Beginners Guide to YouTube Marketing : Complete List

Like it or not, you are part of the YouTube generation.

For some, YouTube is a social media network; for others, it is an online video platform. But for many, YouTube is now the second most-used search engine after Google. Therefore, if you combine all these perspectives, you get an all-powerful channel that presents countless marketing opportunities.

Your Step By Step YouTube Marketing Guide

Today video content works best for our generation. Where else can you access a userbase of over 2 billion active followers spread across 100 countries with the option to view content in 80+ local languages other than YouTube? 

With one-quarter of internet users spending over 10 hours watching videos, there is no other platform better than YouTube marketing to promote your channel, brand, or business. 

So, if your question is – ‘How can I promote my YouTube channel?’ – read this blog to discover and understand how you can make use of some really simple and straightforward techniques to get the best out of YouTube marketing. 

Before You Start

Deciding to create your YouTube channel is only the first step of the process. To identify the right strategy to promote your channel, it is important that you shortlist your objectives and goals, determine the type of video topics that you’d like to explore, and then move on to promoting them. 

Be it planning, filing, editing, and analyzing, running a YouTube channel is time-consuming. If you are ready for the commitment, it is time to deep dive and walk you through each step of how YouTube marketing works. 

Creating A YouTube Channel

It goes without saying that to promote your YouTube channel, you need to first set up the channel. Google currently owns YouTube, and therefore, you need to have a Gmail or a Google+ account to get access. 

Creating Your YouTube Account

With your configured Google account, you can now access and upload content on YouTube. But before that, you need to set up the actual YouTube brand account. Here’s how it is done. 

• Open YouTube on your browser. You will find yourself logged in with your Google account if you have not physically logged out of it. However, if you find yourself logged out, click on ‘Sign In’ and insert your id and password to log in.
• Click on the ‘Account Module’ once you are signed in. Select ‘Your Channel’ in the drop-down menu. 
• To create your channel, you will notice two options available to you. Opt for ‘Use a Custom Name.’
• This will prompt you to create a unique name for your channel. Let’s say your channel is going to be uploading travel videos of a biker. While you can assign a name at this point, for example, ‘Biker Travel Adventures,’ you will be free to make changes or update your channel name to, let’s say, ‘Extreme Moto Travel,’ if you wish to do so in the future by accessing your ‘Account Settings.’ 

Customizing Your YouTube Brand Account:

To initiate YouTube marketing, you must personalize your channel that aligns with your overall brand strategy. Here’s what you need to do.

• Click on the ‘Customise Channel’ button.
• Add a ‘Profile Picture’ and ‘Channel Art.’ Remember that these two elements are vital as the audience that visits your channel will see these first. 
• Upload your banner image and video watermark next. 
• Click on ‘Basic Info’ to add a channel description, email id, and links to your brand or business website and other social platforms.

This completes the physical process of creating your channel. You will be able to start promoting your YouTube channel as you begin with uploading video content. 

Researching Your Competition

Do not assume that traffic will start flowing just because you have created your YouTube channel. Quite the opposite. YouTube is an extremely competitive space, and just like any other platform, you must do your due diligence in researching your immediate rivals or competition in the space. This will also help you to identify possible opportunities that others are yet to explore. 

Competitor Analysis

You should begin with the process of identifying 3 to 5 of your closest rivals. For example, if your channel focuses on ‘Food vlogging’ in Hyderabad, check out your nearest competition within that space. It could be at a city or regional level. 

Suppose you are unsure how to kickstart the analysis. In that case, you can use the free Keyword Planner by Google AdWords and run a check on which businesses are ranking, for example, on keywords such as ‘Hyderabad food vloggers.’ 

You must choose keywords that are closely aligned with your YouTube channel or brand. You can also check which channels are appearing when you run the same keywords on YouTube search. 

As part of your research, keep a record of your competitors’ key metrics. These may include their viewership statistics and subscriber counts. You can use them to benchmark your channel too. Review their Channel Title, Description, and the keywords that they are using. Also, run a quick check on the comments that they have gathered on the uploaded videos. 

Do A SWOT

A SWOT analysis helps you understand the key Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats for every one of your core competitors. This helps build a framework that you can use to identify a niche content area that will help you to promote your YouTube channel.

Selecting Topics For Your YouTube Channel

YouTube marketing for your channel will be easier when you choose to create videos on topics you are passionate about. It needs to fit like a glove because you are considering doing this long-term. 

• Start with a discovery process of identifying interesting topics that are close to your heart.
• Explore every line of possibilities that will help you to create multiple contents that can be interesting, engaging, and shareable.
• Make a list of the demands that will make the channel bankable with the potential for commercial scalability.
• Now make a list of the individual topics you can take up in the next 30 to 60 days.

Optimizing Your YouTube Videos

Grabbing viewer attention on YouTube is probably more difficult than gaining viewership on Primetime television. 

Therefore, a part of your YouTube marketing strategy needs to include optimizing your YouTube videos. 

• Use a target keyword when naming your video file.
• Try and naturally insert a keyword into your Video Title.
• The Video Description should be optimized.
• Find the most popular keywords related to the topic and tag them to your video.
• Categorize your video.
• Create and upload a custom-designed thumbnail image for your video’s result link.
• Add subtitles and closed captions via an SRT file.
• Close your video with personalized end screens and cards that will help boost YouTube viewership. 

Optimizing Your YouTube Channel

To help promote your YouTube channel to a larger audience base, you must include YouTube channel optimization as part of your YouTube marketing strategy. Some key ways that you can employ to prime your account for views follows and searches include:

• Put a keyword into your YouTube channel name to help you rank on Google and YouTube search results. For example, if your channel is about content on biker adventures, a channel name like ‘‘Biker Travel Adventures’ will have the core keyword ‘biker travel’ embedded in the channel name. 
• Fill out the ‘About Us’ page using keywords to increase on-page visibility.
• Make use of channel keyword tags that provide more context to your channel. 
• Update your channel with a trailer that is approximately 30 to 60 seconds in length.
• Publish videos that are reasonably long as data suggests that videos around 14 minutes attract maximum users.
• Focus on the first 15 seconds of your videos that should be designed to grab maximum user attention.
• Create playlists by threading together multiple videos on similar subjects to enhance watch time.
• Say your keywords aloud in the videos as voice and video-based keywords are crawled by search bots for relevant context.
• Strengthen user interaction signals by embedding action buttons to induce user engagement that in turn boosts ranking authority.
• Create customized video thumbnails that are dynamic and are optimized with thumbnail text.
• Embrace live YouTube videos that increase social share-ability. 

Increase Engagement On Your YouTube Channel

When you hit the right engagement buttons, it helps build a more authentic relationship between your channel and its followers. This essentially means that the content you create can trigger actions such as shares, likes, and comments. Here are some best practices that will help you boost user engagement on your YouTube channel.

• The thumbnail is the first element that the user sees that helps them decide to watch your content. Make sure that they are customized to match the content and are accompanied by a clear, strong image.
• Understand your audience and give them exactly what they want and when they want it. Ensure that you meet expectations and leverage them in your favor, especially if your subscribers are loyal to your channel. 
• Converse with your audience by making sure that the conversation via video is happening in real life. Keep your communication clear, emphasize important issues while providing humor whenever applicable. 
• Post content consistently which is a sure-shot way of maintaining engagement. If your viewers like your content, they will keep coming back for more. Encourage them to take action by requesting them to ‘Like, Comment & Share’ because you value their opinion. Leave them with a ‘Call to Action,’ which can be as simple as becoming a ‘Subscriber’ to your channel. 

Rounding Off

When it comes to YouTube marketing, this guide is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole lot more than you can do and learn about simply by enrolling for the Online Digital Marketing Program offered by upGrad. The course can be taken completely online across a span of 7 to 11 months. Key highlights include:

• Certifications from MICA and Facebook
• Pick up skills in SEO, SEM, Social Media and Content Marketing, Branding, Marketing Analytics
• 15 Case Studies and Live Projects
• Fortnightly Coaching by Industry Mentors

If you have more questions about promoting your YouTube channel or YouTube marketing in general, make sure you check out the following FAQs.