YouTube is the most popular online video sharing platform. It has revolutionized the way people consume video on the internet while empowering individuals to launch their vlogging careers with little more than a camera and an internet connection, wherever they may be.
The stats don’t lie. There were over 1.8 billion YouTube users across the globe in 2021. Approximately 30,000 hours of video is uploaded to the platform every hour. Over 60% of marketers say that they would increase their ad spend on YouTube.
That’s not surprising. YouTube provides businesses with an incredible opportunity to tap into a massive audience. They can also tap into YouTube’s vibrant creator community to forge partnerships and collaborations that enable them to get their message out to the right audience.
YouTube is a great social media channel for brands. Most now have their own channel where they can share everything from behind-the-scenes content to marketing videos and product reviews. Views may be easy to come across, but how do brands turn those views into customers?
How to increase conversions on YouTube
- Capture viewers’ ‘next click’
People have a very short attention span online. They jump quickly from one website to the other, and in the case of YouTube, from one video to the other. As a brand, you want viewers to complete an action once they’re done with the video, and not just move on.
This requires influencing viewers on what their “next click” should be. The video should nudge them to complete a specific task. For example, this could be as simple as asking them to subscribe to your channel. If you want to drive them to a landing page, the video should tell them that they should visit the page for more information, an incentive, etc.
This strategy is tied to the production of your videos. They should be created in such a way that incentivizes viewers to take that next step once the video is done. Guiding them through this journey will bring a noticeable increase in conversions.
- Using SEO to your advantage
Now this might have you confused. Isn’t SEO more about search engines than YouTube? When you think about it, YouTube is actually one of the biggest search engines after Google. People are literally searching for the content they want to view on the platform.
The idea with YouTube SEO is much the same as conventional SEO. You want your videos to appear at the top positions on the front page. The basics hold true here. Carefully construct the titles of your videos to include the keywords and phrases you want the video to rank for. Go one step further, include it in the description and even in the video’s file name when it’s uploaded to YouTube.
These steps are crucial to improving the ranking of your videos. A video on the front page is likely to get a lot more views than one that doesn’t even appear on page number five. Improving the traffic coming in for your videos is one of the simplest ways to increase YouTube conversions.
- Design eye-catching thumbnails
A simple search on YouTube brings up a sea of videos that most viewers would just scroll through without a second thought. Usually, it’s either the title or the video’s thumbnail that catches their eye and makes them want to watch it.
Brands can’t go for outright clickbait titles that seem to be so common on the video platform. They have to exercise a level of restraint. However, that doesn’t prevent them from using the thumbnails to their advantage in order to increase the click-through rate.
There should be consistency in the video thumbnails that you use, as it helps with elevating the brand and familiarizing it with viewers. The thumbnails should be eye-catching and instantly recognizable as being related to your brand.
- Boost engagement through live content
Live content is king on the internet and that holds true for YouTube as well. Brands have an incredible opportunity to increase engagement with their audience by going live on the platform. It provides viewers with an opportunity to interact and have a conversation with the brand in real time.
Viewers tend to appreciate live content because it appears more authentic. This helps the brand build trust, a vital element in getting viewers to convert. It’s up to you whether you want your live content to have a more casual or professional appeal.
For the latter, you could prepare scripts in advance and invest in a professional set. This would result in a much higher quality of video production, further elevating the brand’s position in the eyes of the viewer.
- Don’t sleep on collaborations
Collabs are the name of the game on YouTube. Working together with other known YouTube personalities is a big trend these days. It allows for instant amplification of your videos since the YouTuber the brand collabs with brings their already established audience to the table.
Brands can work together with influencers on YouTube that are related to their niche in order to push their content to a significantly wider audience. The collabs not only increase the brand’s visibility but also effectively pitch it to the influencer’s audience that’s already quite receptive to their recommendations.
Being featured on a prominent YouTuber’s channel or even getting a shout out from them can result in a bump in conversions, simply by piggybacking on their audience.
YouTube’s eCommerce features are great for conversions, too
If your brand sells products online, it could benefit from YouTube’s ecommerce features. For channels that meet the eligibility requirements, YouTube allows them to have a merch shelf on their channel that’s displayed on each video and also gets a separate Store tab on the channel.
Once it’s set up, the merch shelf can also be promoted by pinning items during a live stream. Viewers can instantly purchase any of the listed products, and thus it’s a great way of getting them to purchase your swag.
