Optimizing Your Videos on YouTube
If your business is committed to video marketing you rely on YouTube optimization as a way to generate leads, inform people about products or services, personalize the business, and build loyalty, YouTube is the ideal platform.
YouTube offers the opportunity to reach billions of users, while the videos can also be linked and shared on other social media sites. But it is important for companies to go through the process of YouTube video optimization before uploading content. Here is a seven-point checklist that will help you optimize your promotional content for YouTube.
1. High Definition or 4K
There is a significant correlation between video quality and the enjoyment people get from watching that video. The minimum resolution for quality content is 720p, but in 2018 videos should be at 1080p to provide users with the best quality. Some companies may want to upload their content in 4K, but it is not a necessity given the low number of 4K-capable televisions, monitors, tablets and smartphones.
2. End Screen Template
There is an end screen that shows up during the last 20 seconds of a YouTube video, where companies can add links or thumbnails for other content.
As part of the YouTube video optimization, you should create a template where you can add different videos, based on the subject of the video in question. Having a template makes it easy to customize the end screen for future videos.
3. Call to Action
The end screen helps when it comes to a call to action, but it should be accompanied by verbal cues from the video. Asking users to like the video, subscribe to the channel, sign up for a mailing list, or visit your website for more information are possible calls to action.
4. Great Title
The quality of your title will have a direct correlation to how many views you get. Ensure it is a title that will capture the attention, while also bringing users to your video when they are searching for related keywords on search engines or YouTube itself.
5. Thumbnails
Many companies do not even realize that it is possible to create custom thumbnails for videos. As part of YouTube video optimization, these thumbnails can showcase an interesting still image from the video, along with a text overlay that sets the expectation for the content of the video.
6. Captions and Tags
YouTube does have the option of auto-captioning for the hearing impaired. But those captions can be wrong, especially if there is music or other sound elements in your video. You can always create your own caption file for the video and upload it along with the video content.
Tags are useful as they can include some of the common keywords that people would search to arrive at your content. It is possible to use free tools like Tube Buddy or Google’s Keyword Planner to select the best tags for a video.
7. Concise Description
There should be a text description of a few lines below each video, concisely summing up the content. And companies can include links to social media profiles and their website below the description as well.
By using this seven-step guide, you can ensure an effective YouTube video optimization process is followed for all videos that you post onto the site.
