get go. It may be a bit tough to come up with a channel name that incorporates your main keywords, but it’s a surefire way for your viewers to relate to your contents better and have a sense of what you have to offer even before they watch your videos.
- Pay particular attention to Headline Copy or Title. There are two essential things that can get you to a better position on search engines: 1) keywords/key phrases pertinent to your video content; and 2) action verbs (call-to-a-problem or name-a-solution) that people who might be interested in your niche look for.
- Pick the appropriate category. It’s all about capturing highly targeted users that you can turn into loyal viewers, so find the category that best relates to your content and target audience (e.g., if your content is about network marketing or how to generate a second income, don’t choose Comedy as your category).
- Use keywords wisely and sparingly in your description. Don’t pull all your keywords in the hope that search engines will drive traffic to your video – HUGE mistake! Here are the drawbacks when you do that: search engines are already on to lame optimization tricks and you can either get penalized or completely taken out of the ranking scene; and viewers absolutely dislike the hard-pushing method of marketing. Use keywords/key phrases at the start of your video description, and then make use of two variations at least twice on the body itself. Make sure your description makes sense; giving a brilliant content overview and pointing out what the viewers can learn and/or the benefits they can get from the video.
- Tags go a long way. Tagging your video properly can go wonders to increase your visibility on YouTube. We are allowed 500 characters for every video you submit; utilize your main, secondary and other content-related keywords. TubeBuddy (this is an affiliate link) is a fantastic tool that you can use to quickly determine the best tags for your video. It's a free Chrome extension but you can upgrade for even more features. Watch this video to see how TubeBuddy works.
- Jazz ‘em up with some buzz. Post your videos in blogs or websites and supplement them with extra text that’s fascinating enough to draw your visitors into watching your YouTube videos.
- Directories Submission and RSS Syndication. This certainly provides as many back links to your video web page and latest uploaded videos as you can wish for. You don’t even have to do all directories in the list all at once; just pick out a few per day to get you started. While you’re at it, create a Medium blog that gives tips on your targeted niche; you can then add your video RSS Feeds to the lens for optimal results.
There are plenty more ways to do SEO for your online video marketing. Remember when your video gets displayed in search engine results, it can make a vast difference to the way your viewers click on the links to your video page. Just make sure to always use the most ethical and generally accepted SEO video marketing techniques.
Final Remarks…
Clearly, video marketing is –- or should be – an extremely vital part of your online marketing strategy that can bring massive traffic to your business, which can convert into actual sales, if used and done properly. Those hot tips I mentioned are doable, attainable, and can be easily applied to attract visitors to your site, acquire high-level sales, amass more potential customers, and generally boost your online business. Now, isn’t that cool?
So if you’re thinking that online video marketing is complicated, that’s total baloney. Don’t let yourself be daunted by the phrase video marketing. Go ahead, dive in and go for it; you’d be surprised at how much easier it gets once you’ve started. Don’t hesitate too long or your competition will run away with those views in the great video marketing game!