With over 2 billion logged-in monthly users, YouTube has enormous potential for business marketing. That potential only grows when you realise the average user spends 40 minutes on the site.
YouTube isn’t just expansive, it’s also free to use and genuinely accessible for businesses of any size. What used to be purely an entertainment platform has become a legitimate marketing channel for businesses worldwide, and it’s easy to see why. It lets your business stand out from competitors while creating real engagement through creative videos, powerful features, and eye-catching ads.
Here are some of the ways YouTube can help your business thrive.
Know Your Audience & Gain Valuable Insights
Once you’ve set up a Brand Account on YouTube and started uploading videos, spend real time researching your audience. Check out YouTube Trends to see what’s gaining traction across the platform, then segment your own audience to identify who’s actually watching your videos.
With a YouTube channel for business, you get access to an Analytics Tab that gives you a genuinely thorough read on your audience. Track key metrics like subscriber count, average view duration, watch time, and audience retention, and dig into demographic stats to understand your viewer base. You can even check device reports to see which devices your audience uses most, mobile, desktop, Smart TV, and so on. That data helps you spot which content resonates most, and gives you a springboard for future ideas.
Another great thing about YouTube for business is the ability to reply directly to comments under your videos. Browsing through these comments tells you a lot about your audience’s preferences and interests, and pinning a comment at the top is a great way to ask for feedback or content ideas. Once you hit 1,000 subscribers, the Community Tab opens up, letting you post questions and run polls for your audience. You can even feature customer video testimonials right on your channel.
Optimise Your Videos to Attract Views
Much like Google, YouTube essentially functions as a search engine, just for video. Certain ranking factors within the YouTube algorithm determine whether your video gets seen and how it ranks in search. Optimising your videos helps you reach a wider audience and build stronger brand awareness. A few suggestions:
Create a powerful video title
Include relevant keywords to attract the right audience. You can find these in Traffic Sources within YouTube Analytics, along with Google Trends and Google Ads Keyword Planner. Load your most important keywords near the start of the title, avoid excessive punctuation, and aim for 60 characters or fewer so nothing gets cut off on mobile.
One note: steer clear of clickbait. False or gimmicky titles, and overly sensational language, tend to hurt retention and search ranking while eroding trust with your viewers.
Write a keyword-rich description
Your description box should briefly summarise what the video’s actually about. Like the title, work relevant keywords in early, but balance that with natural, readable language. You get up to 300 characters before the “Show More” button appears, which makes this a good spot for extra business info, product links, or links to your website and social media.
Develop an attention-grabbing thumbnail
A strong thumbnail is what actually gets people to click. In fact, 90% of the best-performing YouTube videos use custom thumbnails, giving them a real edge in standing out. Aim for as high-res as possible (max 2GB), sized at 1280 x 720 pixels (16:9 ratio).
Clickable CTA buttons
Clickable call-to-action buttons help drive conversions and subscriptions directly from your videos. Your options include End Screens (appearing in the last 5 to 20 seconds), YouTube Cards (which expand on click and link to another site or playlist), unskippable bumper ads (6 seconds at the start of a video), and watermarks (custom subscribe buttons visible even to non-subscribers).
Build Your Brand Identity: Optimise Your YouTube Channel
Optimising individual videos matters, but making your whole channel easy to find and building a cohesive brand identity matters just as much. Here’s how to optimise your channel for search ranking, views, and subscriptions.
- Upload your business logo as the channel icon.
- Write a keyword-rich channel description that includes your website URL and social links. This overview should tell subscribers exactly what value they’ll get from your content.
- Create a YouTube channel art banner. Use it to welcome viewers and promote your schedule, events, product launches, or services. Embed your website and social links here too for extra exposure, along with an auto-subscribe button.
- Feature other YouTube channels so subscribers can discover other relevant content or helpful resources. This builds real brand value by aligning your channel with other credible companies.
- Create a channel trailer to preview your content for new visitors. Trailers auto-play when an unsubscribed visitor lands on your page, so use it to give an intriguing glimpse into your channel and introduce your brand. It’s a genuinely great opportunity to turn new viewers into subscribers.
- Develop video playlists so viewers keep watching. Your playlists should flow logically from one topic to the next, beginner to advanced tutorials, or product updates in sequence, for example. You can even collaborate with other channels to feature your videos in their playlists.
- YouTube captions and translations are probably one of the most underrated ways to expand your reach. In fact, 60% of a channel’s views often come from outside the creator’s home country. Adding captions or using YouTube’s translation tools opens your content up to non-native speakers and hearing-impaired audiences alike.
YouTube Advertising & Retargeting
Advertising on YouTube offers a lot for your business, expanding your reach to valuable customers, growing your audience while keeping loyalty intact, driving engagement, and generating leads, all while tracking analytics to measure real performance. If a prospect hasn’t converted yet, YouTube’s retargeting tools can help re-spark their interest and nudge them toward a purchase.
Powerful and genuinely cost-effective, YouTube advertising can help grow your business faster than ever. People are three times more likely to pay attention to online video ads than traditional TV ads. You also get real-time insights to refine your ads and make adjustments genuinely tailored to your audience’s interests.
There are several YouTube advertising formats to choose from:
- Display Ads
- Overlay Ads
- Skippable video ads
- Non-skippable video ads
- Video discovery ads
- Sponsored cards
Paired with video monetisation under the YouTube Partner Program, you can earn AdSense revenue from multiple sources, ads, channel memberships, business merch, and YouTube Premium viewers included. There are minimum eligibility requirements to unlock these monetisation rights, but the payoff for your business growth and revenue can be substantial.
Get Started With YouTube Advertising for Business!
Advertising your business on YouTube takes real dedication. With OMDIGI Group’s Social Media Marketing and PPC Services, you can optimise your YouTube channel and grow your audience quickly. We work closely with your business to build tailored advertising campaigns across the platforms that matter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn included. Why wait?
Contact us now for more details!
