If a picture tells a thousand words, a video tells a million. Via the medium of moving pictures, your company can communicate your brand identity in a way which is highly engaging, enjoyable and memorable for your viewers…

Plenty of brands around the world have leveraged the enormous marketing power of video – and there’s no better place to do it than on the world’s leading online video platform, YouTube.

If you’re just getting started with video marketing, here are a few strategic tips to help you get the most out of your YouTube channel.

Plan, plan, plan

With around 500 hours of video uploaded to YouTube each minute, and an estimated third of all videos receiving less than 10 views, getting your own content to stand out from the crowd requires careful planning and foresight.

Start by deciding your primary goal. What do you want to get out of YouTube? Are you aiming for viral success to boost awareness of your brand? Maybe you’re looking to engage with potential customers and build a loyal following? Perhaps you’re simply hoping to add helpful video content to your website to help drive more purchases?

You should also think about how often you want to post videos, how and where you’ll share them to boost their reach, and how your video marketing process will fit into your existing content strategy.

Make unique and engaging content

You might have already discounted video marketing as too expensive and time consuming, but many content creators (both brands and the public alike) have found success on YouTube with their own distinctly homemade videos.

For example, one of the site’s earliest marketing success stories was ‘Will It Blend?’, a long-running series in which inventor and entrepreneur Tom Dickson puts his own Blendtec blenders to the test against various household objects. With this simple premise (and even simpler production values), Blendtec not only hooked in millions of viewers but also established their reputation as a high-performance brand and introduced themselves to a global audience.

If you’re looking to build a following with your YouTube channel, you don’t necessarily need a high-definition camera and a flashy studio – you just need ideas for videos that are unique and irresistible to your target audience.

Try to come up with ideas which can be used multiple times for multiple videos. Having a consistent theme will not only save you from having to brainstorm new ideas all the time, but will also keep your audience coming back. For example, if you’re always adding new lines to your inventory, you might be able to do a round-up video of your latest product additions every month.

Make your videos findable

You can be releasing a steady stream of incredible content, but if users can’t find it, you won’t be getting many views. Thankfully, the upload page lets you optimise your videos for search by providing contextualising information.

Give each video a description, as well as appropriate keyword tags. If your video is part of a series, be sure to add it to the series playlist (or create one if you haven’t already).

If your videos contain a lot of dialogue, you might consider transcribing the audio for captions – not only will they be a lot more accurate than the platform’s auto-generated subtitles, but they’ll also provide search engines with a lot more info on what each video is about.

Set up your profile in full

Even if you only plan on embedding your videos on your website, it’s worth paying attention to how you come across on YouTube. Anyone who stumbles across your channel should be able to understand who you are and what you do at a glance.

Setting up an account is fairly easy. If you already have a Google account for your emails, calendar or some other Google product, your credentials will work here too, but it might be wiser to open a new account so any personal details don’t end up on your branded account.

Be sure to fill out all the forms on your YouTube profile page, including your business’s contact details and a link back to your website. Don’t forget to add a profile icon and a background header image to your channel, too.

Get familiar with your dashboard before you start uploading videos. In particular, check out the built-in analytics, which lets you keep track of your channel’s performance and find out more about your audience.

Interact with your audience

Sadly, YouTube comments have something of a bad reputation, and while the quality of the responses you’ll see at the top of comments sections has improved, there’s still a fair share of spam and vitriol. You do have the option of switching comments off, but leaving them on presents the opportunity to engage more directly with individual users.

Monitor your comments sections closely for opportunities to interact with individual users. In particular, keep an eye out for any questions they might have. If you can assist people with impartial guidance, you’ll be promoting yourself as a brand that knows its stuff and cares about helping its followers, hopefully leaving a lasting positive impression on them and encouraging them to buy from you in the future.

As for negative comments, you should never delete them. If you’re seen as censoring criticism, you’ll lose any trust you’ve built up with your followers.

Try to respond to user queries as quickly as possible. To make sure you never miss a comment, remember to have your email notifications switched on.

Don’t expect virality

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it share your video. Unfortunately, while many YouTubers dream of their videos going viral, very few actually do.

That said, there are a few rules of thumb to follow to increase your chances of viral success. For starters, your video content needs to truly grab the viewer’s attention, with striking visuals and/or a central theme that resonates with them. Secondly, your content should be brief and succinct; making it easily consumable for an increasingly distracted and impatient audience.

For some videos, it’s a good idea to add a CTA at the end, asking people to like and share your videos, or subscribe to your channel. Having an active audience supporting your videos will not only lead to more sharing of your videos, but will also positively influence your rankings in YouTube searches.

Team up with influencers

Still not convinced in making your own video content? Perhaps you’d rather leave it to someone who already knows how to create videos, and already has a huge following?

Many YouTubers are happy to accept promotion deals and/or collaborate with other channels – the latter is a great way to share your audiences and mutually gain more followers.

Make a list of potential influencers who are popular with your target audience and reach out to them. Think about who can present your product or service in a creative, interesting way.

One word of caution; make sure your partners disclose any deals they have with you. It’s not only unethical to hide your commercial relationships, it can also land you in hot water with the Advertising Standards Authority.

To stay above the law, your partners should clearly indicate the promotional nature of the video within the video itself as well as the description. It’s also wise to give them full creative freedom; if you’re telling them what to say and do, the video is more likely to be judged as a straight advert.