YouTube videos can be a powerful marketing tool for companies, big and small alike. However, if your target audience does not see your video ads, you essentially render your video marketing ineffective. Here are a few tips that can help you increase the views your videos get on YouTube.
How To Get More Views on YouTube
What’s In A Title?
The title of your YouTube video should be two things – accurate and appealing. Accuracy is critical in the name of your video file. If your video is about cookies, then “cookies” should appear in the file name of your video (i.e., cookies-milk-surprise.mov). The actual title of your video should be creative, short, engaging, and to the point. It should be enough to interest viewers without giving away too much.
Don’t Overlook the Description
Use two to three short paragraphs to describe your video as thoroughly as possible. Your description should be attractive and precise. In short, tell people what they can expect when they see the video.
The Most Relevant Keywords
Use the Google AdWords keywords planner tool and relevant keywords associated with your title and description in the “tags” section to interest viewers. The more relevant tags you use, the more often your video will pop up when people search for one of those tags.
Leveraging Other Channels of Social Media
Timing is everything. Consider when your target audience is most active on YouTube and, thus, most likely to watch your video. Release your video before your audience becomes most active (i.e., evenings and weekends). Once you have published a video, please share it on your other social media sites (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, etc.), as your target audience may also be active on those other channels.
Make Use of Annotations
“Annotations” is a tool that can be used to get more views on YouTube. This tool can be used to link one video to another, or they can link a video to your playlists or channels. Annotations can be used to encourage viewers to connect to either a different or similar video. If your video content is engaging and viewers like what they see, you could keep them viewing your videos for hours.
Pursue and Win Over Subscribers
Motivated subscribers know how to get more views on YouTube for you. Faithful subscribers will often share video content without needing to be asked. Feel free to ask people to subscribe at the end of your video. You could also incorporate the use of annotations to invite viewers to subscribe. People who subscribe to you will automatically see your newly-uploaded videos on their homepage. They can even select to be notified via email whenever you’ve posted a new video.
Leverage Popular Content
If done correctly, using popular content as a springboard is one of the fastest ways to get more views on YouTube. Create relevant content about or using something trending/popular right now. Remix an already popular video. Review or parody of a movie that just came out. Give creative commentary related to a big news story. Give your video a title that is similar to that of the original popular content. Not only will your video come up with the same results, but you could also wind up on the sidebar of the popular clips as a recommended video.
Implementing these tips will help you optimize your video ad campaigns. Expect a significant return on your YouTube advertising investments and an increase in the views your video ads receive.