YouTube is a platform of choice for marketers and e-commerce specialists. The platform allows you to create a universe around the brand you represent, and to facilitate communication with a community that you develop and maintain. YouTube attracts 2.6 million users every month.
In this article, we will give you the reasons why you should organize a marketing strategy on the video platform, and provide you with various tips to optimize your content.
Why and how to create a YouTube profile?
First, let’s look at the why. YouTube has significant advantages for the development of your online store.
Why?
As we briefly mentioned in the introduction, YouTube and video as a whole allow you to create a complete communication strategy around your brand and your products. As with social media, the goal is to create a universe around which to gather your community.
This community is enhanced by loyal customers, who may eventually become your brand’s influencers. In order for them to be loyal, you need to fill in several boxes. Your products must be qualitative, the services provided must correspond to the needs of the consumers, and you must create affect and trust.
How?
Go to YouTube, and create your profile by going to the dedicated button. The video platform is owned by Google, which allows you to automatically synchronize all your account information with the rest of the features (GMail, Maps, …).
Then go to the “Your Channel” section, by clicking on your photo. When you arrive on your channel, logically empty, you will have several CTA:
- Customize the channel
- Manage videos
- Upload a video
Before you start the creative part by publishing videos, you need to customize your channel. Optimizing your YouTube marketing video strategy starts with taking care of your channel. You should know that YouTube has an algorithm equivalent to Google’s search engine. The optimization strategies are similar enough that organic optimization on YouTube is called VSEO (Video Search Engine Optimization).
How to optimize your YouTube channel?
When you click on “Customize Channel”, you will be taken to YouTube Studio. You are on the Layout tab.
Layout
The first part of this category is the highlight video. Considered a trailer for your channel, this video is automatically played when a visitor arrives at your channel. It’s generally a good idea to introduce your company with a short format, only a few minutes long. You can also create a video selection for visitors. This selection can be the most popular videos on your YouTube channel, or product presentation videos, for example. It depends on the content you want to highlight.
The homepage of your channel can be populated with 12 sections, whether it’s short videos or the latest uploads you’ve made.
Our advice to you: use all the features provided by YouTube. If they do, it’s so that you can optimize your profile to the maximum. The goal here is to organize the presentation of your channel so that visitors can see it clearly.
Branding
Next: branding your channel. First of all, you will be able to include a profile picture, like any social platform. It must be submitted in 98 * 98 pixels minimum, respecting a square format and therefore, a ratio 1:1. You can then propose an image in HD. However, make sure that it does not exceed 4 MB, and that it is proposed in PNG (or GIF, without animation).
You can then propose a banner image, which will appear at the top of your channel. This one must be proposed in 2048 * 1152 pixels, approximately in 16:9. The weight must not exceed 6 Mb.
Finally, you can include a video watermark, which will appear on all the contents of your YouTube channel. You can reinclude your profile picture, or your logo if it is not what you have already proposed as a profile picture. This watermark must be at least 150 * 150 pixels, in PNG, BMP, JPEG, or GIF without animation. Make sure that the image does not exceed 1 MB in size.
General information
You will first fill in the name and description of your channel. The name will normally be that of your company, leaving no room for optimization on keywords. The most interesting part will be in the description of your YouTube channel. This section appears when users go to the “about” section on your page. You can then include the name of your product, and the content you will be pushing. Keywords are very important because the search system of the video platform works, as mentioned before, like Google. The objective is to create a semantic cocoon around your company and your offer. This section can be optimized in several languages.
You then have a channel URL, which you can copy directly in order to publish it on the different communication channels you have, such as your online store or your social networks.
Below the URL, you will find the “Links” section. This section allows you to include links related to your profile, like your social networks or your website. These links will then be displayed on the top right of your YouTube channel, on the lower part of the banner that you have integrated previously.
Finally, you can include your contact information. This is only the email address where visitors can contact you if they need to.
Publishing videos on YouTube
There are various publication formats on YouTube. We will first look at the classic publication. To do this, you must click on the camera icon with a “+”, at the top right of the interface. You will have two choices: upload a video or go live. You will click on the first option. Be careful with the videos you will publish on Youtube: they must be of the best quality possible. To ensure you provide the best possible videos, offer them in 1080p at least.
Details
Once you are there, you can put your file on the platform. First, you can optimize the title of your video. This one must quickly allow visitors to understand the subject of the video. For the algorithm, place the keyword at the beginning of the title. Finally, for this part, try to keep your title between 50 and 60 characters. Even if the limit is set at 100 characters, you must make sure that the entire title is displayed in the search results. YouTube does tend to crop titles beyond 60 characters.
The same is true for the description. This should be limited to about 300 words with short sentences. Be aware that it is trimmed after the first two lines. Include short and effective sentences, using your keyword in this part of the description. Below this waterline, include links that are important to you, such as those mentioned above.
The thumbnail. It is much more important than you might think. It is made to attract the visitor’s eye, and is displayed when his mouse is not on your video. It must be impactful and readable, so that you can tease the content of the video you publish, pushing the visitor to click.
Playlists can also be used to create a strategic semantic cocoon. If you deal with various themes, you can create a playlist by theme. In addition to enhancing the optimization power of your site, you organize your profile so that users can more easily find what they are looking for.
Finally, on this “details” part of your video upload, you can add tags. The tags must, to be effective, be relative to the subject of your video and your channel in general. Try to stay around 5 tags, which allows you to avoid being perceived as spamming.
Video elements
Here we move on to the optimization of your video and the content that will be displayed during its playback. First of all, you can add a subtitle track. There are several ways to do this:
Importing a file: you can use different formats (.srt, .sbv, .sub, …), which you will have created beforehand, yourself
Automatic synchronization: you enter the text directly on the dedicated tool of YouTube
Manual input: you enter the text while watching the video
Subtitles allow you to ensure the accessibility of your video. These accessibility options would help to be better ranked among search results.
Then, you can integrate an end screen. This allows you to do several things, such as display a panel directing the viewer to your previous video, or a video related to their content consumption habits. You can also include your channel for them to follow.
Finally, there are what YouTube calls “Cards”. You can place several of these in your video. With the right timing, you can generate a large amount of clicks. For example, place a link in a card to specify the source of an item you provide. Or, you can direct people to your channel so that they, again, follow you.
How to track the performance of your content?
Your work doesn’t stop when you publish your content. Indeed, once it is made public, you must promote it. You can then share the link on your social networks so that it gains visibility among your community.
As mentioned, you can analyze the performance of your videos. To do so, YouTube offers you the “Channel analytics” section, which corresponds to the Google Analytics of the platform. This platform allows you to follow a dashboard listing the views of your content, with the duration of viewing and subscribers.
This overview is then completed by a “Coverage” tab. This provides you with a good amount of data, such as impressions of your content and the click-through rate per impression, with a count of unique viewers. Traffic sources are shown, so you can see how well your videos are optimized. If viewers are coming from search, it means you’re coming up on relevant queries and you’re on the right keywords, which you can see.
