83% of adults in the U.S. are on YouTube<\/a>, and people watch over a billion hours of content each day. That means your business has a huge opportunity to reach your audience via YouTube marketing.<\/p>\n But shouting from the rooftops about your products without a plan won\u2019t get you anywhere. You need a strategy to succeed \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly what you\u2019ll find here. Keep reading to find the 10 steps to crush YouTube marketing in 2024.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Bonus:<\/b> Download the free 30-day plan to grow your YouTube following fast<\/span><\/strong>,<\/span> a daily workbook of challenges that will help you kickstart your Youtube channel growth and track your success. Get real results after one month.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n YouTube marketing is the practice of promoting a brand, product, or service on YouTube. It can involve a mix of tactics, including (but not limited to):<\/p>\n To market your business on YouTube<\/a> \u2014 whether you\u2019re an entrepreneur or an enterprise corporation \u2014 you need to produce what your target customers want.<\/p>\n Sounds simple, right? It is, as long as you know what your customers really want, not just what you think<\/em> they want (a trap far too many businesses fall into).<\/p>\n Plus, you need to make sure the right people find your videos. YouTube is a search engine so you\u2019ll need to optimize your content for the YouTube algorithm<\/a>, just like you do for Google SEO.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s cover a few major benefits that YouTube can provide.<\/p>\n Now, without further ado, here is your complete, step-by-step checklist for how to successfully promote your business on YouTube.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFree 30-Day Trial<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Follow along with these 10 steps to create your business\u2019s YouTube marketing strategy and start promoting your products or services with high-quality video content.<\/p>\n First things first, you have to create a YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since YouTube is part of Google, you\u2019ll need to create a Google account first to sign up for a YouTube channel. You can use an existing account or create one just for managing your business channel.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how to get up and running:<\/p>\n From there, you\u2019ll be taken to your brand-new YouTube channel!<\/p>\n Click Customize channel<\/strong> to start branding it and inputting key information you\u2019ll need to share with your audience if you hope to gain any subscribers.<\/p>\n To fully complete and brand your new YouTube channel, fill out the following details in each tab:<\/p>\n Basic info:<\/strong><\/p>\n Branding:<\/strong><\/p>\n Layout:<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of a fully branded YouTube channel so you can get an idea of what to expect once you\u2019re finished:<\/p>\n Check out our step-by-step walkthrough to create a YouTube account<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n Now we\u2019re ready to tackle your YouTube video marketing strategy.<\/p>\n Alright, now for the tough stuff. What does your audience really want?<\/p>\n To figure this out, you need to answer two questions:<\/p>\n To start, it\u2019s helpful to know some basic YouTube demographics<\/a>. As of January 2024, there\u2019s a pretty even gender split<\/a>, with 51.2% leaning female and 48.8% leaning male (there is no data on other genders).<\/p>\n Plus, YouTube remains a popular platform for users across generations. The largest distribution of YouTube\u2019s user base falls between the ages of 18 and 49, followed closely behind by those aged 50-64<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Pew Research Center<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n YouTube isn\u2019t only popular in the USA, though. There are over 100 localized versions<\/a> of YouTube for countries around the world.<\/p>\n Spend some time researching who your target audience is already following on YouTube. What types of videos do they watch? (If you don\u2019t have your target audience figured out yet, we have a free buyer persona template<\/a> to help out.)<\/p>\n There are a couple of ways to do this.<\/p>\n Specifically, you want to look at audience data like traffic source, viewer age and gender, geography, and the like.<\/p>\n This will give you valuable insights into your audience\u2019s demographics and interests. You can see how many people are finding your videos through search, seeing it in their suggested feed or from other sources.<\/p>\n This tactic allows you to continuously search social platforms, including YouTube, for mentions of your brand or specific keywords.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re already a Hootsuite user, you\u2019re in luck. Hootsuite\u2019s powerful social listening tools, including sentiment analysis, can help you understand how people really<\/em> feel about a topic.<\/p>\n Hootsuite just acquired the leading AI social listening solution Talkwalker. That will let you understand the sentiment behind brand mentions with Talkwalker\u2019s AI-powered tools \u2014 right from your Hootsuite dashboard!<\/p>\n Talkwalker is also one of the few AI social listening tools that literally listens \u2014monitoring audio content in videos and podcasts for mentions and references to your hot topics.<\/p>\n By seeing what people are saying about you or your industry, you can find out what people want to know and use that for video content ideas.<\/p>\n The fastest way to grow on YouTube is to figure out what\u2019s working for your competition and then do that\u2026but better.<\/p>\n You can start by looking up channels from the competitors you already know. Perform a competitor analysis<\/a> for the following:<\/p>\n And then ask yourself:<\/p>\n Put all your notes into a spreadsheet to help you keep track.<\/p>\n One of your sheets should also consist of a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Understanding these traits can help you figure out how to improve on your competitors\u2019 strategies.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got a free social media competitor analysis template<\/a> to get you going right away.<\/p>\n At first, your goal is probably to grow your subscribers and audience as fast as possible. So write down your competitors\u2019 subscriber counts and views. Track your own progress against theirs monthly.<\/p>\n Plus, if you\u2019re competitive, the desire to crush their numbers will motivate you to keep going with your channel, even if growth is slow at first.<\/p>\n Besides learning from your competitors, you should also be learning from your favorite YouTube channels. These don\u2019t even have to be channels related to your industry \u2014 just channels you enjoy and want to learn from.<\/p>\n Consuming YouTube content will help you learn a lot about what\u2019s working, especially since it\u2019s always changing.<\/p>\n For example, did you know good audio quality<\/a> is more important than video quality? Bad audio can deter people from watching your video or subscribing.<\/p>\n A lot goes into making YouTube videos people want to watch. When you watch others, pay attention to things like:<\/p>\n There are even entire channels devoted to video editing and YouTube growth. You can track them, or keywords relating to YouTube growth, in your Hootsuite dashboard.<\/p>\n Now that your channel is set up and you\u2019ve gotten an idea of the content that works well on YouTube, it\u2019s time to put together a content plan for your own YouTube videos.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll want to start by compiling a list of ideas. This might include:<\/p>\n Compile a list of 10 or so ideas to get started with. While you can find the right publishing cadence later, it\u2019s a good idea to start your channel with a bang, uploading several videos that you can start promoting.<\/p>\n Then, you\u2019ll want to create a video creation, publication, and promotion strategy. Add tasks like:<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve created your first batch, find a consistent schedule \u2014 like every 1-2 weeks \u2014 that you can keep up with in order to grow your channel.<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s talk about how you can get views for all of the content<\/a> you\u2019re planning. YouTube\u2019s 2 billion users watch about 1 billion hours of video content every single day. So how do you rise above the noise and get YouTube\u2019s algorithm to show your videos?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re familiar with SEO and Google\u2019s algorithm, YouTube works in a similar way, but with one key difference \u2014 personalization.<\/p>\n When you search a phrase on Google, you\u2019re served roughly the same website results as other people. I say \u201croughly,\u201d because some results change based on location.<\/p>\n But if you and a buddy sat next to each other in the same room, on the same Wi-Fi and searched for the same keyword, you\u2019d see the same results.<\/p>\n Not the case on YouTube.<\/p>\n When YouTube shows you search results, they take into account the keyword and similar things Google looks for: How popular a video already is, keywords in the title, etc. But YouTube also factors in your watch history and the types of videos it knows you like to watch.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why no two users\u2019 YouTube homepage or search results will be 100% alike.<\/p>\n Personalization plays a role, but it\u2019s still important to do all those other YouTube SEO<\/a> tasks to get your videos found in search.<\/p>\n Here are six ways you need to optimize your videos to get more views.<\/p>\n Before you can optimize your video, you need to know what you\u2019re optimizing for. Keyword research gives you the phrases people are using to find content so you can add it to yours, too. (More on this in a sec.)<\/p>\n You can use Google Keyword Planner for keyword research<\/a>. Additionally, type your topic into the YouTube search bar and see what comes up. These are all things real people have searched for. This can give you ideas for new keywords.<\/p>\n You should have one main keyword and a few additional ones for each video. Here\u2019s where to add them:<\/p>\n YouTube timestamps<\/a> are like breaking your video into chapters. It allows viewers to skip around to the sections they\u2019re most interested in. This increases the chance they\u2019ll watch more of your video.<\/p>\n Take a look at how the Hootsuite Labs team uses timestamps to help their audience navigate longer videos:<\/p>\n Each video\u2019s description<\/a> should have a unique section of a few sentences describing what it\u2019s about. But, you can create default descriptions<\/a> to save time for the parts you want in every video.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you want to include in your full video description:<\/p>\n Custom thumbnails are so important for views. Besides your title, it\u2019s the only other thing users have to decide if they want to watch your video or not.<\/p>\n What counts as a good YouTube thumbnail<\/a> will vary depending on your audience. As a minimum, make sure it isn\u2019t just a screenshot from your video. Use a photo or your brand elements and add some text to lure viewers in \u2014 like Hootsuite does on the Hootsuite Labs channel<\/a>:<\/p>\n Current specs are a 16:9 format with a minimum size of \u200b\u200b1280 x 720 pixels.<\/p>\n YouTube is a social network, right? So act like it. Responding to viewer comments shows you\u2019re there to build a community, not to push out self-promotional content.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a secret<\/a>: It also boosts your video\u2019s status to the algorithm because more comments = a more popular-seeming video.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s time to promote your video content so you can get more subscribers<\/a> and grow your channel. Once you\u2019ve started creating, publishing, and optimizing your videos, you need to create a distribution strategy that helps spread the word.<\/p>\n While YouTube SEO<\/a> should help you improve your overall reach on<\/em> the platform, there is also work to be done off<\/em> the platform.<\/p>\n Cross-promote your new YouTube channel on your website, other social media platforms, email newsletter, and more. Some distribution channels include:<\/p>\n Get the word out that your brand now has a YouTube channel, create consistent (and great) content, and watch that subscriber count grow.<\/p>\n Not growing fast enough? Try YouTube ads<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most YouTube ads are videos but you can also place banner ads, either in videos or on the website. You can also make your video ads either skippable (after the first 5 seconds) or unskippable (for a max of 15 seconds).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of what a skippable YouTube ad looks like:<\/p>\n As a Google company, YouTube ads operate through the Google Ads platform. Running successful ads requires a strategy of its own, which we detail in our guide to Google Ads<\/a>.<\/p>\n Besides the campaign strategy, before you try out paid ads, make sure you have:<\/p>\n One great way to boost your reach and become a more well-known presence on YouTube is to work with YouTube creators<\/a>. There are tens of thousands of influencers<\/a> on YouTube, giving you a wide range of video creators to choose from.<\/p>\n Plus, while new social platforms pop up all the time and become the \u201chot\u201d place to advertise, YouTube has remained a high-performing channel for brands. And it\u2019s the number one platform<\/a> for consuming influencer marketing<\/a> content.<\/p>\n As with any form of paid advertising or marketing campaign, you can\u2019t jump straight into an influencer partnership without some prep work. A few things to keep in mind before you start include:<\/p>\n There are several different types of influencer videos you can work with a creator to make. Some of those include:<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of a sponsored video where makeup artist NikkieTutorials is creating a full-face makeup look using only SHEGLAM products:<\/p>\nWhat is YouTube marketing?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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But why is YouTube marketing so important for your business to invest in? <\/h3>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t#1 Social Media Tool\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n10-step YouTube marketing strategy<\/span><\/h2>\n
Step 1: Create a YouTube channel for your business<\/h3>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/YouTube-Marketing-1-620x338.png?resize=620%2C338&ssl=1\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/YouTube-Marketing-3-620x324.png?resize=620%2C324&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nStep 2: Learn what your audience likes<\/h3>\n
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![\"chart](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/YouTube-stats-3-620x639.png?resize=620%2C639&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nIf you already have your YouTube channel set up, check out your YouTube Analytics<\/a>.<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/word-image-473938-5.png?resize=1099%2C566&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nOr use social listening<\/a> to find your audience. <\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/hootsuite-social-listening-hero.png?resize=500%2C390&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nStep 3: Research your competition<\/h3>\n
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![\"social](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/youtube-marketing-7-620x305.webp?resize=620%2C305&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nStep 4: Study your favorite YouTube channels<\/h3>\n
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Step 5: Plan and create your content<\/h3>\n
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Step 6: Optimize your videos to get views<\/h3>\n
Do keyword research<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/YouTube-Marketing-5-620x410.png?resize=620%2C410&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nAdd your keywords to your video<\/h4>\n
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Use timestamps<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/YouTube-Marketing-6-620x342.png?resize=620%2C342&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nCreate a detailed video description<\/h4>\n
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Create an engaging video thumbnail<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/word-image-473938-9.png?resize=2138%2C994&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nRespond to comments<\/h4>\n
Step 7: Market your YouTube channel and attract followers<\/h3>\n
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Step 8: Test YouTube advertising<\/h3>\n
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Step 9: Try working with YouTube creators<\/h3>\n
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Influencer video content examples<\/h4>\n
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