Platform popularity means competition. This article is specifically for businesses looking to take actionable steps to build engagement, retention and loyal customers from Youtube.

7-step strategy to increasing visibility on Youtube

1. Get the basics right

Before posting another video or even uploading your first, it’s crucial to have an inviting channel page. Your channel art needs to be coherent, optimised for different devices.

A channel with noticeable and enticing outbound links has a higher chance of converting people to their site. With this article being geared towards businesses, we’re assuming that this will be the goal of your Youtube videos for most of you.

Your channel description doesn’t just give your viewers an insight into your business. Youtube’s algorithm has a better chance of placing your brand within the correct industry and hence suggest your videos to those most likely to connect with your content. So take time to craft channel descriptions, create outbound links and upload high-quality graphics.

2. Own your niche

With other social media channels, diversifying your feed tends to work in a business’s favour. With Youtube, it’s far better to laser focus on a niche. Again this isn’t about beating the algorithm but working with it.

Since Youtube is the leading platform for long-form video content, viewers commit a good chunk of time to a video. For a viewer to become a loyal follower of your page, you’ll need to focus on your niche so they can anticipate that new content from your channel is going to be engaging for them. It can be tempting to branch out, but your brand visibility should offer engaging, entertaining and informative content around your industry. If you’re a food tour in Dublin or a wine business in Clapton, know what your focus is.

3. Research and SEO

Rather than creating videos that you think will do well, you can take out the guesswork with some research.

You can purchase SEO plug-ins such as Keywords Everywhere that are reasonably priced. These will allow you to search for terms within Youtube and see the search volume per month. You can also filter the search based on country, which is handy if your content is location-specific.

If you’re new or have a small following on Youtube, search for terms that fit well into your brand but don’t have a massive search volume. The big channels in the industry will likely cover 1,000+ p/m search terms. Look for search terms that are more obscure and look at the quality of videos on the first page. Once you find a gap where the quality isn’t super or doesn’t quite fit the search term, it’s time to make a video!

4. Custom Thumbnails

It’s tempting to screenshot an image out of your footage. The problem is that the quality will never be as good as a photo. Have a think about what might draw in a viewer ad take time to lay out the scene. You can have an incredible video behind a mediocre thumbnail and caption, and it will never get the attention and views it deserves.

Peter McKinnon does a wonderful job of showing what viewers will get out of the next 10 minutes of viewing. If using text in your thumbnail, choose a consistent font, but play around with the layout. Font consistency combined with playful text placement keeps the thumbnails looking unique but still in-keeping with your brand.

5. Alert your followers

Drive traffic to your new video as soon as it’s uploaded.

Neil Patel divulges that, unlike traditional SEO, videos that perform well in the first 24 hours tend to do well for the life of the video. Have a trailer video prepared to upload to your other social channels.

Head onto your stories and discuss the ins and outs of the video, why you thought it was essential. Maybe let viewers in on the filming process. Essentially, get people curious enough about the Youtube video that they’ll click on your Youtube. Send an exciting email through your mailing. All of these elements will help boost that initial view, which will mean that the video will perform better in the long term.

6. Control traffic using cards and end screens

Cards and end screens help you have more of a say in what an engaged viewer will watch next.

Cards are clickable and interactive CTA’s that you can weave into your video. This can greatly influence view counts and promote other videos, or even playlists, in your channel.

Besides playlists, cards and end screens are two of the only tools that YouTubers can use to bypass the algorithm and directly influence our audience’s next choice.

Two top tips for cards:

• Limit the number of cards in a video as too many can disrupt the viewer’s enjoyment of the video.
• Place a card at the moment when there is a significant drop-off in viewership. This helps direct them to one of your videos that they might find more relevant or entertaining for them rather than leaving your channel altogether.

7. Add closed captions

YouTube has a simple feature for you to add closed captions to notate your video as it plays. Not only does this increase your video’s accessibility for those with hearing difficulties, but it’s also useful for those who don’t wish to play the video out loud.

The third benefit being Google and Youtube crawl these captions, which will help twitch the video’s SEO.

Engaging viewers through Youtube requires a blend of creativity but also a deep understanding of viewer behaviour and Youtube’s algorithm.

We’re a small team here at Videoworks London with a knack for storytelling and creating video content that connects people to your brand. If you’d like to collaborate on a Youtube video for your business, you can get in touch with us at Videoworks London.

The post Not Getting Views on your Business Youtube Channel? Here’s How to Fix it appeared first on Video Production London - VideoWorks.

So much so that it is a commonly-used verb – you’ll commonly hear holiday-goers responding on their stay, “We Airbnb-ed in Paris”. Getting a brand to rise to that kind of infamy, especially as it’s not a legacy brand such as Coca-cola or Levis, requires innovation and marketing. 

Exploring how Airbnb got to where it is today gives plenty of insight for a company looking to head in the same direction – up.

In 2014, Airbnb’s revenue was $0.4 billion; in 2019, that number had risen to $4.7 billion. Even during the pandemic, where most people were under governmental orders to restrict their movement, Airbnb’s revenue only fell to $3.4 billion.  

Looking to the massive surge in Airbnb users, the number in 2012 lay at 6 million. By 2018, that number became 150 million. 

Experiential marketing 

Airbnb rose to fame right when experiential marketing was becoming a really effective method of securing loyal customers. Before Airbnb, travel had already become the norm for most people in the western world. The number of long weekend flights away had risen. However, there was also the element of people have seen everything before. There isn’t much that sets most hotels apart. 

With Airbnb, however, lies a platform where ordinary people can let you into their corner of paradise. Some even offer to do local tours or break bread with their visitors. It’s the sense of getting off the beaten track and into an old farmhouse cottage, a geodesic dome or a boutique townhouse that oozes personality. 

All of this is bang in the centre of what people want now – experiences. 76% of consumers prefer to spend on experiences than on material items. On top of that, consumers identify “inspiration and meaning” as the most sought-after quality in brands, a 200 per cent increase from 2012 for this particular set of attributes. 

So perhaps it’s worth asking how your business can provide that experiential element – even if you’re selling products. Is there a way to give a more meaningful brand-customer interaction? Find untold secrets to brand awareness in this article.

Investment in video content

In 2019 Airbnb announced a video strategy that simply lets branding and entertainment drive profits. 

“The more we put content out there, the more you’re going to bring people to the platform,” says Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s senior vice president of global policy and communications, in the Reuters interview. 

Airbnb has partnered with Apple’s upcoming streaming service for their docuseries “Home,” which features unique homes around the world and the stories of the homeowners. Although the show’s premise isn’t new to viewers, viewers can book these locations through Airbnb.

Showcasing the most exciting properties reminds people why Airbnb is such an enticing marketplace. Video content can be a subtle way of inspiring and entertaining an audience rather than the obvious hard-sell. Using unconventional marketing campaigns helps to set Airbnb apart from the hotel industry and online travel agencies.

Previously Airbnb gambled with launching its own magazine. However print has been dwindling for years now, and there isn’t much interest in new magazines hitting the shelves. Digital, and video in particular, has been a much more effective strategy serving viewers their dream getaways – especially during a pandemic. 

Email Marketing

Airbnb saw this as a real opportunity to build a community among users and ran with it. Their emails are highly personalised, and this is largely down to the fact that they have regional teams on the ground rather than one marketing campaign for all of their users. 

Airbnb’s marketing campaigns, especially their referral campaigns, are highly successful. In the referrals, customers will receive an email offering a discount for both themselves and a new customer should they sign up using your link. A quick copy and paste of the link into Whatsapp, or just pressing the “share to Facebook” link makes for quick work and easy to share discounts for both parties. Paypal had a similar offer when they started and was the source of their surge in signups. It certainly worked for both these businesses.

Cross-selling

The most successful companies know how to showcase what a customer wants. When going on holidays, tourists will enjoy excursions, activities and experiences. Airbnb knew this and so set up Airbnb experiences – an easy to find tab on the Airbnb homepage.

Airbnb experiences are also shared on the page just before checkout. This simplifies the person’s holiday planning, making it more of an all-in-one process. Using data analytics to their advantages to provide a personalised booking process makes customers come back.

How can your company simplify life for your customers and cross-sell to increase their likelihood of becoming loyal customers? 

Influencer marketing 

You may not be aware that Airbnb invests in influencer marketing. That’s because of how subtle and enticing this content appears on the social media user’s feeds. Their most common method is to collaborate with celebrities who share snap pics of their latest Airbnb stay and post to their socials. Simple but effective and has boosted its impressive growth over the years. It is a great way to find your target market – influencers across Instagram and Facebook have their own niche, and finding one that fits your own target market gives you a direct line to them. Site traffic to Airbnb website lies at 91 million in January 2020– influencer marketing is a leading driver of these impressive stats.

Airbnb’s success is directly related to their deep and adaptive understanding of what their customers want. They understand that needs and desires change and are willing to try unconventional forms of marketing for a fresh and welcome approach to brand awareness.

Finding that nuanced approach takes experience and talent to deliver. We’re a small team here at Videoworks London with a knack for storytelling and creating video content that connects people to your brand. If you’d like to get started with a video production project that boosts your brand’s awareness, you can get in touch here.

The post The Gems of Airbnb’s Marketing Strategy appeared first on Video Production London - VideoWorks.