The largest video search engine in the world, YouTube sees hundreds of hours’ worth of content being uploaded every day. The viewers are left with a wide range of choices regarding the type of content that they want to watch.
In such a situation, YouTube engagement becomes a vital parameter for brands to gauge their relationship with the community. You need to understand that it is only when the viewers enjoy your content, they will convert and keep coming back for more.
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Introduction To YouTube Engagement
YouTube engagement is a simple concept wherein the audience takes an action after watching your video. If the video that you created resonates with the viewer, they can act on it by posting a comment, liking, sharing or subscribing your channel. Realize that the comments on you content can be either positive or negative.
For those who are not keen on commenting, Youtube has the provision of likes and dislikes. This form of engagement helps the content creator understand whether the content is moving in the right direction.
The most important YouTube engagement metrics is the number of shares it gets across social media platforms. It helps content creators understand if the video was engaging enough for the viewer to spread the word among their peers.
Businesses in Canada
One of the highly developed nations of the world, Canada is a manufacturing hub. It has a large coastline, and its seafood and commercial fishing industries are particularly famous. Other main businesses include financial services, recreational sports centers, waste management, transportation, storage, real estate, and more.
In recent years, the country of Canada has seen a significant number of start-ups across various business sectors.
YouTube for Canadian Businesses
Canada is one of the most developed nations in the world and has a literacy rate of around 99%. Mobile phone penetration is among the highest in the world and this makes YouTube the perfect gateway of video marketing for Canadian businesses.
An average person spends an average of 17 minutes on YouTube every day. Such a digital shift has led the business to consider exploring the world of YouTube and incorporating that as a part of the digital marketing strategies.
Video Marketing Strategies for Businesses
Having realized the importance of video marketing, the next stage is identifying ways to begin one’s journey. Here is a step-by-step guide to strategizing your YouTube marketing game.
Create a Business Chanel
Many novice businesses make the mistake of connecting to YouTube with their personal Gmail accounts. Not only does this restrict access, but it can also connect viewers to one’s personal Gmail account. To avoid such a situation, it is a smart move to open a brand account and use that to access YouTube. As your brand grows, you will be thankful for the opportunity of allowing multiple authorized logins for your channel management.
Understand Your Audience
To give your viewers the digital experience that they need, you need to spend time evaluating the user dynamics and understand what they expect from you. This includes details such as where your users stay, their age, viewing preference, etc.
Work on identifying the type of content that your audience connects with and then chalk out how you can create content around that. It is a good practice to read through comments that your users leave as that helps you establish two-way communication with your audience.
Since you will be using a business account, you will see the Analytics tab on your screen. The Analytics tab helps to monitor the audience watch time and other demographic data so that you understand the overlap between the available YouTube data and the data from your other social channels.
Decode Your Competition
As you work on planning your video marketing strategy, you need to understand that YouTube is a competitive space. You need to decode your competitors to understand where you stand and how you can improve. Use the free Keyword Planner app by Google Ads to understand the keywords associated with your brand.
Now that you know the keywords, type them on YouTube to identify the top 3 or 5 competitors of your brand. Watch their videos, check the subscriber counts and other viewership statistics.
Spend time reading through the comments in their posts. Since a good fraction of their audience will overlap with you, this activity will help you have a clear understanding of the expectations from you.
Work on Video Optimization
If you do not want your video to get lost in a sea of digital video content, make sure that you dedicate your efforts to search engine optimization. Create a title that is catchy and has relevant keywords in it. The YouTube algorithm judges a video primarily on its title and opting for a cliché title may deviate the required traffic.
Next, create a short description that is relevant to your video and has keywords that will give it the required visibility. Add subtitles or closed captioning to your video for maximum reach.
As far as possible, try to optimize the length of the video to a few minutes so that your viewers do not lose interest. Using an intro maker is an efficient way of grabbing the attention of your viewers and getting them to listen to you.
Focus on the Editing.
As a brand, your editing is what will set you apart in the world of promotional YouTube videos. You can start by adding up to 5 cards on your video that can effectively direct the viewer to your website, fundraiser, or even to another video. You can customize the videos such that the subscribe button is visible only to those who haven’t already subscribed to your channel. End screens can also be used to promote your brand or any particular product launched by your brand. Unskippable bumper ads are another poignant way of getting the message across.
Following these basic tips, you will figure out what works for your brand. You will then come up with a YouTube-based video marketing strategy that will put you on a fast track to business growth.