You've got your creative down, but here comes the fun part . . . optimising your content efficiently! All so your awesome videos rank in search results, people find you in related videos and you have an engaged and consistent community.
1. Thumbnails, Tagging, Titles and Descriptions
- Thumbnails:
Taking time to design a theme around your thumbnail is so important because it’s one of the main reasons your video is enticing for someone or not. Key rules are ensuring the title is clear (especially for mobile) and the photo is nicely coloured and teases the viewer about what’s in store if they watch the film. A good example is our Star Wars Changed My Life film series here:
Thumbnail example . . .
If you’re not a photoshop genius though don’t worry! We recommend using the FREE services Canva have to help you with designing your thumbnails.
Tagging:
Unless you already have a huge fan following, these are integral for helping people discover your videos. Basically tags are the keywords you use in order for Youtube’s search algorithm to understand what the hell your content is. This forms the basis of your title and description so just like with Google Adword planning figure out tags that are popular and genuinely reflect your content. One tip we have found worked for us in the past is using missed spelled tags as this will have your video shown to amongst different listings.
Tagging example . . .
- Video Titles:
Your headline/video title needs to be snappy, enticing and for SEO purposes, full of relevant keywords you’ve chosen in your tags.
Title example . . .
- Description box:
The description box is your SEO dream and should include the title you’ve chosen and your tags. Beyond the tags and title, ensure you use this to space to put in as much information related to your video as possible. We also like to leave call to actions at the bottom of our description - stuff like company and related content links.
Description box example . . .
2. End plates and Annotations
End plates:
Thanks to Youtube’s latest update, it’s easier than ever to ensure the end of your video looks professional and encourages people to discover more of your content. We recommend at the very least there is a link to 1 other piece of content. That way if a viewer gets to the end of your film and is thinking about what to view next, you’ve already made the decision for them.
End plate example . . .
- Annotations:
Annotations are the weird things that pop up on your screen when watching a youtube video that usually link to other things, whether that’s other Youtube videos or maybe your website. If you’re a brand or business, these can be incredibly useful especially in terms of getting someone one step closer to making a purchase decision. They’re super easy to add in, especially with Youtube in built annotation tools.
Annotation example . . .
3. Collaborations
It’s something many people forget, but one of the most powerful ways to increase viewership, subscribership and general awareness of your content...work with other Youtubers! Collaborating with influencers, other channels and brands not only gets you great, engaging content but also gets you access to audience network far bigger than your own.
The only thing we would recommend though is to make sure you’re collaborating with someone for the right reasons...there’s no point working with a fashion vlogger if you sell insurance and we wouldn’t recommend keeping full control over the creative and trying to force someone to act out a video they don’t like...it’s called a collaboration for a reason!
4. Tubebuddy
A nifty tool we use is a thing called Tubebuddy (subscription service). It’s a Chrome extension that helps you easily optimise your video content on Youtube as well as giving you step by step guides on how to make sure you’re video is just killing it on Youtube. So there’s no more excuses when you’re wondering what keywords would be useful to have in your headline or which videos your kind of audience likes!
Do you have more tips on how to optimise video on Youtube? Then drop us an email! We may be a London production agency but we are all ears for your opinions and suggestions and want to collaborate you! Make sure you sign up to our mailing list in the footer too!