Is your business making the most of YouTube in your social media strategy? If not, it’s time to start.
Video promotion is becoming increasingly vital for marketing a business in today’s digital world. It’s common knowledge that including a captivating image in your blog post can greatly improve its chances of being read and shared online. However, even the most visually appealing posts are being overshadowed by video — a more passive and engaging way for audiences to absorb information. If you’re not yet using YouTube, you may be wondering what else you can do to grow your audience, increase shares, and boost engagement.
When it comes to boosting brand awareness, there’s an inherent sense of authority associated with a brand that creates its own videos. Videos provide a level of credibility and authenticity that blog posts and more traditional marketing strategies often struggle to achieve. This is particularly relevant given that 86% of modern consumers experience what’s known as ‘banner blindness.’ In other words, if you want to effectively reach your target audience, you need to explore alternative methods of online advertising. Producing your videos and harnessing the power of YouTube can position your business as a trusted authority within your industry.
Video has the power to personalise your brand in a way that images or written content simply cannot. Featuring yourself in your videos enables your audience to gain a deeper understanding of the person behind the business before the video even concludes. Video brings a unique personal touch to your brand that no other medium can replicate.
Here are five ways you can strengthen your brand authority using YouTube.
1. Take the Time to Understand Your YouTube Viewers
The key to building your brand’s authority on YouTube is to create the type of videos your target audience wants to watch. To produce content that captures their attention, you must have a thorough understanding of your viewers.
To identify the kind of videos your audience wants from your brand, you need to brainstorm and define your ideal demographic. It’s essential to know who your audience is, their age range, their interests, the type of content they enjoy, and why they are engaging with other YouTube channels similar to yours. You can start your brainstorming session by searching 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 their subscriber numbers.
The more detailed you are about identifying your target audience, the more confident you can be that you’ve chosen the right approach for your video content. If you want to establish authority on YouTube, it’s crucial to ensure you’re delivering the type of content that attracts your audience and encourages them to subscribe to your channel.
Take the time to clearly define your target audience before investing your efforts in creating videos for your YouTube channel.
2. Make Compelling Videos
Whether it’s blogging, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, content is king. This is especially true when it comes to the videos you create. The only way to grow your YouTube following and establish authority is by producing high-quality videos that are shareable across other social media platforms. Creating content that is worth sharing is essential — and this is where understanding your target demographic becomes crucial.
So, what type of content is worth sharing? As you likely already know, the most shareable videos are those that are either highly entertaining or resonate emotionally in some way. While controversial content can spark interest, it doesn’t yield the same positive results as heart-warming stories.
The last thing you want is to produce a dull video where you stand in front of the camera with a potted plant and filing cabinet in the background, monotonously listing why your product is superior to others. No one will find that scenario engaging or amusing, and they certainly won’t share the video. Without shares, you’ll struggle to attract new followers and build your authority on YouTube.
Instead, focus on demonstrating how great your product is through a series of engaging and entertaining videos. It’s important to identify the style of videos that suits your business, which may require some experimentation until you find the right approach. Ensure that the final style you settle on presents your content in an entertaining or humorous way—or, ideally, a combination of both.
3. Brand Your Channel Page
To build authority on YouTube, ensure your branding is consistent with your company website and all social media platforms, including YouTube. You can customise your YouTube channel to align with your brand identity by using the same colours, tone, and style across all your online marketing platforms.
It’s also important to display your company logo—either as your channel’s profile picture or as part of your channel banner. Whichever option you choose, make sure your audience can easily recognise your brand when they visit your channel.
It’s important to remember that once you’ve set up your YouTube channel, you won’t be able to change its name. This makes it essential to choose a name that will resonate with and attract your target audience. You can ensure this by carefully considering your channel name during the content planning stage, even before signing up for a YouTube business account.
As with any other social media platform, it’s crucial to complete your channel profile and include as much detail as possible about your business and brand. Adding relevant keywords to your company description can improve your channel’s search engine ranking, making your videos more discoverable to your target audience.
Another way to help your videos rank higher in search results is by ensuring they are correctly tagged each 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 attract a high number of views and increase your subscriber base. This means producing content that captures attention and stands out. While we’ve already discussed the effectiveness of funny and entertaining videos, other video formats have also proven successful on YouTube. To be an effective brand marketer, it’s important to understand which types of videos are most popular and how you can tailor your content to align with these trends. Creating a variety of videos related to your product or service will keep your audience engaged and encourage them to return for more. Here are some of the most popular types of content you can create for your YouTube channel to help establish 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 establish your authority, you’ll need to step outside your comfort zone and explore different content styles. While not all video formats will suit your business, it’s important to experiment early to identify which types resonate best and attract the most viewers.
Once you’ve found what works, narrow your focus to three or four content styles and rotate them regularly to keep your audience engaged and interested in your message.
5. Promote Your Videos
If you don’t actively promote your videos on YouTube and across other marketing channels, your audience is unlikely to discover them, and you’ll struggle to establish authority in your niche.
Fortunately, YouTube has simplified the process of sharing videos on other social media platforms, making it much easier to share your content on Facebook and Twitter. The auto-share feature allows you to effortlessly distribute your videos across your social media channels.
Additionally, you can link your blog to your YouTube channel, enabling you to post videos directly to your blog from your YouTube account.
Alternatively, you can embed your videos into written blog posts or even create a homepage video to feature permanently on your YouTube channel. This is easily done using the embed code provided when your video is uploaded to YouTube.
Additionally, make an effort to link your YouTube channel wherever possible—your website, blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Instagram. The reason for this is simple: the more links pointing to your videos and YouTube channel, the higher it will rank in YouTube and Google search results.
Lastly, consider using paid advertising to spread the word about your YouTube channel and increase your subscriber base. Running an ad campaign can significantly boost your views and subscriptions. With Google Ads, you can create ads that play before a video starts or appear alongside a video on its YouTube watch page.
The process is straightforward—create your ad, set your budget, and define your target audience. Fortunately, there is no minimum spend required to run an ad on YouTube, and you can adjust your budget, refine your target audience, or end your campaign at any time.
While there’s no single formula for the perfect video ad, there are various approaches you can take to create impactful advertisements. Once your ads go live, it’s crucial to monitor their performance and make any necessary adjustments to ensure you’re achieving the best possible results.
Conclusion
YouTube has long been a hub for entertaining content enjoyed by viewers worldwide. However, in recent years, it has also emerged as a powerful and essential tool for business marketing. According to a recent State of Inbound report, nearly half of all companies plan to incorporate YouTube into their marketing strategy over the next year.
For small and medium-sized businesses, YouTube offers an excellent opportunity to build brand awareness and establish authority within your industry. By following these five simple strategies, you can create a YouTube channel that stands out, attracts new audiences, and strengthens your presence in your niche. If you’re not already using YouTube as part of your marketing strategy, now is the perfect time to get started. Your audience is waiting—so why not take the first step today and watch your business grow?
