If you’re looking to maximize your small business marketing potential,YouTube is a great video platform to utilize. Here are some tips on how to get the most use out of YouTube for your small business.
- YouTube is home to more than 2 billion users worldwide and drives more than 30 million daily visits, making it a great platform for small businesses looking to market with video content.
- Video is extremely engaging and useful for many types of businesses. Creating a YouTube channel for your business offers a centralized platform for your audience to view and engage with your videos.
- Fill out your YouTube profile and follow these tips to upload engaging video content that will resonate with your audience and grow your followership.
- This article is for small businesses looking to improve their marketing strategy by adding video content and boosting engagement with their audience.
Since it launched in 2005, YouTube has become one of the most powerful media platforms. It currently has over 2 billion users worldwide and 30 million users per day. Nearly 500 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute, with over 2,400 channels that have more than 1 million subscribers. Google purchased the platform in 2016, and it currently ranks No. 2 for both global and domestic web traffic according to Alexa.
If you want to use YouTube to market and grow your business, there are a few things you should know. Marketing is moving toward video content, and YouTube is a key player in this. The site may appear straightforward, but there are some things you should know to use it effectively for your business.
How to Set up a YouTube Channel
We will cover creating and optimizing your YouTube channel in detail.
- Signing up for a business YouTube account
- Customizing your YouTube profile
- Interacting with others on YouTube
- Verifying your channel
- YouTube Live
- Trending videos on YouTube
- YouTubers and influencers
- Advertising on YouTube
- YouTube Partner Program
- YouTube Premium
- YouTube tips and tricks
Signing Up for a Business YouTube Account
Most social media networks, such as YouTube, require you to set up an account before you can view content.
Follow these steps to create your business YouTube account:
- Sign in to your company’s Google account. If you use Gmail for your business email, you’ll use the same username and password for your YouTube account that you use for Gmail. Alternatively, you can create a new Google account that you use solely for YouTube business purposes.
- Once signed in, visit YouTube’s homepage. Double-check that you’re signed in to the appropriate business account instead of your personal YouTube account.
- Click on your Google account’s avatar. You’ll find this in the top right corner. It’s a small circle containing your picture (or your company’s logo if you’ve set that as your email address’s picture).
- Click on “Your channel.” This option will appear in the dropdown menu that displays when you click your avatar. It’s the top option in the first batch of icons.
- Choose “use a business or other name.” You’ll need to select this option to get started with a business YouTube account. You can then enter your company’s name.
- Click “Create.” Then, voila! You have a business YouTube account.
Return to the YouTube homepage and look in the top left corner for a dropdown menu. This menu has links to the homepage, trending videos, your library, and your subscriptions. Your library is where you can organize which videos you’ve watched, liked, and saved for later. Under your subscriptions, you can see all the channels you’re subscribed to and get notifications when they upload new content.
There are four buttons in the top right corner of the page. The one closest to the center, which is an icon of a video camera, is for uploading a video. The middle icon, a square comprising nine smaller squares, is for YouTube apps. The next one, the bubble icon, is for messages. The next button is an icon of a bell, and it notifies you of your account activity, such as a new like or comment. The one closest to the right side, which is an icon of your profile picture, is for your account information pulled from Google.
Customizing Your YouTube Profile
After you have registered for a YouTube account, you will need to set up your profile using your business sign-in information. If you do not want your business channel to be connected to your email, you can use a corporate account.
Use the name of your business or product as a channel name unless you are promoting your brand as a sole entrepreneur. This way, your potential customers will be able to easily find and remember your channel when they are searching for it.
Once you’ve created a channel, you need to add high-resolution images for the background banner and icon. Consider using the company logo as an icon for business channels, as it will be displayed in searches and on subscribers’ sidebars. If you are a sole entrepreneur, you should add a good portrait photo as a channel avatar.
If you want your brand to be consistent across multiple social media platforms, use the same design elements in all of your accounts.
In the “About” section, write a description of your channel so your audience knows your mission and what to expect from your videos. Be clear and concise about what makes your brand unique, and how viewers will benefit from watching your videos. Use keywords throughout the description, especially near the beginning, to ensure potential viewers can easily find your channel.
Since the launch of our company website and social media accounts, we have seen a significant increase in traffic and engagement. We invite everyone to follow us on social platforms and subscribe to our newsletter (if you have this option on your website). You can also find our email for business correspondence on our website.
To build a loyal community of subscribers on YouTube, share your posting schedule with your viewers so they know when to expect new videos, and commit to posting at least four videos every month.
You can highlight accounts of influencers and other relevant content in the “Featured channels” and “Liked videos” sections. Just make sure that the videos are not controversial and the featured channels are not directly competitive with yours.
Add Channel Art
Your Youtube channel’s header is a great place to put your business’ logo and tagline. Your profile photo (also known as your channel icon) and header art should high-quality pictures that represent your brand well. If you don’t upload photos or art for them, Youtube will put in generic images. However, your profile photo is pulled from your Google account and you have to upload it through there. It’ll take a few minutes for your Google profile photo to show up on your Youtube account.
These are the ideal dimensions for YouTube channel art files:
- Channel icon: 800 x 800 pixels (displays as 98 x 98)
- Channel banner: 2560 x 1440 pixels, though for mobile and web use, the “safe” dimensions are 1546 x 423 pixels.
It is important to use high-resolution images for your channel icon and banner because they are large files. You can use YouTube’s preview and cropping tools to see if your channel icon and banner look good on your page. You may have to use this tool multiple times to get the perfect image. If your page does not look good, visitors will not want to stay and explore your content.
Make a Trailer
The most effective way to promote your business channel is by creating a trailer. This will allow you to convince your future audience that your content is worth subscribing to, and give them a small preview of what they can expect. YouTube does not display ads during trailers, so viewers will not be distracted while watching.
A good trailer should be around 1-2 minutes long, and give the viewer enough information to be interested. You only have a few seconds to make a good impression, so focus on showing them what you can offer, rather than just telling them.
Be personal and engaging with your viewers. Let them know why you decided to start this channel and what types of videos they can expect to find. Encourage them to subscribe and leave comments. Add annotations to your videos to further engage your viewers.
Add Videos and Make Playlists
First, what makes a good YouTube video? There are several points to consider:
- Make your intros short and deliver value right away. People often compare the lengths of videos when choosing the one to watch. Focus on your key message and don’t get carried away with empty talk.
- Use end screens in the last seconds of your clips. They will encourage viewers to continue browsing your content. We recommend making original and consistent visuals for intros and end screens. Stick to them across all your videos to enhance the value of your brand on YouTube.
- Evoke emotions and show off some personality. You will need to research your target audience beforehand and create every video with their preferences in mind. Do not copy the style and ideas from other YouTubers or your channel will look generic. Add a decent amount of humor and a hint of self-irony.
- Choose a good camera and make high-quality audio. Even if you are using a smartphone camera for videos, invest in a good microphone. Most viewers will click off the video that has a lousy sound.
- Take care of lighting. Be very intentional in choosing the backgrounds for your videos.
- Plan your clips before filming them. Total improvisation seldom looks convincing.
- Make your video in HD and don’t overuse jump cuts.
- Edit your video in the editing program until it runs smoothly.
- End your videos with calls to subscribe to your channel. Point to your other videos or playlists.
- Create a large and compelling thumbnail! It will serve as a video preview, so make sure it speaks to your target audience and focuses on the central message of the clip. Add original design elements and fonts to make the thumbnail more clickable. But don’t overdo it! Also, check how your thumbnail looks on a smaller mobile screen.
You should create playlists for your videos to keep people watching your channel and subscribed. It would be beneficial to make different playlists for various groups of your target market.
- Start with a “New to this channel?” playlist where you deliver your most popular and entertaining videos. With this one, you will convert random video searchers into subscribers.
- Problem-solving playlists will focus on the different needs your subscribers have. Make sure that every playlist benefits them in a particular way.
- Topic-related playlists that include a comprehensive set of videos on a particular matter work best for content bingers. Such viewers are most consistent and loyal, so make sure your channel offers several nicely organized collections to them.
There are several types of videos that work best for business channels:
- Product videos and announcements. Show off your best merchandise, highlight its most important features, and give a preview of what’s coming next.
- Make unboxing videos. Demonstrate your products in action.
- Explain your services to industry newbies and create useful educational videos.
- Make product reviews and comparisons. Don’t be afraid to show your expertise and act as an industry influencer.
- Create videos about special offers, sales, and other promotional campaigns.
- Film touching and personal customer stories. Interview your biggest customers on camera to enhance social proof.
- Document your brand story and highlight the most important milestones in the company’s history.
- Make useful “How to” videos and give tips on how to accomplish tasks that are related to your products.
- Make videos where you discuss important matters with other influencers in your industry.
- Film an inspirational video about people who can serve as role models for your target audience. It doesn’t have to deal directly with your products; instead, it should evoke deep emotions in your viewers.
- Holiday greetings and themed videos. Dedicate a video to upcoming holidays or some other particular topic that is in the news and relates to your industry.
- Funny videos are assets in themselves. Entertain your subscribers and show a positive attitude to your business.
- Make a contest among your subscribers and collect clips from them! Posting user-generated content on your channel will help you build a healthy community.
- Create a series of videos on a particular topic. Subscribers love to browse big collections of clips.
- Start a crowdfunding campaign for a good cause that has to do with your brand values and promote the campaign with a series of videos.