48 percent of marketers plan to use YouTube as part of their marketing strategy. And for good reason! More than a billion people are active on YouTube. This means a huge chunk of your audience is already on it.
So, what can you do with this information? Sure, you can create and present unique, fun, and emotional content on the platform. But, if you don’t market your content properly, your videos will never rank on the first page.
Instead, you must implement marketing strategies that will get you to YouTube’s first page without a hassle. Maybe even appear on the recommendation list for an improved SEO and brand presence.
So, the million-dollar question is, how do you ensure your YouTube marketing strategies have the desired effects?
Here are some tips and tricks that have proven useful for ranking videos on YouTube. The article also includes tricks on how to rank for competitive keywords.
1. Enhance Your Watch time
This is not your retention time. Your watch time is the total amount of minutes your viewers have watched your video since it was posted. This is vital because the longer you can keep your viewers watching, the more YouTube will surface your content.
You can achieve this in two ways:
- Script, plan, and outline your videos. When you plan, you reduce the chances of presenting scattered and unfocused content. A precise presentation will keep your audience glued to you longer.
- Make sure your video is not static by mixing things up. For instance, you can change your camera angles, images, or music, and include stunning video effects. The goal is to ensure your video is interesting and fresh.
You may also want to read: IGTV vs. YouTube: Which One Is Better For Video Marketing? [Infographic]
2. Use Brackets And Parentheses In The Title
YouTube pays great attention to the number of users that click on your channel. The higher the number, the more likely your channel is to rank on the first page. Therefore, go beyond clickbait and put some brackets and parentheses in your video title.
The text in the bracket offers the viewer a sneak preview of your video content. This makes it more likely for your audience to click on the video. For instance, if your title was “YouTube Marketing Strategies,” enhance it to “YouTube Marketing Strategies (Best Tips And Tricks).”
Besides, the industry denotes that by including some brackets and parentheses in your video title, you can get one-third more clicks.
3. Enhance Your Engagement Signals
These include comments, likes, shares, and subscriptions. Your engagement signals strongly correlate with your YouTube ranking position. YouTube admits this fact. This means that the more you increase your engagement signals, the higher you will rank.
The big question: how do you get more viewers to engage with your content? Play to human preferences. This means, learn your audience and use their preferences to approach them. For instance, people do like to give their opinion but they don’t like to think too hard.
So, instead of asking the audience to “let you know what they think”, ask questions that are simple to answer. A multiple-choice question will do that seamlessly. Example: Do you prefer to enhance your engagement signals or use brackets in your title?
These questions will get you more comments on your videos. Then give people a reason to subscribe to your channels. For instance, “Subscribe to my channel so that you don’t miss out on next week’s video.”
4. Have A Tag Formula
Do you have a formula for your tags?
For instance, are you filling your video with a hundred tags? This makes it hard for YouTube to understand what your video content represents. Besides, if your tags represent different niches like blogging and life lessons, your video will seem confusing to YouTube’s algorithms.
Instead, have a systematic approach to using tags:
- Use your target keyword as your first three tags. Example: If your target keyword is YouTube Marketing Strategies, make this and its variations your first three tags. This will be YouTube Marketing Strategies, YouTube Marketing Guide, and YouTube Marketing Tips.
- Then find synonyms to the keyword and include at least three as additional tags. A good example of YouTube Marketing Strategies is Ranking On YouTube.
- Also include category tags to include the high-level topic of your video. In our example, you can use Marketing.
This is known as the Target keyword, Synonym, and Category (TSC) formula.
5. Suggested Video Ranking
The following image is Brian’s Description for the above video…
- Suggestions are based on the type of the current video the viewer is watching
- Suggestions are based on the most common video type on the viewer history
Take advantage of this by optimizing your video with identical keywords to the keywords used by a popular video in your niche. Also include some of the tags used by the popular video as your synonym and category tags.
Chances are, you will appear next to the popular video in the suggestion section.
6. Don’t Forget The Description Optimization
Your description helps YouTube understand your video content. An optimized description will rank your video higher and give you more views. How?
- Have at least one hundred words on your description to offer enough content information.
- Ensure your target keyword appears in the first or second line of the description.
- Add the primary and other keywords at least three times in the description.
7. Video Embedding
Did you know that YouTube ranking works in tandem with video embedding? A study found that the top-ranking videos on the platform have at least 78 percent of embeds. One of the fastest ways to do this is to use your website as an embedding platform.
If you do not have a website, use a guest post or a press release to embed the video. Just ensure that your video appears on another content publishing site that is not YouTube.
You may also want to read: 7 Marketing Strategies to Boost Online Marketing Results on YouTube
So, Which of These YouTube Marketing Strategies You Will Implement?
Hopefully, you drop whatever you are doing and start optimizing your YouTube videos.
If you follow the tips, results should come.
Just remember one thing. How you promote your videos should depend on your niche, target audience, and other factors.
Nevertheless, these tips are sure to get your YouTube video on the first page if implemented properly.
Best of luck 😉
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