Building a successful YouTube channel is not easy!
I regularly post what I think is helpful content on my YouTube channel and have been trying to build an audience for some time now.
It’s been slow going to do it organically – I have to drive people to the content.
So then I posted a video of my French bulldog puppy and guess what?
It’s the highest viewed video by far, and I’ve only had it up for a day and a half!
So I guess YouTube wants dogs not people talking about marketing 🤷🏼♀️
It is hard for business professionals to build a strong presence on YouTube versus other channels because it’s a saturated platform and there’s a lot to master – strong headlines, descriptions, channel art and hashtags.
You won’t stand out on YouTube alone unless you cross-promote your content (and LinkedIn doesn’t like when you take people off its platform so there’s that challenge too)!
But it’s worth investing the time and effort into YouTube.
Your SEO results will dramatically improve because Google owns YouTube and gives it first page prominence.
It’s also worth investing in creating your own business YouTube channel because of the power of video to connect and stand out with your audience.
Here are some ways to build your YouTube marketing strategy:
- Optimize your channel and fill out all of the sections
- Post helpful content consistently
- Research your competition – Identify three to five competitors. If you’re not sure, try Google Ads’ free Keyword Planner to see which companies rank for keywords associated with your brand. Or see what channels appear in searches on YouTube for the same keywords.
- Optimize your videos for views – YouTube is a video search engine. Like Google (which owns YouTube) video results are ranked by titles, keywords, descriptions and other factors.
- Build a relationship with your audience
- Deliver content that’s relevant and engaging
- Create content with mobile in mind – 3 in 4 adults watch YouTube on their mobile device according to Google
- Think about micro-moments – consider why a person might be turning to the internet to look for help, information or entertainment – and how a brand might be able to create content to deliver on this need
- Use hashtags strategically. You can use up to 15 hashtags on YouTube, but just like with any other social platform, they should be relevant and not too broad
- Add links to your website and social channels on your YouTube profile
- Add captions to every video – most people watch videos without the sound on
- Organize videos into playlists to encourage additional viewing – its curating videos for others
I’d love to hear your how you’ve built a successful YouTube marketing strategy.