Introduction
Is your business utilizing the
power of YouTube in your social media strategy? If you aren’t, then it’s high
time that you do. Video promotion is become increasingly important for
marketing a business in this digital age. It goes without saying that attaching
a compelling image to your blog post will immediately increase the chances that
it will be read and shared online. However, even these picture-perfect posts
are being set aside in favor of video, a more passive form of information
transmission. Even if you aren’t already utilizing YouTube, you may be
wondering what else you can do to try and increase your fanbase, shares, and
engagement.
When it comes to increasing
awareness of your brand, there's something intrinsically authoritative about a
brand that makes its own videos. Videos seem to lend more credence and validity
in a way that blog posts and more traditional strategies of marketing just
can't. This is especially true since 86 percent of modern consumers suffer from
what is known as ‘banner blindness.' This means that if you want to reach your
target audience, then you have to find a different way to advertise online.
Creating your own videos and utilizing the power of YouTube can help to turn
your business into an authority in your industry.
Video personalizes your brand in
a way that images or the written word just can't. If you cast yourself in your
videos, it will allow your audience to get a better sense of the person behind
the business long before the video is over. Video can add a personal touch to
your brand like no other medium.
Here are five ways you can build
your brand authority with YouTube.
1. Take
the Time to Understand Your YouTube Viewers
The only way that you will be
able to build your brand's authority on YouTube is by making the kind of videos
that your target audience wants to see. The only way that you will be able to
create videos that will attract your target audience is if you thoroughly
understand your viewers. To determine the kind of videos and content that your
viewers want to see from your brand you have to brainstorm and decide on your
ideal demographic. You need to know who your audience is, their age range,
their interests, the kind of content they enjoy watching, and why that is
tuning into other YouTube channels like yours.
You can start your brainstorming
session by doing a search of relevant keywords to see what kind of videos
appear in the searches. This will allow you to see what other types of videos
are being made based on your niche. Look for videos that have a high view rate
and check out their corresponding channels to see what their subscriber numbers
are.
The more detailed you can get
about who your target audience is, the more you can be sure that you've chosen
the right approach with the videos that you are producing. If you want to build
your authority on YouTube, then you have to make sure that you are providing
the right kind of content to attract your target audience and encourage them to
subscribe to your channel. You need to make sure that you take the time to
clearly define your target audience before you spend the effort in creating
videos for your YouTube channel.
2. Make
Compelling Videos
It's the same for blogging, as it
is for Facebook, as it is for Twitter, as it is for YouTube, content is king.
In fact, it is even more accurate when it comes to the videos that you create.
The only way that you will be able to increase your following on YouTube and
build your authority is if you have high-quality videos that spread across
other social media platforms is by creating content that is worth sharing. This
is where understanding your demographics becomes key.
So, what kind of content is worth
sharing? As you probably already know, the most shareable content are the kinds
of videos that are either extremely funny or that appeal on an emotional level
in some way. While it can be controversial, these kinds of videos don't bring
in the positive results in the say way as the heart-warming stories would. The
last thing that you want to create is a boring video where you are standing in
front of the camera with a potted plant and filing cabinet in the background,
spouting out what makes your product better than all the others in a monotonous
tone. No one is going to find that scenario exciting or funny, and they won't
share the video which means that you won't be able to attract new followers or
build your authority on YouTube.
Instead, you need to try and
illustrate just how great your product is in a series of videos and make sure
they are entertaining. You’ll need to find the style of videos that will work
for your business, which means you’ll have to experiment with your videos until
you find what works. Just make sure that the final style that you land on will
either present your content in a funny or entertaining way, but ideally, you
want to try to incorporate both into your videos.
3. Brand
Your Channel Page
When it comes to building
authority on YouTube, an easy way to do this is by making sure that your
branding is consistent with your company website and across all social media
platforms, including YouTube. You can customize your YouTube channel to be consistent
with your business branding material by making sure that you are using the same
colors, the same tone, and the same style on all your online marketing
platforms. You also want to add your company logo to your page; you can either
use it as your channel profile photo or include it in your channel banner.
Either way, you want to make sure that your target audience can quickly
identify your brand when they visit your channel.
An important thing for you to
remember is that you will not be able to change the name of your channel once
you have set it up on the platform. This means that you need to make sure that
you choose the right name that will attract the right audience to your page.
You can do this in the content planning stage before you even sign up for a
YouTube business channel.
Like with any of the other social
media platforms, it is incredibly important that you complete your channel
profile and include as much detail about your business and brand as possible.
Including relevant keywords in your company description can help your channel
rank higher on the search engines, which will make your videos more
discoverable by your target audience. Another way to ensure that your videos
rank high in the search results is by making sure you correctly tag your videos
every time you upload them to your channel.
4. Create
Different Types of Content
To build your authority on
YouTube, you need to create videos that get a lot of views, and you need to
increase your number of subscribers. This means that you need to produce the
kind of videos that will garner a lot of attention. While we discussed creating
funny and entertaining videos earlier in this piece, there are other kinds of
video formats that have been proven successful on YouTube. To be a smart brand
marketer, you need to know which types of videos are most popular and
understand how you can develop your videos around these trends. Creating
different kinds of videos around your product or service will keep your viewers
interested and coming back for more. Here are some of the most popular types of
content that you can create for your YouTube channel to help build your
authority on the platform.
• Product
Reviews
• How-to-videos
• Video
blogs or vlogs
• Comedy
or Skit videos
• Educational
videos
• Q&A
videos
• Behind
the scenes videos
• Webinars
To build your authority, you’ll need to venture out of your comfort zone and try different content styles. While not all of these types of video formats will work for your business, you want to experiment early on to determine which videos work best and attract the most viewers. Narrow down your selection to three or four different content styles and make sure you rotate them often to keep your audience interested in what you have to say.
5. Promote
Your Videos
If you don't spend the time
actively promoting your videos on YouTube and through other marketing channels,
your audience will never find your videos, and you will never become an
authority in your niche. Fortunately, YouTube has streamlined the process of
sharing videos on other social media platforms, which will make it much easier
for you to share your videos on Facebook and Twitter. You now have the option
to auto-share on these platforms making it that much easier to share your
content across your social media channels. You can also link your blog to your
YouTube channel, which will allow you to post your videos directly to your blog
from your YouTube channel.
Alternatively, you can embed your
videos into your written blog posts or even create a video of your homepage
that you can permanently feature on your channel. This is made possible when
you use the embed code that is provided to you when your video is posted on
YouTube. You also want to try to link your YouTube channel everywhere and
anywhere you possibly can. This includes your website, your blog, your Facebook
account, your LinkedIn, your Twitter, and even your Instagram account. The
reason behind this is that the more links that you have pointing towards your
videos and YouTube channel, the higher it will be ranked in YouTube searches
and searches on Google.
Finally, you may want to consider
using paid advertising to get the word out about your channel and gain more
subscribers. Paying to run an ad campaign can help to drive more views and
subscriptions to your channel. With Google Ads, you can create an ad that will
run before a video starts, or alongside a video on its YouTube watch page. All
you have to do is create your ad, set your budget, and target your audience.
Fortunately, there isn't a minimum price to run an ad on the video platform,
and you can change your budget or target at any time, as well as ending your
campaign whenever you want. While there is no single formula for the perfect
video ad, there are several different ways that you can create ads that will
deliver maximum impact. Once your ads are live, you'll need to monitor the
results and make any necessary changes to ensure you are getting the best
results.
Conclusion
YouTube has always been a source
of entertaining content for viewers around the world. However, over the last
several years, it has also started to stake its claim as a powerful and
essential tool for marketing a business. In fact, nearly half of all companies
plan to add YouTube to their marketing strategy over the next year according to
a recent report by the State of Inbound.
For smaller and medium-sized businesses, YouTube can be an
excellent way for you to build brand awareness and increase your authority in
your industry. With these five, simple strategies, you can establish a YouTube
channel that will get noticed and continue to bring new audiences to your
business and help you build your authority in your niche. If you aren't already
active on YouTube, what are you waiting for, the time to get started is
now?