How to Develop a YouTube Strategy for Your Brand

Seventy-three percent of adults in the United States regularly use YouTube, which is ranked as the second-most preferred platform for watching videos on TV screens among 18- to 34-year-olds. It’s safe to say your audience is on YouTube, so why isn’t your business implementing a YouTube strategy?

Building and optimizing a successful YouTube channel doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and ongoing effort. Use our steps to launch your company’s YouTube channel and start generating quality views.

1. Research everything

Every topic, industry, and community has a following on YouTube. Before jumping into your YouTube strategy, you need to understand:

• What your competitors are doing on YouTube.
• What your audience wants to watch on YouTube.
• What type of content inspires you.
• What you can learn from existing industry influencers, if there are any.

Researching the current landscape of YouTube videos and channels in your industry will give you a better understanding of what opportunities are available before you start developing your strategy.

2. Brainstorm content ideas

If you already have a documented content marketing strategy, finding video topics will be rather easy. You can start by repurposing existing content. Transform your blog posts, white papers, and other content into videos and share them on your YouTube channel.

If you’re starting from scratch, remember that each YouTube video should serve a purpose. YouTube videos can be used to accomplish goals, such as:

• Answering frequently asked customer questions.
• Launching a brand new product.
• Promoting your brand.
• Educating viewers on a specific industry topic.
• Demonstrating your product or service creatively.

3. Use the right tools and technologies

As a business, you want your videos to frame your brand in a positive light, therefore, filming on a smartphone is frowned upon.

If your company has the means to invest in top-quality video equipment and in-house professionals, go for it! The alternative is to outsource video production to an outside company to help film your YouTube videos.

In addition to live action videos, brands can see success by leveraging stock photo and video assets with text overlays, voiceovers, and music. This style of video can be a great opportunity to bring existing blog content over to YouTube, maximizing your digital footprint

Before getting started, determine if an in-house or outsourcing approach is best for your brand.

4. Brand and optimize your YouTube channel

For many viewers, your YouTube videos will be their first experience with your brand. As such, it’s important to ensure your channel is fully branded and optimized for the best results.

Make sure your channel features properly sized and branded banners, profile pictures, and links that go back to your website. In addition, use relevant keywords naturally throughout your channel description. Use these tips from Search Engine Watch to optimize your YouTube channel.

5. Optimize videos for SEO

What good is creating YouTube videos if no one can find them?

Optimize your videos for SEO and YouTube’s search algorithm to improve viewership by:

• Using relevant keywords in each video title and description.
• Writing click-worthy titles and thumbnails.
• Highlighting keywords in the video tags.
• Choosing a relevant video category.
• Uploading subtitles and closed captioning transcripts.

6. Use end screens and cards

YouTube rewards channels and videos that retain the attention of viewers and keep them on the platform with better rankings. So why not let their built-in tools do the work for you?

After publishing videos, use features such as End Screens and Cards to provide actions for your viewers to take. Developing an End Screen template can provide a call to action to subscribe to your channel and/or view a similar video or playlist. Deploying these tactics can boost your ranking signals while growing your subscribers and views.

YouTube cards give you the opportunity to add notifications throughout your video to take certain actions as well. You can use YouTube cards to link to other videos, playlists, or your website.

7. Distribute videos

Drive your existing customer base to your YouTube channel and videos by including them in your content distribution strategy. A few simple ways to start include:

• Adding YouTube videos to your existing blog posts.
• Adding links to your latest videos in your email newsletter.
• Sharing videos on social media.
• Promoting high-value videos through YouTube Ad placements.

No matter which distribution method you choose, always use a call to action that gets users to click through and watch your videos.

8. Monitor analytics and adapt

As you develop your YouTube strategy, monitor your channel and individual video analytics. What can you do to increase views, improve your watch time, or generate more viewer engagement? Additionally, take a look at your channel traffic sources. How are most viewers finding your videos? Can you optimize one channel, such as social media, for better results?

As the world’s second largest search engine, your audience is more than likely on YouTube. Are you capturing their attention? There’s never been a better time to launch a YouTube channel and strategy. Let the REQ team help you get started today.