We are all at some point or another guilty of “spending” an entire day watching one funny cat video after another or learning how to make Kombucha at home on YouTube. As a source of entertainment and information, it is claimed to be the second most visited website on the internet with over 2.3 billion users in 2020. Netizens of varied demography land on YouTube for entertainment, information, techniques, hacks, knowledge, news, and more. It is, therefore, safe to say that this social media platform for video content is unparalleled and quintessential in our daily lives. Which makes YouTube a quintessential hub for marketing.

Fun fact: Did you know that an average user browses about 8 pages per day on YouTube? Source

With such reach and presence, YouTube becomes a chest of treasure for social media marketers. When used well, it is capable of giving your brand an impactful presence and reach. However, from a content creator’s standpoint, YouTube can get pretty tricky and challenging, thanks to its ever-changing algorithms. In such a scenario, how does one leverage the platform and milk it to the best use?

We have compiled a list of YouTube marketing strategies that can help you gain the traction you are looking for and keep you on top of the game.

1. Know Your Audience!

This goes as a no-brainer. Any content created on the internet is to be ultimately consumed by the viewers. Knowing where your audience is, who they are, their age, sex, nationality, and more will give you better insights on what kind of content you want to produce and how do you propose to reach the audience, establish your presence, and build engagement.

One smart way to stay in the loop is by observing the kind of content your competitor or peer from the industry is churning and determine what type of videos are gaining more engagement and which of them are being side-tracked. Learning from someone else’s success as well as mistakes will give you a framework to work within and points to keep in mind while creating and publishing your content while also saving you time with trials and errors.

2. Monitor Your Insights

When you have your content ready and published, it is time to monitor the insights, study and analyze them. Monitoring insights will give you a better idea of your audience, allowing you to verify if your research was accurate and if your presumptions were correct.

Some insights to collect from your content are the demography of the audience, which video gained more traction and which one did not work, what is the average viewing time of your channel, etc.

You must also be keeping an eye on the engagement of your audience. Are they commenting? What suggestions can you pick up from that? Are your videos helpful and engaging enough for them?

Learn from these insights and implement them in your next video so you keep improving and churning content that will be of great use to your audience and bring you the reach you require.

More about this: blogs.constantcontact.com

3. YouTube Algorithm

YouTube’s algorithm keeps changing and evolving time and again. However, it is absolutely crucial that you keep it in mind while ideating, producing, and publishing content on the platform and from YouTube marketing perspective .

You must have noticed that YouTube’s homepage shows you videos that are relevant to you, so does the suggestions panel, and the “watch next” section. This happens because YouTube monitors your activity through time to understand the type of content you would like to engage in.

Working around the algorithm will give your channel more credibility in the eyes of YouTube and hence, it will display your videos or suggest them to your ideal audience.

Some key factors that trigger YouTube’s algorithm are-

3a. Titles and descriptions

Use a catchy title and write a detailed description for your video. Do not resort to click baits and keep the title relevant and true to the video. Click baits will taint a consumer’s impression of your channel and YouTube will sidetrack you quickly.

3b. Keywords

Keywords help Google’s SEO identify and recognize your data, thereby ranking it accordingly and making it available easily for your audience. Ensure that your title, descriptions, and tags are rich with keywords.

You may also want to incorporate keywords in your script as well as make it Natural Language Search friendly.

NSL is a technology that enables a user to experience a conversation-like engagement with computers and the internet. You can read more about it on our blog.

3c. Tags and Categories

Before publishing, YouTube lets you pick a category your video will fall under. Using this feature and incorporating appropriate tags will help YouTube group your content with similar content on the platform and display it to your audience. This will greatly increase your reach and maybe even the engagement, something that is crucial to youtube marketing.

3d. Thumbnails

the first impression is the best impression. Although YouTube suggests relevant thumbnails for your video, we recommend that you custom make them. Keep them crisp, clean, attractive, sharp, and consistent to capture the viewer’s attention and develop a theme for your channel- something the audience can identify you with.

More about this: Oberlo.com

Also Read: The 6 must have tools to run a profitable YouTube channel

4. YouTube Ads

In January 2017, YouTube decided to make major changes to the arena of YouTube advertising to help advertisers gain more reach and engagement. Since then, YouTube ads have become a great marketing tool for social media marketers.

YouTube ads essentially fall under these categories-

4a. TrueView Ads

TrueView ads are your standard advertising videos with proper content, a well laid out script, and good presentation. Usually, skippable trueview ads do not extend beyond 6 minutes in length while non-skippable trueview ads are contained within 15 to 20 seconds time frame.

With trueview ads, an advertiser only pays for them every time a viewer watches more than 30 seconds of the advertisement or if they engage with the CTA in it such as clicking the link to find out more.

TrueView ads can further be categorized into two broad domains namely, Video Discovery Ads (In-Display Ads) and In-Stream Ads. Video Discovery Ads appear on the homepage, search page, or in the suggestions list from where a viewer can click and directly watch the advertisement. On the other hand, In-Stream TrueView Ads appear before or between the video a viewer is viewing.

A Video Discovery Ad

A skippable In-Stream Ad

4b. Pre-roll Ads

Pre-roll ads appear before the selected video plays. They can be either be skippable or non-skippable and have a duration of 15 to 20 seconds.

An un-skippable pre-roll ad

4c. Mid-roll Ads

When a YouTube video’s length crosses the 10 minutes mark, an advertisement is played in between the video. These are called Mid-roll Ads and can be both skippable and non-skippable similar to Pre-roll Ads.

4d. Bumpers

Bumpers, as the name suggests are non-skippable, very short advertisements of not more than 6 seconds in length and they play before a video.

5. YouTube Stories

Off-late YouTube stories are gaining much attention and viewership owing to their short length, much like Tik-Toks or Instagram Reels. Many content creators on the platform began creating short content for stories to gain traction. However, one aspect to keep in mind here is the average viewing time of your channel.

YouTube stories can sure bring you better reach but owing to their extremely short length, the average viewing time can take a serious blow if the creator focuses solely on posting stories.

The key here is maintaining a fine balance between regular content and stories. While one brings the necessary reach, the other ensures channel credibility and maintain the viewing time.

6. Posting Regular, Relevant Content

Social media is an ever-dynamic field to work with and YouTube is no exception to that! Many a time, hot topics and current affairs trend more on the platform.

Did you know that daily views of videos with “home office” in their title increased 210% in March 2020 when the pandemic gave a blow and many companies resorted to working from home. People also consumed 100 billion hours of gaming content on the platform in the same year.

Staying up-to-date and posting regularly will fetch you more audience. However, one channel cannot talk about everything under the sky. Therefore, carve a niche for yourself and tap the opportunity as it comes.

7. Cross-promotion and Collaboration

Speak about your YouTube channel and link videos in your blogs and other social media channels as and when you find an opportunity to do so. It would also be extremely beneficial to build a healthy relationship with fellow YouTubers and collaborate with them from time to time. This way, you will have access to their audience, and they will have access to yours, creating a win-win situation and fetching both parties easy reach.

8. Engagement

Ultimately it all boils down to the relationship you build and nurture with your audience. Check the comments regularly and respond to as many as you can. Do not forget to provide a call to action to increase engagement.

Once a viewer views your video, keep them hooked to the channel by making it easier for them to view more videos from your channel. Linking them on the video, suggesting them or ensuring they appear in the “watch next” section is one way you can achieve that. Once a viewer has viewed enough of your content, their YouTube algorithm will automatically suggest your videos to them as a priority.

In Conclusion

YouTube marketing is an entire game in itself! However, with more than 122 Million daily active users and 1 Billion+ daily watch hours, it is a super tool to build your presence in the social media domain, if played well.

Do you think YouTube is a beneficial marketing platform or is it simply a source of entertainment? Let us know in the comments section below!