YouTube is like television, but the content on the various channels is  created by ordinary individuals, businesses and other brands. Anyone is able to create a channel of their own, about anything. 

What makes YouTube an exciting option for brands is that the platform offers a large amount of freedom to play around with content, how it is placed, age restrictions, duration, target audience and demographics.

Marketing your brand on YouTube is convenient because the keyword functionality and other targeting features are extremely advanced in comparison to other online platforms. 

Plus, YouTube is a video-only platform, which is great news since video content is becoming the preferred medium for audiences. Video content is engaging and has the power to keep audiences glued to their screens to discover more about the content, which gives you the desired goal — brand engagement!

media update’s Nakedi Phala takes you through four avenues you can take to market your brand on YouTube.

Here’s how to achieve great results for your brand on YouTube:

 1. Study your YouTube audience

Conducting platform-specific research on audiences is important. Although your brand might be performing well on other social platforms, that doesn’t mean it will perform well on YouTube. 

Conducting an audience analysis gives you the opportunity to understand how consumers interact with brands on this platform, giving you an idea of what to do and what not do to and, most importantly, establish your target audience on this platform.

For example, a recruitment agency is more likely to have more engagement on a platform like LinkedIn as opposed to YouTube. Why? LinkedIn is designed for professional engagement, which means, job seekers, former employees and current employees are likely to engage with the recruiter. On YouTube, however, video content is the focus, meaning brand engagement on YouTube won’t be as high. 

Once you have discovered your audience; what they like, dislike, popular times of engagement and economic demographics, you’re in a good position to create branded content that will be engaging for your selected audience.

 2. Conduct a competitor report

Everyone wants their brand to excel and be the most-consumed brand amongst its competitors, even on social media platforms. So, whether you’re looking to improve your brand’s presence or place your brand on YouTube for the first time, here are a few points to consider to help you gather good data about your competitors:
  •  Look into their subscribers and try to identify their type of audience
  •  Look at the number of subscribers to their channel
  •  Identify how many people view their content on average
  •  Check if they share their content on other social media channels
  •  See how many adverts they place in their content and the type of advertising they use
A competitor report is a vital part of marketing your brand on YouTube as it gives you insight into what your competitors are doing right and wrong, ensuring you can focus your time on creating the best content possible.

3. Good video content 

YouTube has proven itself to be the go-to platform for placing video content, and if you're planning to create your own videos from scratch, you need to make sure your videos are 10/10. 

Here are some tips you can consider: 
  • Hire a professional or learn how to use camera equipment to be able to produce valuable, high-quality content 
  • Create a story that relates to your audience in every video
  • Create content that educates and informs your audiences  
  • Create content that serves purpose — for both your brand and audience 
A great video requires great audio and visuals — so make sure that you have top quality microphones and video cameras. 

And you are ready to rumble! 

 4. Compose SEO-friendly keywords 

When creating video marketing content, it needs to be accompanied by text in the form of a title, synopsis and channel name. The aim is to create text that is unique and suited specifically to your audience. 

Pick a number of keywords that relate to your brand and start building content around them to make your content organic to differentiate it from others. 

Here are some points to look at: 
  • Create headlines / titles that answer a particular question about your brand
  • Compose a synopsis that gives your audience an idea of what’s in the video
  • Use relevant keywords that people usually type when they search for something related to your brand or industry
  • Search for your content using a combination of your keywords on Google or YouTube to see if your content will come up or not. If it doesn’t, edit your text and try again!
Keywords help your brand increase audience engagement, generate more conversation around your brand and, most importantly, offer you direction on a busy platform like YouTube. 

YouTube is a great platform for brands looking to pursue an audience that enjoys video content. What advice would you offer others looking to create great video content? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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Now that you’ve gained some insight on how to market your brand on YouTube, read these Five secret WhatsApp features that will make your life easier. 
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy