Live @ Inbound 2020: Creating A World-Class Business YouTube Channel

YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. Yet it isn’t utilised by many companies, perhaps you haven’t yet figured out how to leverage its power for effective lead generation?

The main rule for creating a world-class YouTube business channel is to create the right content.

Zach Basner – IMPACT director of Inbound training and video strategy delivered a session on how to create a great business YouTube channel.

In case you missed it, don’t worry here at Insynth we’re blogging about the interesting and impactful sessions from #INBOUND2020 – so read on to discover what Zach covered in his session…

Why YouTube?

YouTube is more than just a video host, it’s the second-largest search engine behind Google and the second largest social media platform. This showcases how huge the platform really is.

It’s a big platform, but how is it a sales tool?

Well, studies found that 90% of people say that they discover new brands or products on YouTube – showcasing its importance for buying experience and how individuals are educated about products.

Another study found that there’s a 110% year-over-year growth in watch time of ‘which [product] to buy’; search terms are becoming more product-specific.

Zach explained that there’s on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

On-page SEO

On the page SEO is the one that we can control, this includes the:

• Title
• Description
• Tags
• Playlist
• Playlist description

Off-page SEO

This is the one we can’t control. It includes:

• What people watch or don’t watch (impressions vs plays)
• How much time people spend watching your video (watch time, or retention)
• How quickly a videos popularity snowballs or doesn’t (view velocity, rate of growth)
• How a new a video is (new videos may get extra attention to give them a chance to snowball)
• How much time they spend on YouTube (session time)

Though you may have some input, it’s ultimately up to the viewer on how your video performs. With this, you should spend more time on the viewer and not the views.

Next, the 6-step process on how to make world-class business videos on YouTube:

1.      The Right Content

Good content is focused on buyers instead of ‘my company’. This can be done by tapping into the emotions of your buyers and prospects.

There are areas buyers ‘obsess’ over in video form, these are cost/price, problems, comparing what’s best and comparing what’s worst.

Interestingly, these can be areas you don’t want to go into – but don’t miss out. Buyers obsess over ‘cost’ and there’s a lot of traffic around search terms like ‘how much does ___ cost?’.

2.      Brand Your Channel

Create your YouTube channel as a brand, with an identity of its own. Make sure your channel looks different from any old company just using videos for promotions.

Creating a branded channel will give the perception to viewers that your channel is providing them with the resources to answer and educate them on questions they may have.

3.      Custom Thumbnails

Use large, bold, and contrasting titles in thumbnails with real screenshots from the video – this will demonstrate to the viewer what they’ll expect when they click.

A viewer may perceive a high-resolution thumbnail as a video that’s well thought out with quality content.

4.      Attract Great Buyer Focused Titles

Use thumbnails that are focused and that the prospect will most likely to search, ask yourself:

• How would a real buyer ask this question?
• How would a real buyer search for the answer?

Getting this right, will increase your traffic with the right audience.

5.      Calls-To-Action

Your CTA needs to be clear throughout your video, with visual images and audio directing your viewers to this. Your CTA:

• Needs to be clear and direct – a hard to read CTA won’t drive traffic
• Needs to be both seen, heard, and shown in the video - saying it alone is not good enough

6.      Valuable Offers

Your CTA needs to have a valuable offer:

• Call for a ‘quote’ isn’t providing value
• Check out our website isn’t specific enough

‘Download this ____ buying tool to help you...’ is a better approach as it provides value to the viewer by suggesting how it can directly help them.

Conclusion

Essentially, a buyer-focused channel attracts buyers; utilising video content for your construction customers can provide you with value.

With YouTube being the second largest search engine behind Google, it can boost your SEO, domain authority, educate your prospects and generate more traffic to your building products and services.