Are you looking for a way to grow your business with YouTube? If so, you’re not alone. Brands around the globe use YouTube to engage with their audience, get more traffic to their website, and to increase their sales.
When you consider that over 2 billion people use YouTube every month, this strategy should not come as a surprise. Companies can clearly define their brand and showcase great content through their YouTube channel. All of this hard work leads to more brand awareness, which leads to more engagement.
It’s a marketing cycle that’s certainly worth investing in, especially if you’re looking to connect with your target audience.
Today we are going to demystify the process of creating a YouTube account that’s designed to boost online visibility. Our goal is to help you take the steps you need to get more subscribers and value from your channel.
Let’s get started!
Complete Your Profile
Before you start uploading content to your channel, it’s a good idea to complete your profile. Social media profiles are how brands introduce themselves to first-time visitors, and it’s essential for showing people the value you bring to the table.
There are three main areas you should focus on when getting your account set up.
First, you’ll want to upload a profile picture. We suggest using a combination of your brand logo and mascot. The goal is to get people to instantly recognize your company by simply looking at the profile picture displayed next to new videos. If you don’t have a mascot, that’s okay! A simple background with your logo is just as effective.
The next step is to add a channel banner. Your banner should represent who you are as a company. A channel for an online pet store would likely have a photo of cute, happy animals on their banner. Again, make sure you include your logo so people checking out your profile will get more exposure to your company name.
Lastly, you’ll want to complete the About section of your profile. Visitors that land on your channel will likely have questions about who you are, the products you offer, and how they can reach your business. Include your URL, contact information, and content schedule so users can learn more about your brand before they ever land on your website.
Include a Transcript and Captions
YouTube comes with a feature that creates closed captions for content creators. In practice, it sounds like a great idea. But execution leaves a lot to be desired. The auto-caption option generates text based on what it thinks you’re trying to say in your videos.
The only problem is the generator can leave out words, make wrong predictions about what you’re saying, and sometimes it doesn’t form complete sentences, despite what the person on screen says. This situation can be a nightmare for someone hard of hearing or a person who prefers to read the text instead of listening to the video.
Including your captions and transcript will ensure that everyone who lands on your channel will get the opportunity to check out your content. Believe it or not, this seemingly small change can have a considerable impact on engagement and watch time.
You’ll also get the added benefit of boosting your visibility through YouTube’s search engine. YouTube is owned and powered by Google, so their search algorithm works in the same way. Including relevant keywords in your transcript and captions will ensure that YouTube’s crawlers understand your video’s context, which can lead to a boost in search ranking for the keywords you hope to target.
Partner with Influencers
Influencer marketing is a great way to improve your visibility and while dramatically improving your sales. In case you’re not familiar, influencer marketing is when a business works with influential internet personalities on platforms like YouTube and Instagram to grow their brand.
The goal is to find an influencer on YouTube that discusses your industry or has a similar target audience. For example, if a business that sells headphones wanted to find an influencer, they would likely seek out a prominent music video commentator to review their product, or include a featured ad in one of their regularly scheduled posts.
There’s plenty of evidence showing that influencers can help you grow your business. Here’s a compelling statistic to prove our point: product reviews can increase conversions by a breathtaking 270%! Now imagine promoting your product through an influencer with over a million followers. It’s not hard to imagine how a positive review from an influential figure can get more people on your channel and website.
Encourage User Engagement
The last topic we are going to talk about today is encouraging user engagement. When people subscribe to your channel, comment on videos, and leave likes, their actions contribute directly to your brand visibility.
The more people that see and enjoy your content, the more positive signals YouTube gets about your channel. As a result, positive engagement leads to a better position in the search rankings and more social sharing.
You can get visitors to engage with your channels in several ways. We mentioned some of the most common metrics content creators look at when measuring their engagement, but there are plenty of other options.
One excellent way to get more people interested in your channel is by hosting a YouTube giveaway. Use this opportunity to give away some of your most popular products. Alternatively, you can use this event to get the word out about your latest creation.
Set up content guidelines that get more users to take action on your YouTube channel, website, and other social channels. Asking subscribers to share your video on Facebook for a chance to enter will get more eyes on your page, which leads to more engagement.
There’s one golden rule for getting more engagement — you have to ask for it. Subscribers won’t know what you expect them to do without clear directions. Simply saying, “don’t forget to subscribe for more great content.” can net you significant results on your next big brand awareness push.
Back to You
There you have it! Now you know some of the most effective strategies you can use to grow your YouTube channel and increase awareness. It’s worth noting that traffic, shares, and comments vary greatly depending on your industry.
Spend some time researching your competition on YouTube to see how they are performing. You can also review overall statistics for your industry to see where you stack up compared to others selling similar products and services.
Building a YouTube business channel requires dedication and patience. If you work hard and consistently improve your channel, users will notice and chose to interact with your brand on a consistent basis.
