YouTube is the second largest search engine, only behind Google. With over two billion active monthly users, knowing how to promote a video on YouTube is critical to reaching the right audience.
When creating a video, you want to promote it to your current audience and new viewers. The video and digital marketing experts at Forge Apollo in Philadelphia are experienced with video production and promotion. In this guide, we’ll cover how to reach both groups to maximize the ROI of video marketing.
How Does The YouTube Algorithm Work?
Before learning how to promote a video on YouTube, it’s crucial to understand how the algorithm chooses which videos to serve.
YouTube considers multiple factors when determining which videos to serve individual users. This includes the following and more:
- Relevancy: Is the topic relevant to the season and the search term? Is your channel a trusted source for this information?
- Engagement: Is the user liking, subscribing, commenting, or clicking through?
- View Duration: How much of the video do viewers watch?
- User History: What has the individual user watched in the past? What topics do they tend to search for? Does your content align with their interests?
- Competition Performance: Is there someone making similar content that’s doing better than yours?
By tapping into these factors when creating and promoting your content, you can get closer to viral video marketing.
Making Relevant Content
Tap into the relevancy factor to make video promotion easier when producing content. There are a few ways to find these topics.
In the YouTube Studio, click “Analytics” on the left side and then “Research.” From there, you can get insights on search terms across YouTube and your viewers’ searches. For example, interest in how to promote a YouTube video is high. So, this would be a popular topic to choose if I wanted to make a video.
You can also find inspiration for videos from your competitors. What kinds of videos are already popular in your space? Can you make a version that fills in knowledge gaps or offers a quality improvement that makes it more helpful to your audience?
When you pick a topic with high interest around keywords, feature those keywords in the title and description.
To learn more about optimizing your videos to reach the right audience in search, read our guide to video SEO and download our free YouTube SEO best practices sheet.
Encouraging Engagement
Since the algorithm favors videos that get more clicks and interaction, making content encouraging this behavior is essential. Ask your viewers to take actions such as liking and subscribing.
You can add other elements in your YouTube videos to encourage interaction, like the following:
- Info Cards that link to your website or other videos
- Links in the description
- Endcards that promote your channel and other videos
- Watermark that prompts viewers to subscribe
Timing is Everything
The most important time to promote a YouTube video is within the first 24 hours. The more views and interactions people give your video in the first 24 hours, the more likely it will be shared with larger audiences in the algorithm.
You need to know how to get more views on YouTube videos in the first 24 hours to maximize the long-term ROI of your video. Have materials prepared to promote your video before you publish so you can hit the ground running.
6 Ways to Promote a YouTube Video
When planning how to promote a YouTube video, use the following tactics.
1. Post on Social Media
Post on social media a few days before your video is live to build up anticipation. You can even share a short trailer to get your audience interested.
Then, when your video goes live, let your audience know it’s up. You can continue to post periodically to drive viewership over time as well.
2. Email it Out
Send your email subscriber list a message to share your new video. If you don’t want to send an email dedicated solely to the video, feature the video in a newsletter and plan to send the newsletter when you publish the video.
3. Make a Community Post on YouTube
Remember the platform itself when considering how to get views on YouTube videos. YouTube has a Community Tab feature that allows you to post non-video content to appear in your subscriber’s feeds. Here, you can post a day or two beforehand to let them know the video is coming and build anticipation.
After posting the video, you can also use a community post to remind them it’s live.
4. Partner With Influencers
Partnering with influencers brings the power of a new audience. When Forge Apollo produced the Evolution of the Bikini video for Breathless Resorts and Spas, we partnered with influencer Amanda Cerny. This boosted the video’s reach, resulting in a 25% increase in web traffic within the first six days.
This viral video marketing featured the video in several major publications, like BuzzFeed and Cosmopolitan.
5. Send a Text
Text messages have an average open rate of 98% and a click-through rate of 19%. If you use SMS marketing, send a message to your audience with a link to the video to drive more views.Â
6. Q&A Sites
Look for questions about your topic on q&a sites like Quora and provide your video as the answer.
Maximize the ROI of Video Marketing with Forge Apollo
When considering how to promote a YouTube video, trust the experts. Forge Apollo provides digital and video marketing in Philadelphia and other regions. By combining digital and video strategies, we can maximize the ROI of a video with strategic distribution. Contact us today to learn more about video marketing.
