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Social Media Optimization on YouTube
Optimizing YouTube for Social Considerations is something most video marketers, and SEO people in general, rarely think about. They’re concentrating on keywords, what the video will link to, and where else they’re going to post the video to.
While these are important considerations, they leave out something, or someone, more important - the people watching the videos! This article will look to help you optimize the social, or human, side of your YouTube videos so you can get more views, better SEO, and send your viewers to the websites or videos you want them to see more frequently.
Using onscreen text is a great way to optimize the time of all those eyeballs that are looking at your video. There are two main ways to do this:
The better of the options is the Annotations as you can set them as links which lead to landing pages, other videos, or your YouTube homepage where they can subscribe and watch more content.
If you’re really together, use an audio call to action at the same time as a video optimization so that your users are getting a push through their ears and their eyes! For example, have your host say ‘Click on the link to watch our video on ____.” Have an annotation pop up at this time with the link to the video.
To use YouTube Annotations:
You need to be a verified YouTube account to link to external websites, but you can still link for subscriptions, to Playlists, to Channels, to Google+, and use it as plain text for highlighting until then.
SEO is a key element of being found, but user experience optimization will be what gets viewers to click that first time and keep on coming back. Use the tools talked about above in conjunction with a solid YouTube SEO plan to get YouTube famous and meet your channel goals!
Ernest Thompson is a Social Media Strategist who can be found behind some
interesting online content. You can view what he’s up to right now by heading
over to his YouTubeViews website. If you have questions, please ask him in the comments
below!
YouTube’s Social Side - Optimizing for People
One of the most important things you’ll do for social optimization on YouTube is create a custom thumbnail. It won’t do a single thing for your SEO - search engines can’t ‘see’ a good or bad image - but it will do wonders for your views.
Let’s take a look at an example. Here are the first four search results when I search for “best aerial dog fights” on YouTube because I like planes:
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| Optimize Your YouTube Videos and Channel |
The first three results have images taken directly from the movies themselves. The fourth one has taken the time to include some text on the image. This is a basic customization technique as it adds more visual information.
YouTube users will often look quickly through the thumbnail images, giving them something to read right there in the image can lead to more views as it gives them the information they want rapidly.
Yes, I have noticed how many views the ones without optimized images have. They are 8 months - 5 years old each, while the video with an optimized image has reached 70,000+ views in a month. Do the math to see how well the optimized video is doing on a month by month comparison!
Some of the best YouTube thumbnails you’ll see come, unsurprisingly, from the most successful channels. Take a look around the channels for:
- Smosh
- Epic Meal Time
- Epic Rap Battles of History
- Pew Die Pie
- The Tonight Show
You’ll see exceptional examples of thumbnails that have helped them build their YouTube empires one image at a time.
Optimizing Your Audio Cues
Depending on your end goals, your video needs some sort of established outro or intro. If you’re a video marketer looking to build a storefront business or website be sure to include:
- The business name
- Your address - physical or web
- Your phone number if you want people calling you
This is another cue for your viewers to visit your website, and helps them learn your important information. You know they’re listening to your video while it’s playing, this is how you’ll use that auditory attention wisely.
If you’re not looking to build a brand, and you’re building a channel purely for sharing video content, you’ll need to work on your tagline. All of the great YouTube stars have a tagline, just as all the great TV hosts have a tagline. Think about you own after reading these great taglines from famous YouTube channels:
- Epic Meal Time: “Next time we eat a (something absurd).”
- Phillip deFranco: “My name is Philly D, and you’ve just been Phill-ed in!”
- Smosh: “Shut! Up!”
- Pew Die Pie: “Stay awesome, bros!” Fist bump via screen
- Nacho Punch: “Nachoooooo PUNCH!” With an image of nachos being punched.
You can put this at the beginning, or you can put this at the end. This audio cue is free advertising for your channel and helps cement your image in the mind of viewers. Don’t underestimate the power of this simple technique as part of your plan for more YouTube views. Try to imagine your favorite TV show without the opening or closing credits!
Calls To Action (CTA For Videos)
A part of your audio user optimization must include some sort of call to action. It can be to watch more videos, subscribe to your channel, visit your website, or anything else you want viewers to do. Don’t be shy, they expect this to happen.
Here’s a simple example from Smosh where they use several calls to action to subscribe, watch other videos, and become aware of their video series at the end of the video:
Transcript Audio Considerations
This can be a bit hit and miss depending on your goals, but Google have a tool that auto-generates a text transcript. This is part of their Automatic captions feature for the hearing impaired. This is both a chance to optimize for users who want subtitles, and can be of SEO benefit.
YouTube will auto-generate a transcript for you. Read through the link above to learn more about editing them so that they’re accurate as machines are still not perfect at transcribing audio. You’ll help both your SEO, and your hearing impaired viewers (or those on loud public transport, etc), once you do this.
When you’re writing your script be sure to include your keywords in it so that they are auto-generated. Be sure to include them naturally so your viewers don’t feel like you’re keyword stuffing!
Optimizing The Video Itself
Using onscreen text is a great way to optimize the time of all those eyeballs that are looking at your video. There are two main ways to do this:
- Including your logo, or corporate name, in the background. This will apply as easily to a brand channel as it will to a dedicated YouTuber.
- Using YouTube’s Annotations tool to create your own pop-up piece of content.
The better of the options is the Annotations as you can set them as links which lead to landing pages, other videos, or your YouTube homepage where they can subscribe and watch more content.
If you’re really together, use an audio call to action at the same time as a video optimization so that your users are getting a push through their ears and their eyes! For example, have your host say ‘Click on the link to watch our video on ____.” Have an annotation pop up at this time with the link to the video.
To use YouTube Annotations:
- While in the video editing window click on the Annotations tab.
- Add your text, decide on when the Annotation will pop up and when it will end.
- Change background color and text color to help it stand out.
- Adjust the size of the window that opens.
You need to be a verified YouTube account to link to external websites, but you can still link for subscriptions, to Playlists, to Channels, to Google+, and use it as plain text for highlighting until then.
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| YouTube Video Optimization Tips |
User Experience Optimization in YouTube
SEO is a key element of being found, but user experience optimization will be what gets viewers to click that first time and keep on coming back. Use the tools talked about above in conjunction with a solid YouTube SEO plan to get YouTube famous and meet your channel goals!
