Marketing: How to Optimize YouTube to Drive Marketing ROI

The statistics on internet video speak for themselves.

• YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world
• By 2017, it’s predicted that close to 70% of all internet traffic will be video
• 92% of mobile video viewers share videos with others
• Your site has a 50% higher chance of ranking in the first page of search results if it includes video

You need to use video to market your business, but you’ve probably heard that before – from vendors, marketing, maybe even your spouse.

Perhaps you’ve even looked into getting videos professionally produced and balked at the cost, or tried to produce your own content with less than stellar results.

However, it’s important that you realize return on investment from your video marketing campaigns. It’s not enough just to “have a video”. You have to make it work for you.

Here’s how to ensure that your video content is generating revenue that you can track, to justify the decision.

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1/ Know what your goal is

Are you trying to increase knowledge of the brand, meaning you’re happy just to have people view the content?

Do you want them to engage more deeply with your brand? Convert right away? Visit your website? Sign up for your Newsletter? Make a purchase decision?

All of those things inform the type of content you create.

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2/ Do some keyword research

It’s easy to go with your gut when producing, optimizing and marketing video, but there are some very real mechanical Search Engine Optimization (SEO) considerations as well.

When writing titles and descriptions for your videos and tagging them, use the same keyword phrases you’re using for SEO and PPC, for marketing synergy.

Do the keyword research properly once, then use it to inform ALL of your campaigns.

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3/ Research the competition

Are there easy wins where no one has produced a video with a keyword phrase you’re trying to rank for in the title?

There’s a great ranking opportunity! Exact match keywords in the title can be very powerful and you can grab low-hanging fruit by capitalizing on opportunities others have missed.

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4/ Make sure videos are optimized for conversions

Titles should include keywords and a call to action to compel the user to click through.

Descriptions should contain a link to your website, preferably to a high-converting landing page. That’s a live link from the second largest search engine in the world!

Fill out all video details, including tags and geolocations, so that Google knows where your business is located.

Allow embedding, so that users can easily share your content.

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5/ Use annotations to insert links directly into your videos

This allows people to navigate easily to your site, reducing purchase friction.

Add closed captions and a transcript.

All things being equal, two identical videos, one with a transcript and one without – the one with the extra info will outrank the other.

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6/ Measure the impact

Make sure your web team has YouTube plumbed into the company Google Analytics account.

You want to know exactly how many views, clicks and conversions your videos are driving so that you can refine your strategy over time.

If you don’t have a website, you can track views, paid views, organic views, complete plays, drop off spots, hot spots, viewer demographics, shares, likes, comments, subscribers.

There’s a wealth of data there even if you don’t have a website to direct people to.

When you’re considering creating some video content – whether it’s a whiteboard explainer, a corporate talking head piece or a demo showreel, make sure you design for return on investment.

Never spend a dollar without knowing how much of it came back.

Video is expensive and time consuming to produce. Follow the steps above to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth.

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