Learn how to leverage YouTube to gain influence. YouTube as a platform presents a mammoth growth opportunity for brands, businesses and growing a personal brand. According to HubSpot, nearly 55% of marketers use the power of YouTube as part of a marketing strategy to grow and promote a business. With over two billion active global users, YouTube has untapped potential for promoting and growing a brand through high target audience engagement.
Leveraging the power of YouTube to gain influence requires a solid marketing strategy. Most people rely on YouTube videos to learn something new or check video reviews before purchasing. We will guide you with a few ways or tactics to use YouTube to create better engagement and gain significant influence.
SEO Optimization of the YouTube Videos
YouTube SEO is instrumental in optimizing the videos for organic traffic and ranking higher in the YouTube search results. With millions of videos uploaded on YouTube every day, SEO plays an important role in boosting video ranking. Here are a few ways to optimize the SEO for YouTube videos:
- Powerful keyword research – Do thorough keyword research to increase the searchability of the videos on YouTube. Use short and long-tail keywords to improve the organic traffic and engage with the target audience. Use target keywords in the video title and meta description, and optimize the video description by integrating keywords. Also, tag the video with relevant keywords related to your topic.
- Use a customized thumbnail – The thumbnail is the main image the audience sees while scrolling through the videos. Customize the thumbnail with an attractive image and words that give an idea of what the video is all about. However, refrain from using clickbait titles or thumbnails.
- Add subtitles to the video – If you want your videos to be watched by a global audience, use the SRT file for adding subtitles and closed captions. Populating the closed captions or subtitles with relevant keywords helps boost the video’s SEO.
- Add an intro and outro – The intro is a great way to boost the viewership by giving the audience an idea about the video. Make the intro interesting and use a hook statement to start the video. Add an outro at the end of the video to conclude the same. Add a CTA (call-to-action) in the outro to redirect the audience to the next step.
Create videos that interest the audience
With numerous free YouTube video maker, making videos easy but creating higher engagement requires good content. To get more views, it is necessary to create videos that help people learn something or are entertaining. The first step towards creating a YouTube video is deciding on the niche and kind of content you want to create around it. Before recording the video, plan the content and strategize with a script. Here are some types of videos that brands, businesses or an individual YouTuber can share:
- How-to videos are the most popular category for educating consumers. Create videos that aim to spread awareness and help viewers learn.
- Product review videos are in demand as it helps in boosting the buying decision of the viewers. Most people check for product reviews before purchasing something.
- Create fun and entertaining videos like behind-the-scenes, lively conversational videos or script-based content to engage the audience.
Focus on creating a positive user experience
The popularity of the videos highly depends on creating a positive user experience. Know your target audience and understand the content that interests them. Creating YouTube videos that align with the audience’s interest is challenging. Here are a few parameters that help in understanding whether the response is positive or negative:
- Audience retention – Longer watch time for a video indicates the audience finds the content useful and engaging.
- Subscriber list – A straightforward way to measure the channel’s growth is the subscriber list and the number of views on each video.
- Comments and likes/dislikes – Another parameter to gauge video engagement is the video’s number of likes/dislikes and comments. If there is constructive feedback, use it to improve the video content.
- Shares – Higher number of shares for the video indicates the video is performing well.
Use YouTube Cards to Monetize Content
The use of the tools like YouTube cards and end screens contribute to the growth of the channel and hence generate more clicks. Insert the YouTube cards at specific moments in videos to draw the viewers’ attention to something specific or even drive traffic to other videos from your YouTube channel. It is an effective way to redirect to landing pages to generate leads and sales. Listing a product or service through YouTube cards increases product sales.
Promote the videos as much as you can
YouTube is a great platform for sharing video content, but the videos also require post upload sharing and promotion. Make sure to share the videos across all your social media platforms and spread the word in front of your friends and family. Specifically, request that viewers like, share, comment, and subscribe to the channel for more amazing content updates. More shares increase the visibility of the channel and help in organic growth.
Leverage the power of the Feature video function on YouTube that helps redirect the viewers to other related video content on your channel. This is the easiest way to drive organic traffic and maximize the channel’s growth. Add a suggested video from your channel towards the end of the video to promote other videos on your channel. Make sure to add links to all your social media channel and website in the video description box.
Conclusion
YouTube is an excellent platform for businesses and entrepreneurs to scale up and market their products or services. While it is challenging, in the beginning, to optimize the videos for higher visibility and organic traffic, a good strategy helps in better optimization. SEO optimization of the YouTube video and the quality of content are two crucial points to consider while using YouTube to gain influence. Focus on creating content on topics you have expertise in and choose a niche to structure the content around it.