Watching online videos and sharing them is fast becoming an obsession from being a mere fad. So how would you go about harnessing that huge audience for your YouTube videos?
There are essentially two types of audience who watch YouTube. The first are the random, one-time viewers who have come by through searches. The second and the most important are the viewers who love watching videos and perhaps have a YouTube account themselves. The latter is slated to be your loyal audience, for they are the ones who represent the repeat visits to tot up your revenues.
So how would you go about building a loyal audience on YouTube? The formula is really very simple. It works just like your blogs.
Create meaningful content
With 20 hours of video uploaded every minute at YouTube and 420 million unique visitors per month, you are presented with the challenge of attracting more viewers and keep getting them back as repeat visitors. The key to this is creation of unique meaningful content.
The principle of 'content is king' applies here too. So create engaging content that is relevant to your target audience. Give them the kind of programming that gives your first-time audience reason to come again. Create compelling top-quality videos that engage a loyal audience.
The audio visual medium is a powerful means of communication. Unique videos, catchy titles and funny or innovative presentations have the power to remain etched on the mind of the viewer. Use interesting effects and stylised captions, good lighting and camera angles to make your videos stand out amongst others.
Create a Brand
Most videos have a short attention span. This is where you can create you own branding in a huge online video community. Define your brand, establish yourself as the market leader in the field of expertise and develop your own USP (unique selling proposition). The audience who cares about this subject field will also make sure to check out your YouTube channel.
Make the most of the social platform
Use social networking tools to promote your YouTube videos and URL Use tools such as the Facebook 'Like' button and calls to action to encourage commenting and sharing. Integrate YouTube "video annotations" to makes use of the social web.
Spread the word through social sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Create a social networking profile and target specific markets. Connect with your audience, engage them in your videos and keep the interest level going. Very soon you will find a loyal audience that keeps coming back to look up your videos.
Remain ahead of competition
As trends are fast changing, you need to re-invent yourself constantly. Remain ahead of competition, being the first with such content or a unique aspect to a clichéd idea. Tackle the hottest topic from a fresh angle, and do what it takes to draw your audience back to your YouTube channel. The key here is to keep improving upon your content with fresh add-ons.
Researching what others are doing in the same field can help you build that cutting-edge over the others in the same segment.
Packaging
The packaging aspect of a YouTube video is most important. Besides a slick presentation making the most of technology, the title and URL need to eb integrated as to give you the best and consistent search results, so your viewers know where to come back for your programming.
Optimize and optimize, for search results
Online marketing is all about SEO. So use strategic keywords that help people find you on YouTube. Making use of optimized titles and descriptive is a smart move. As YouTube videos have a long tail of search, using good metadata and popular tags can also help you draw the audience you are targeting.
Constant upgrades with fresh energized content is one way to ensure your videos keep appearing in searches.
Engage Partners
YouTube has plenty of successful channels who already have a large audience. Check out by browsing “Most Viewed” channels for the ones whose content is similar to yours. Do they have a consistent programming and an established audience? If their goals match yours, then go ahead and partner with these leading channels to tap their viewership and build your own brand visibility.
Use Google’s Promoted Videos
Make use of the latest tool from YouTube‘s advertisement program, "Promoted Videos". While on YouTube your video streams below the search results pages and ‘Watch’ pages in the related video section. These watch pages are much like the home pages of your YouTube video. On sites running Google Adsense, their policy permitting, your promoted YouTube video will show up as thumbnails with 3-line texts, that link back to your YouTube channel. This can be a powerful way of engaging a loyal audience, as your promoted videos keep appearing in blogs and sites that cater to a similar community.
So go ahead and work towards building a unique interesting programming with your YouTube videos, that keeps your viewers coming back for more.