Every day, people around the world watch over a billion hours of video on YouTube.
No wonder it’s the second most visited site on the internet. This popularity is both good and bad news. Yes, there is a vast potential audience out there – but can they find your content?
We’ve assembled some tips and suggestions on how to grow your audience and get more YouTube views. It is important to recognise that getting lots of views doesn’t necessarily translate to more sales or increased brand exposure. A video that ‘goes viral’ might get impressive stats, but is it reaching those people that are genuinely interested in your product or service?
Some videos are entertaining or memorable but don’t actually increase brand recognition. It’s the quality and relevance of those viewers that is most important—are those viewers potential customers? Are they the right demographic?
This is why it is essential to develop a YouTube marketing strategy before you even begin the production of your video. When putting together your video proposal, it helps to consider these points:
• Who is your target audience?
• What are their interests?
• What is the problem that your product or service helps solve?
For example, the video we produced for Trakomatic targets a particular market – retailers looking to get more data on shopping traffic.
Optimise your YouTube listing
Just like a webpage, your YouTube video will benefit from keyword placement in the title, tags and description. The YouTube Algorithm factors in previous viewing history, so if you know your target audience, you can research the keywords that rank best in YouTube search results for that group of people.
Joining the YouTube Partner Program
Once you reach sufficient scale, you can join the YouTube Partner Program, which allows you to add direct product links within your YouTube videos. You need to have over 1000 subscribers and 4000 valid public watch hours to become eligible for this program. If you don’t meet the criteria for this program, you can still encourage viewers to watch more on your channel by adding end screens. End Screens allow you to add a subscribe icon to your videos as well as a ‘next video’ preview.
Build a Marketing Strategy into your Video
The most effective YouTube videos incorporate techniques that encourage engagement. Some of these techniques include:
• Special offers for those who subscribe
• Custom thumbnails that attract viewers
• Responding to viewer comments
• Teaser videos on other social media platforms
Increase ‘Suggested Video’ Ranking
It’s no secret that many viewers will watch a video and automatically move on to YouTube’s ‘suggested videos’. The site analyses keywords in your title, tags and description to determine whether your video should feature in this list. By examining the metadata of your competitors or those videos you’d like to emulate, and including these keywords in your content, you can improve your ranking as a suggested video.
You can improve your video’s overall ranking on both Google and YouTube by including closed captions and a video transcript in the description. This extra information helps your audience find your content.
Higher quality videos get more views
YouTube can help deliver potential viewers to your channel, but ultimately the success of your video content comes down to the quality of the video. A high-quality video includes:
• Useful and relevant information
• A clear and simple message
• Excellent picture and sound quality
• Compelling content
Using the services of a professional video production house like Offing Media will ensure your videos are produced to the highest technical standards. With years of video production experience, we’ll help you craft your message, so the content is equally high in quality and relevance to your target audience.