YouTube Channel Marketing Strategies
By Ellen Ambrose
Working as Marketing Director for a small internet start-up has given me the
opportunity to become highly creative and strategic when it comes to launching marketing
programs on little or no budget. This article is about using YouTube as part of your
overall online marketing strategy and specific tactics that you can use to leverage your
YouTube channel.
Nielson Net Ratings reported in 2008 that YouTube has over 68 million unique visitors
per month and has the 6th largest visitor audience in the U.S. (ahead of eBay, Amazon and
Wikipedia). More than 2/3 of the U.S. population over the age of 25 has watched a YouTube
video and 91 percent of users have purchased something online. YouTube represents a very
powerful marketing channel and opportunity for exposure on the net.
There are ways to tap into this immense audience with big ad spend, however I will
focus on more cost effective “organic” tactics. These require time but not a direct cash
outlay. For the purposes of this article, I will assume that you have already created a
branded YouTube channel and are now looking for ways to leverage your channel, broaden
your reach and increase your subscriber base. (If you are new to YouTube and have not yet
built your channel, the YouTube help center is a great place to start.)
The first step in maximizing the effectiveness of your YouTube channel is to take a
step back and examine your purpose for marketing on YouTube. Is it traffic, distribution,
brand? Once you have established a firm purpose, you can begin to put together a targeted
plan of attack. Your channel design should reflect your purpose and it is necessary to
regularly to take a look at your layout, logo, images and profile information. Make sure
your design adequately reflects your brand and message. Think of your YouTube channel as
an extension of your website; therefore, it should closely resemble the look and feel of
your website and other business materials.
Include information in your profile that describes the type of content that can be
found in your channel and website. Further, make sure that you link to your website and
include your contact information outside of YouTube. Further, make it known in your
profile that you would like users to add comments, rate, share, add video responses and to
subscribe to your channel.
When adding video content to your channel, make sure that each video has a clear
message and is not obscure and confusing. Keep your content fresh and upload a steady
supply of one to tow new videos per week on the same schedule so your subscribers know
when to expect new content. Further, update the featured videos frequently. You have the
opportunity to feature nine videos on your channel and can control the order and placement
of your featured videos. Further, use the playlist feature as a way to organize your
videos. Building out playlists by subject matter will help users and subscribers find
videos that they are looking for as well as expose them to content that they might not
otherwise see.
Also, pay attention to the quality of your videos. YouTube has the capability of
displaying videos at a higher quality level. The quality of the uploaded video combined
with the individual viewers’ bandwidth will determine if the video is displayed at higher
quality. Higher quality video means improved sharpness and visual clarity. The difference
is especially noticeable in videos that contain text or fast movement and in full-screen
mode. When uploading a video make sure your video resolution is 480 x360 or higher and a
frame rate of 24fps (frames per second) or higher.
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