YouTube

3 Essential Tips for YouTube : Small Business Owners Need to Know

YouTubeUtilizing YouTube to boost the creditability and visibility of your business can open doors in ways you never expected. Many small businesses are always on the hunt for ways to get much needed exposure, YouTube can be very beneficial for this. This article will demonstrate how to use the platform to your advantage so that you may reap optimal results.

Optimized Playlists Help You Get More Views and Watch Time

In order to get your videos to rank well in YouTube search queries, and operate sufficiently across the entire YouTube platform, you must optimize the watch time of your videos. Playlists are the perfect arsenal to have on your YouTube channel that will encourage viewers to watch multiple videos. This will help to increasenot only the watch time on your video, but will also increase the viewer’s total session watch time across all videos watched. Combined, both sendreally good signals to Google. This is a great way to get more views on your YouTube account, cultivate the popularity of your YouTube channel and grow your subscribers.

This is due to the fact that YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes videos that steer viewers to longer final watch time or viewing sessions, as opposed to the videos that pull in more views. You need the viewers to view your videos past the first view. Then,they will be more likely to rank higher in YouTube’s search results and suggested related videos. You can get a good insight to which videos have been able to keep people watching by using YouTube Analytics. The Audience Retention and Watch Time reports are what you want to monitor closely.

Using advanced editing techniques to keep the viewers interested will result in lengthier watch times.You will then want to add end screens to each individual video, directingwatchers to view more content. As time goes on, you will start to build your subscriber base. This is imperative because those who take the time to subscribe are your most loyal followers and will be alerted each time you addfresh videos and playlists to watch. Creating regular release dates will also sway your viewers to watch your videos in groups rather than individually.

Optimize Your YouTube Videos for Smart Devices

With the overwhelming number of daily users that access YouTube via mobile device, your videos and playlists must be optimized to accommodate them. You may find yourself wondering how you do this.Little tips like making your format vertical can make a world of difference. Most smart phone users hold their device upright for comfort. Having the right format will allow the user to comfortably watch longer.

There are also some more viable tips to getting your videos enhanced for mobile use:

Improve your video thumbnails.When you use thumbnails for your videos, they will appear quite a bit smaller and harder to read on mobile devices,in comparison to desktop computers. Images should be 1200 x 630 pixels or above for optimal viewing on high resolution devices. This will helpensure that they are more crisp and sharp with readable text, even when viewed in the smallest size.

Your video titles should be mobile friendly.Your title is no different from your thumbnails, both should be optimized for the mobile user. Titles tend to get cut short when viewed on mobile devices with smaller screens. Therefore, it is important to have all of your major keywords located at the beginning of the title. When combined correctly,thumbnails and titles create the perfect attractionto draw ina newer audience who happen to stumble upon your videoswhile surfing YouTube.

Don’t depend solely on annotations for audience engagement.Those who post their videos on YouTuberoutinely depend on annotations as the only way of engaging their viewers. The annotations will not work on mobile devices, leaving out the majority of users. You should begin using the interactive cards that are now available to encourage interaction. You are able to insert up to five panels per video, which may contain text, photos, or direct links. It has been reported that YouTube will completely phase out annotations in the new future, being replaced by cards. It is wise to get in the habit of using them now.

Apply the “featured content” option.If you’re not ready to completely give up annotations yet, you can combat them on mobile by using the featured content option. When you enable this feature you can chose a video or a playlist to embed that will appear across the entire selection of videos on your channel. By doing this, they willbe visible across all devices. The featured content can be found on the bottom left corner and will also show up in the what to watch next panel on subscriber’s screen.

Use creativity when informing mobile users of the annotations in the video.You should list all of the annotations you have included in your video in the description section.You should also mention somewhere in your video that more information can be found in the description. You want your audience to have a clear idea of what to expect.

Build Your Video Marketing Strategy for YouTube Channel

Almost 50% of consumers have stated they chose to make a purchase after watching a brand video on a social media platform. Keep in mind, that people around the world from all walks of life are now watching more than a billion hours of YouTube video content every single day. There is so much diversity on the platform these days that everything imaginable is being viewed by users. Viewer ages range from toddlers to senior citizens.

Gone are the days when many people considered YouTube a place to go watch funny videos. Businesses now consider it a valuable marketing tool. If you are looking for a place to get your video content distributed to more people, this is the platform to do it!

Image Credits To: Rego Korosi

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Written byEthan Perkins
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