Content is king, isn’t it? Important yes, but YouTube is awash with great content, commissioned by brands, and watched by… well no one. The chances of any piece of video content joining the sea of what we call ‘orphan content’, (videos that sit unloved and unnoticed online), is far greater without a robust activation plan. Even with a plan, there are certain things that are commonly neglected. With that in mind here are my top 3 tips:
1. The importance of YouTube’s first 7 days
The key metric used by YouTube to determine your video’s search rank is ‘watch time’ – essentially the percentage of the video that the average viewer watched. However, for the first 7 days, YouTube gives new videos a boost, due to lack of information regarding watch time.
During this time it is vitally important to win over your audience with appropriate targeting to viewers who will gain value and watch the content. Once the 7 days are over YouTube will start to use the watch time figure as a priority to determine whether to suggest your video in a user’s search results.
Essentially if your video falls flat in the first seven days it becomes very difficult to repair the damage.
2. Use Google Trends to determine your tags
Google Trends is a really useful tool to help compare and determine the most frequently searched terms that your video should be tagged with.
You can enter potential search terms and Google Trends will generate a graph showing how frequently that term has been searched for over time. You can then input a similar term to compare it against, mapping the frequency of the two terms against each other over time. You can also adjust the results to be specific by region, time period, or source (eg Google or YouTube).
This example shows the results of three different compound tags that could be applied to a film about a Liverpool hotel, and illustrates the degree of difference that can exist between tags that are very similar.
Using Google Trends will dramatically increase the effectiveness of your tagging, making it easier for your audience to search and find your content.
3. Post your video in 5 unique ways on Social
The video you have created is a strong asset for your brand, but it’s vital to post the content in a way that keeps it fresh and gives you multiple opportunities to gain traction for your video.
I recommend devising five different contexts for posting your video on social. For example, the first might be just posting the video itself, but then the second could be the video embedded into a blog, the third might be it accompanied by another interpretation of the video (e.g. a Google maps tour if the content is location related). The fourth may introduce a competition – e.g. ‘tell us the time in the video when you see ______’, whilst the fifth may present the video alongside a collage of stills or statement imagery. These unique hooks keep audiences interested in your content.
At Aspect, we offer all our clients a complete and comprehensive marketing activation service. Not only will this help them map out and achieve their objectives, but it allows us to create video content that is perfectly suited to an agreed activation strategy. For more details on brand activation, get in touch
