An estimated 1.7 billion users visit YouTube to consume content monthly. Small businesses that understand the power of video marketing are setting up YouTube channels. But it doesn’t end there. What matters is how you leverage your channel to your advantage. Want to grow your business on YouTube? This post is for you because you will learn simple tips to make it happen.
1. Customize your channel to reflect your business
Customizing your channel will give your brand a face on YouTube. It creates a lasting impression on the audience who discover your business through your videos, and validates you as an authority in your niche.
Click the Channel Setting on the top right corner of your screen to begin customizing your channel. Upload a photo that represents your business. A catchy logo may be suitable.
Add a background image and write a detailed description of your channel and how it can help your target audience.
Don’t leave your URL as the default. Customize it to look appealing so viewers can identify what your business stands for by merely looking at your URL. Click on Create Channel URL to set up your custom URL by adding a custom channel name as an extension. The format is this: YouTube.com/your custom channel name.
2. Create valuable content and optimize it
Identify the pain points of your audience and create videos that offer solutions. Viewers who derive value from your content will subscribe to your channel, turn on notifications, like your videos, and even share them with others. (It can help to remind viewers to do this periodically.)
That will boost your engagement rate and attract new viewers to your channel, and before you know it, you will have a loyal audience interested in your products and services.
You might want to mix up the length of your videos, including long videos and shorter form content. YouTube shorts are becoming popular and you can create them using Invideo.
You can also do a live stream on YouTube. That gives your audience the opportunity to interact with you in real time. To optimize your videos, add your focus keyword in your title, description, and also use it when creating a custom thumbnail to capture the attention of your target audience. Mindbody is an example of a small business that uses YouTube to grow.
3. Have a schedule and stick to it
Having a schedule will help keep you organized and on track. Create videos you want to post over a period of time and save them in your cloud storage. As part of your video strategy, map out the date and time you will post and stick to it. You can load the videos on YouTube and schedule out the date and time for it to go live. In some cases, you also may want to take advantage of the “Premier” option and promote the upcoming video in advance to drive more views of your content.
4. Host giveaways occasionally
People like free stuff and that can be a strategy to win them over. Occasionally give out your products and services for free. Viewers who are lucky and win something will spread the good news about your business on YouTube and other social platforms, which can attract more viewers to your channel.
Franklin Hatchett, a popular digital entrepreneur on YouTube uses this strategy to grow his affiliate marketing business and sell more of his premium courses. He asks viewers to find a hidden emoji and then selects random viewers who find it to win a prize.
Other YouTube creators ask people to leave a certain word in the comments to be eligible to win something, which boosts engagement.
5. Engage your audience
You can engage with your audience in the comments section to let them know you appreciate them, or to answer any questions they may have about your product or service. It is also a way to get their feedback about your business and adjust in case of constructive criticisms.
Yes, there will likely be some trolling as well, but you can delete comments and block those people. And you can identify spammers who add spam links that might drive away your audience or harm your channel.
Comments can definitely help your channel grow because the YouTube algorithm considers the engagement rate of your videos when ranking them in search results.
6. Analyze your performance
You won’t know if your efforts to grow your business on YouTube are yielding positive results unless you analyze the performance of your videos. YouTube has an analytics tool that provides insight into engagement, reach, audience, number of subscribers, top-performing videos, etc.
Final thoughts
Businesses that leverage YouTube to grow enjoy many benefits, including growing a community of loyal customers. You can join them by implementing what you have learned from this post. For best results, customize your channel, create and optimize valuable content, post on a schedule, host giveaways, engage your audience, and analyze performance.
Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash
