These statistics are quite encouraging for someone looking to start a YouTube marketing campaign to get leads and brand awareness…

• YouTube has 2 billion logged-in monthly users.
• 70% of YouTube users get engaged with creates and channels.
• 78% of marketers consider it the most effective video marketing platform.
• YouTube is the second most popular channel for businesses to share their content.
• 90% of people admit discovering new brands or products on YouTube.
• Most customers are encouraged to buy after watching product reviews, how-to and vlogs on YouTube.

YouTube videos are an effective way to get engaged with your audience, leading to improved brand’s credibility and profitability.

But that doesn’t mean you start getting likes, comments and leads as soon as you upload the video over there (unless you are a celebrity or a big brand.)

There are thousands of YouTube videos belonging to your niche with each one having thousands of followers.

How do you stand out?

If you don’t, looking for leads and brand awareness is nothing but daydreaming.

You need to extra miles to augment your YouTube strategy.

So roll up your sleeves and get started with the tips given below.

Identify Your Audience:

Knowing your audience is a core of any form of marketing.

And YouTube is no exception. Learning about your audience helps you find out what content and messages people are looking for. Besides, it also helps you choose the right tone and voice for your messages.

It is worth to spend time to understand, define and find your target audience before the video production.

For example, if your video is all about losing weight, then figure out whom your content is targeted at.

Are they women over 40?

Are they teenage girl?

Or they are suffering from thyroid?

Broadly speaking, these three are targeted audience groups to choose from. Each of these groups will have different concerns, priorities, goals, and conditions.

Women over 40 might prefer free and easy information tips. Teenage girls are more likely to spend a decent amount of money to stay in shape and look good (therefore, they can be monetized.)

And the women suffering from thyroid can be more interested in natural remedies. This section can also be monetized as they are already spending on their treatment and wouldn’t mind forking out a few bucks for something which enhances the process.

But finding the audience for your YouTube channel also requires other metrics such as the Watch Time and Demographics analytics to learn about…

• Where are Your Videos Being Watched, and When?
• The age of your viewers.
• The gender of the viewers.

You can also check the comments of the audience on your videos or post on a competitor to know more about them.

Such things equip you with a treasure of valuable information you can use to create the resonating content.

Competitor Analysis:

Competitive analysis is important if you want to stay ahead of the channels related to your genres on YouTube.

You can start it with checking out the most viewed and the least viewed videos on your competitor’s YouTube channels. Watch these videos to get an idea of the contents being popular among your audience. Create your YouTube content marketing strategy based on this analysis.

One more thing—make sure to look for the mention of your brands in the comments of those competing videos. Responding to those comments will convey the message to your potential customers that you are engaging with the community. 

Optimize Your Videos:

YouTube videos are indexed by Google. Therefore, it should be optimized for keywords. Having the right keywords or semantic one will make it appear in the same search results. For example, if your video is on the “best online marketing tips 2020, it can rank in the search result for the same or related query if optimized properly.

Keywords should be inserted in the video title, video descriptions and a Channel keyword box. You can also use them as a tag which shows the relevance of your content and groups similar together. This will make your video appear as a “related video” when someone watches a similar video.

Choose Video Type:

You can present your content in many ways on YouTube. For example, a health supplement brand has many options to showcase their content to their audience. Some of them are…

• Brand videos to show how their supplements help people achieve their fitness goals.
• Educational and How to Videos on the usage of supplement in many ways.
• Interviews with top fitness icons who can also promote your supplement.
• Documentaries on the supplement industry to keep your audience engaged.
• Get your supplement reviewed by trusted influencers.
• Answers and Questions Session.

Ask for Comments and Subscriptions:

In many YouTube videos, a host insists the viewers for hitting the bell icon in the very starting of the video.

I personally think that can hurt engagement with the audience.

Instead, the users should be convinced for subscription at some point where you think that the engagement is quite high.

Comments are also useful as they show the level of viewers’ engagement with your video. Ask the viewers to leave comments related to their queries.

Apart from asking comments from the viewers, try to leave your own on other people’s video related to your genre.

By leaving comments on other people’s video, you can show yourself as an expert in your niche. This also prompts people to visit and possibly subscribe to your channel. A subscribed person is automatically notified of your new videos. Raising awareness of your new content is important for lead generation on YouTube.

Incorporate End Screens and Cards:

Cards occur as an icon, generally at the top right of the screen, throughout the video. These cards generally include outside links, images and downloadable content. They are an interactive way to promote other videos on your channel.

Like cards, end screens are a great way to promote your other content pieces such as landing pages, subscribe button for your channel and newsletter. They usually appear in the last 5-20 seconds of a video.

These two elements prompt the viewers to check out your other videos or contents.

Make an Interesting Thumbnail:

Thumbnail is the first thing that grabs eyeballs and encourages people to check out your video. A good thumbnail occurs in the right size showing an engaging and high-quality image along with a killer text to provide your viewers with some insight.

Your thumbnail can be exaggerated and represent the utmost level of your creativity, but they can’t be misleading. Make sure they show what you promise in the video. Avoid making thumbnails like “weight loss in sixty seconds” as they can only disappoint the viewers.

Know the Best Time to Post on YouTube:

The last thing to worry over is when to post a video on YouTube. Posting it on the right time can maximize your views by 2 to 5 times. The general timings when the views on the peak are…

• Friday through Saturday and Wednesday.
• Between 5 PM and 9 PM
• Sundays (earlier at 8 am and 11 am or in the evening after 5 PM)

HOWEVER, you are strongly recommended to check the analytics in your YouTube Studio to determine the specific time of engagement.

Visit the YouTube Studio > Analytics > Audience and check the purple bar section titled When Your Viewers are on YouTube. This section shows when your viewers are likely to be on YouTube. And this can be the best time to publish your videos.

Share Your Videos:

This is no brainer.

Once published, share your video across all of your platforms to maximize its reach. Encourage your subscribers to share your video as well, while tagging each business or brand that your video is associated with—whether through influencer or affiliate marketing.

You can also share your YouTube videos on community-based platform such as Reddit and Quora in the related queries. For example, a video on weight loss can be shared in the threads related to weight loss or health and fitness.

Bottom Line:

So this is all about using YouTube to generate leads and brand awareness in 2020. In a nutshell, YouTube marketing is relied on key factors like identifying your audience, learning from the successful videos, optimizing the content, sharing it on the right platform and knowing when to post. Put these things into practice to make the most of your YouTube marketing.

What do you think? Drop your valuable thoughts to the comment box given below.

About the author

Internet Marketing Analyst, present Director @kvrwebtech.com Since 2009. Providing Internet Marketing as a medium for all kind of businesses to achieve the modern era goals. Have been highly successful in cultivating projects in Real Estate, Financial and Education Sector.