Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world? Or that over 48 hours of video content is uploaded to it every minute? Or that only 30% of all the videos get 99% of the views on YouTube?
With all of that content being uploaded and less than a third of the videos making up nearly all of the YouTube views, how can you get your videos noticed?
I was at SES Toronto last week and sat in on a session with YouTube gurus Greg Jarboe (who I interviewed last year for The crossroads of PR, social media and SEO) and Jonathan Allen from Search Engine Watch. They shared some great tips that PR pros and marketers alike can use to help get their YouTube content noticed.
Use keywords
YouTube tries to determine what your video is about from your headline and description of your video. Make sure to use keywords that people would use to find your video in both the headline and description of the video.
Likes are important
YouTube uses many different variable to determine the rank of your video within a search, including how many views the video has had, and what ratio of likes to dislikes it has. When you post your video, have a call to action for users, such as asking them to “Like” it or subscribe to your channel.
Publish videos often
New videos in YouTube get special treatment. YouTube tries to deliver fresh content to its users, and “fresh” means less than a week old. Once you upload a video, you will probably notice a quick spike in views and think, “We’re going to go viral!” only to have your dreams crushed a week later when your views drop off. This is a normal trend for YouTube videos, because YouTube will stop ranking your video as high once it’s no longer seen as new or fresh content.
If you have a lot of video content that you’re working on, don’t put it all up at once. Instead, space it out over a few weeks so your channel always has fresh content.
Embed your YouTube videos on other sites
To get even more views on your video, embed it in your other sites such as your blog or on your Facebook page. This will help it get more views, and subsequently rank higher in YouTube searches.
Do you have a YouTube channel that you’d like to share? Have you had success with YouTube videos and campaigns? Let us know in the comments below.
