It can no longer be denied: your brand needs video. Video is the preferred content format for consumers, with 91% of them saying they want to see more of it from brands. Video platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram provide creators and businesses access to a wide audience through organic and paid content. Additionally, the native search functions on these platforms are powerful tools for discovering products.
What is YouTube Marketing?
YouTube marketing is the practice of using video content on YouTube to promote a brand or product. This includes a mix of creating and promoting videos on YouTube on a dedicated brand channel.
Is YouTube Effective for Marketing?
YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, accessed in over 100 countries and 80 languages. 62% of YouTube users in the United States visit the site daily, and over a billion hours of content are watched on YouTube every single day. The number of YouTube users is expected to surpass one billion by 2026.
How to Create a YouTube Channel
Before you start creating video content, you’ll need to set up your YouTube channel. Below, we will use a fictitious brand called “Molly Soap” to help you get started. Before you begin, make sure you have a Google account – you will need it to create a channel. It’s free and only takes a few minutes.
Using SEO Techniques
If you consider YouTube a search engine, you should treat it like any other website: give it the best chance to rank, thus increasing organic (free) traffic. To do this, you will need to use SEO strategies.
How to Promote Your YouTube Channel
Your channel’s growth relies on a well-thought-out strategy to attract the right users with the right content. However, great content alone won’t drive change if no one sees it. Try these tools and tactics to increase views and subscribers to grow your channel.
Using SEO
If you think of YouTube as a search engine, you should treat it like any other website: give it the best chance to rank, thus increasing organic (free) traffic. To do this, you will need to use SEO strategies.
Promoting Your Channel on Social Media
If you’re beginning to grow your YouTube channel and already have an audience on other platforms like Twitter or TikTok, promote your content to those audiences to draw them to your channel. These are the easiest audiences to convert, as they are already familiar with and follow your brand.
Embedding Videos in Web Articles
Another way to promote your YouTube channel is to embed your videos in web articles on your site. You can add SEO power to your video by embedding it in long-form content that can rank as well. Visual content in web articles also helps with ranking. Win-win!
Sharing Videos through Email Marketing
Building an email list is always recommended for brands because it is an owned audience, regardless of what happens to social platforms. There are several ways you can use your email list to promote your videos.
Using Partnerships, Collaborations, and Influencer Marketing
Partnering or collaborating with other brands or popular creators can give a boost to your YouTube views and subscribers. You can either collaborate with accounts of similar size for mutual benefit or you can try a paid appearance from a larger creator or influencer whose audience has traits similar to your ideal customers.
Using Paid Ads through YouTube Ads
Paying to draw the right eyes to your content is a good way to grow your channel quickly. Google data suggests that brands running YouTube ads alongside Google ads see 3% higher search conversion rates and 4% lower search costs compared to those running only Google ads.
Creating
Playlists
A playlist is a tool to organize your channel, but it can also help increase views and subscribers. Here’s how to do it:
Using Automation
Brands that leverage new technology to explore and capitalize on success are growing and thriving. In a case study from Google, the shoe brand Rothy’s explained how using automation to highlight creative assets across channels increased conversion rates by 60% and boosted revenue by 59%.
YouTube Marketing Strategies and Tips
These five tips and tricks for YouTube marketing will help you create great videos that reach more eyes, gain more subscribers, and increase your earnings.
Identifying Your YouTube Audience
Identifying your YouTube audience is just as important as defining your target customers. This exercise helps maintain focus in your content, which signals to YouTube that your channel may be an authority on the subject. YouTube will learn to present your content to relevant audiences based on their interests, allowing you to scale in search results.
Using Design to Attract Views
Your YouTube channel is another extension of your brand. Just like with your channel art on YouTube, the design of your video content and thumbnails should express your brand, using recognizable fonts, colors, and visual elements.
Creating Regular Value-Adding Content
Your content should always add value to viewers. Instead of just promoting your products, provide them with something they can’t find elsewhere. Think of tutorials, tips, collaborations, demonstrations, and more.
Making Your Channel Shoppable
Let’s be honest: the main reason brands invest in content is that they ultimately want to drive purchases. You’ll achieve other goals by creating your video content — like building community and increasing brand awareness — but at the end of the day, you want to make money.
Keeping Up with Trends
Staying on top of trends will not only ensure you’re updated on what’s happening in your industry, but it will also help you increase organic traffic. Creating content around emerging trends means you’re targeting the keywords your potential customers are using.
Popular YouTube Marketing Tools
YouTube marketing tools can make managing YouTube channels much easier, saving you time and guesswork. These applications can assist in video creation, understanding keyword research, optimizing video descriptions, and developing engaging video thumbnails.
Using YouTube Analytics
YouTube’s built-in analytics can be invaluable in helping you understand the performance of your video and channel. You can access YouTube Analytics for your brand’s channel in YouTube Studio, where you’ll find an overview of video views, watch time, reach, engagement, and audience demographics.
VideoWise App
The VideoWise app allows you to embed YouTube videos on product pages within your Shopify site. This is a great conversion tool, especially for products that require more information from customers, such as how to use the product or its benefits. Videos for reviews and testimonials are also powerful sales tools on product pages.
POWR App
The POWR YouTube Video Gallery app lets you add video galleries to your websites. Features include the ability to add product links and other calls to action directly to the videos, and create custom layouts that seamlessly blend with your brand.
Tolstoy App
The Tolstoy app is a free video maker that simplifies the creation of interactive and shoppable videos. The app can also import customer review videos and turn them into shareable videos for email, product pages, and your YouTube channel.
App
TubeBuddy
TubeBuddy is a channel management and productivity tool that can help brands and creators with YouTube tasks such as bulk data processing, SEO optimization, video promotion, and even A/B testing for video thumbnails.
Other YouTube Marketing Apps
There are many tools and applications, both free and paid, that you can use to create, promote, and analyze your brand’s YouTube account. You can schedule videos in advance or create high-quality content right from the app. Check the Shopify App Store for many options that integrate directly with your store.
Growing Your Business Using YouTube Marketing
In 2023, the average person spends about 17 hours a week consuming video content online. There’s no doubt that consumers are turning to video to help them discover brands and learn about new products. Brands of all sizes are leveraging the power of video for growth on YouTube and converting viewers into customers.
Frequently Asked Questions About YouTube Marketing
Is YouTube marketing effective?
Yes, YouTube marketing is effective as it provides another avenue to showcase your content in search engines. Google often displays relevant video content in top results and featured snippets. Video marketing also helps educate your customers about your product and brand, as well as customer reviews, which increases their confidence in purchasing.
Why is YouTube marketing important?
YouTube marketing is important because:
- YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world
- Videos appear in Google search results, increasing your chances of ranking
- It builds credibility and trust in your brand
- It expands your reach by showcasing content in a popular format
What is the cost of YouTube marketing?
The cost of YouTube marketing can vary significantly, depending on your strategy and budget. You might choose an organic marketing approach on YouTube using SEO tactics to rank your content in search engines. You can also try the paid approach through influencer marketing or YouTube ads. The cost of advertising depends on several factors, including competition in your industry.
How to create a YouTube marketing strategy?
To create a YouTube marketing strategy, start by defining your audience and goals. Understand your capabilities in terms of video production skills and resources, as well as your budget for any paid video marketing. Your YouTube marketing strategy should align with specific objectives such as building brand awareness, increasing your audience, educating customers, and driving sales. Plan your content around these goals and build your content calendar around brand events and cultural moments.
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