6 Ways Marketers Can Tap The Potential of YouTube (Channels)

As a digital marketer or entrepreneur, if you’ve yet to utilize YouTube, then it’s time we have a serious talk.

To begin with, let’s just go over the basics…

Launched in February of 2005, the social media platform was acquired by Google in November of 2006 — needless to say, the social media platform has come a long way since its inception.

The social network now boasts a user base of over a billion with nine-hundred million unique visitors monthly — more than 300 hours of video is uploaded every minute. The numbers alone are a testimony to the tremendous success of the video sharing platform in the past decade.

Additionally, YouTube has stated that,

Given these reasons alone, digital marketers need to make the most of YouTube for (video) marketing campaigns. Video marketing has clearly become the front-runner as the preferred medium for content marketing in the future.

So, where do you start?

For marketers, and entrepreneurs alike, there’s no better place to begin than by taking cues from the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels — the subscription count of these channels run into millions.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the tips we’ve gathered from the voices at TalenAlexander. It’s worth noting as well that we’ve found these tips useful for both marketers and entrepreneurs in effectively maximizing the potential of a YouTube channel.

Make Your Channel Easy to Find

The first thing that you need to do even before you create a YouTube channel is to make sure that it is easy to find. Here’s what to do,

Use keywords, metatags, and descriptions associated with your channel and its content — Make sure that you include a business URL in the description along with a short blurb to inform viewers about the content.
Develop strong video titles. When creating video titles, it’s important to keep in mind that they should be both interesting and simple, at the same time. Think of the terms and phrases your target audience is most likely to use while browsing the platform or on search engines. This will help you create the most accurate titles, in turn, making your channel easy to find. Here’s an example,

“A Lazy Girl’s Hack to Wardrobe Arrangement in 30 Minutes” is going to get more clicks than “How to Arrange Your Wardrobe.”

Link your YouTube channel to other social media platforms, blogs, and websites. The easiest way to go about this is to share the URL of your latest video with a short description, then plugging this information across your social accounts. Additionally, you can use social bookmarking websites such as StumbleUpon to make sure that your channel is “findable.”

Create Original Content

What distinguishes your content from the rest of pack?

The answer is – Originality.

While a high-res video shot by media experts is more visually striking, a simple, relatable, and interesting video shot on a smartphone will draw just as much attention from visitors. Also to be noted, it is not necessary that your video content always be brand-related nor does it need to emphasize your organization’s USP.

A great alternative to branding spotlights are How-To Video s, but instead of making formal presentation, incorporate humor. Humor is a great tool to open your audience up into receiving information, but it’s not the only way to reach your audience — providing inspiration, education, entertainment, or enlightenment to your audience are also viable options.

Here’s an example of a product demo with a twist from Japanese personal care brand, Shisheido.

Alternatively to product demo’s, you can create conduct interviews, perform sketches, use image stills, create a PowerPoint slide show, and/or use mixed media. As long as it serves your purpose and is original, you can post a wide variety of videos throughout your channel.

Choose a Niche

One of the biggest benefits to having a YouTube channel is the ability to cater to the needs of a specific audience — this is best exemplified by beauty vloggers. They know: 1)Who their target audience is, 2) What they want, and 3) How they prefer to view information (makeup tutorial).

Curate from Other Channels

It is not necessary that you have to create original content all the time. Content curation also works on YouTube and you can curate content from other channels. Start by searching for content based on keywords, category and other criteria that matches your requirements and select the best videos from the search results that will resonate with your target audience.

Post Consistently

Make sure that you post content to your YouTube channel on a regular basis. Also to be noted, extensive research for new content is not necessary. Your YouTube channel can be used to provide a glimpse into your daily operations, share industry specific wisdom, express your thoughts and feelings on current events, etc. — the key is to remember that your content is inline with your brand.

Creating and posting content consistently builds an active and engaged community of viewers, especially when your audience can relate to the content — they are more inclined to post a comment or respond to a call to action.

Include a Call-to-Action

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve just started vlogging on YouTube or have already amassed a large following — You still need to have a call-to-action at the end of each video. Ask viewers to subscribe to your channel, visit your web page, provide their contact information, or encourage them to post a comment. If you’re inbound marketing strategy has been successful up to this point, don’t drop the ball! — think of it like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs.

While these are a few of the ways which you can maximize the potential of owning a YouTube channel, the best way to learn the tricks of the trade is through trial-and-error. And of course, knowing what your competition is doing. Have any more points that we can add to the list? Let us know via your comments.