It’s the most successful social network for driving conversions. It’s the top destination for Millennials to learn about new products. And in July of this year, it outranked Facebook as the web’s biggest social network in terms of overall monthly visits.
Yet YouTube often gets lost in the shuffle when it comes to building a social media presence and strategy.
At Brafton, we’ll admit we took a brief hiatus from YouTube. For several years we had successfully been using the platform as a way to showcase our weekly Content and Coffee series, host monthly how-to videos and share videos from our travels to visit clients and attend tradeshows.
When our YouTube presence dipped off, it wasn’t that we had given up hope – it was that our efforts were elsewhere. (It turns out this is fairly common for marketers. Apologies in advance, YouTube.)
So when we were determined to get back into the YouTube groove, it was with a little house cleaning. And with only a moderate amount of work, the results were worth it. Here’s how we did it (and you can too!).
Go back to Square One
Whether you’re setting up a YouTube channel, or you’re looking to improve what you have, it’s best to start with the basics.
- Look at your company’s YouTube profile from the perspective of someone who has no idea who you are. Do you get an accurate depiction of your brand’s services and offerings, where you are and most importantly who you are? When we took a look at our page, we realized most of the information was out of date and needed to be revamped.
- Edit the titles of your videos. Does the title explain what the viewer is going to see? A user will be more likely to click on it (especially if they’re finding it via search) if they have a clear idea of what the video is about. From what we’ve seen, literal, straightforward titles work best on YouTube.
- Edit your video descriptions because this is crucial for search purposes. Like your title, make it straightforward and intuitive. A user on YouTube has several options to click away at all times – if a user knows what to expect, they will watch.
- Spruce up your video playlists to make sure you’re setting up your viewer to check out more than one video. If your page has videos that discuss several different topics, bunch categories into a video playlists so your viewer will be more likely to browse additional titles.
Create a distribution strategy
Once you’re back in action, don’t just post your new videos and hope for the best. YouTube videos can be easily embedded on to Twitter, Facebook, G+ and LinkedIn, and following YouTube’s website, most YouTube videos are viewed from Facebook.
Here are a few extra quick tips to get the most out of your YouTube videos:
- Not sure when to post your videos on social media? According to CMO and Adobe’s Social Intelligence Report, 25 percent of all the video plays on Facebook take place on one day of the week: Friday.
- Video shares within the first three days of posting have doubled over the past year, according to a study by Unruly. But don’t give up hope after the first week – unless your video is time-sensitive, continue to repurpose your video content throughout your social channels.
- 40 percent of viewers won’t make it through a two-minute video. What does this mean? Make your videos short, concise and to the point. Here’s more on how to make sure every second counts.
- The companies that see the best results on YouTube are the ones that understand their viewers want to be entertained and educated, so they produce videos with this goal in mind. According to a study from Pixability, product teaser videos get the most views and engagement on average.
Our results? 150% more views
In the three months since we implemented new strategy, there has been an average of 150 percent more views to the channel.
It’s not just the new videos we post regularly that get the most traffic nowadays – older videos that have been revamped with stronger titles and more search-friendly descriptions also have received more traffic.
Want to learn more about video marketing at Brafton? Check out the following resources:
