I hate to say it, but YouTube is kind of losing its social media edge. It has become more difficult over the past couple of years to adequately optimize YouTube content in a way that it can be easily found by people simply searching on specific subjects.
This is why it’s important to understand the subtleties that are keeping your content from being seen. It’s also necessary to understand the value of (and need for) support content to ensure that YouTube starts showing your content to the right audience.
Today, I want to give you just a few heads-ups about how to optimize for YouTube and show you how you can use good support content to deliver better, consistent messaging; get more views; and start seeing more conversions from your video content.
Important YouTube Details
YouTube even tells you in its studio app that keywords have very little effect anymore on how videos are catalogued and distributed over its network. So, what kinds of things do matter? Here’s a shortlist:
All Unique Content
The most popular branded channels don’t rely on curated content. Stick with your own.
Channel Trailer
A trailer that gives an overview of your business and lets people know your areas of service expertise in under two minutes is a must these days. New visitors will land on your trailer by default. If you don’t have one, it isn’t likely that people will stick around long. Your YouTube channel trailer is your hook. Make sure it’s good.
Channel and Video Descriptions
Keyword placement matters way more here than it does in the keyword tags section of your video. In fact, you’re pretty safe leaving that blank at that point or simply tagging with several generic keywords that are congruous with the type of content you create.
Regular Updates
Channels that see new content regularly get ranked higher in searches. It may seem a bit elementary, but only uploading occasionally is the easiest way to lose viewers.
Bringing in Traffic
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “There’s no way I’m going to just keep uploading videos — I have a garage to run!” I get you. No, I really do. That’s why it’s important to maintain high levels of traffic from outside YouTube.
The YouTube platform has its own set of optimization metrics, but the most important one is your number of views. If your channel has been optimized for maximum visibility on-site, it is definitely possible to keep up the momentum with good support content. Even if you’re only producing one video each month (and, really, that’s the absolute minimum here), you can keep the numbers rising by producing specific types of content that engage and keep people coming back. Here are a few examples and how to use them:
Raw Video Content
While the majority of this type of video is going to be unscripted, it is important to include pointed, spoken calls to action that motivate people to do whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish. If your goal is to get people to book repairs, give your contact information in the video and include it in the description.
Keep in mind that your videos don’t have to be polished, just watchable. Oh, and please shoot from angles where what you’re doing can be seen. This is a huge issue in repair videos, even ones that are professionally produced.
Video Descriptions
Every video description on YouTube should link to your business website or blog, all your social channels, and all physical contact information (business address, phone, etc.). The more links you generate, the more backlinks will be generated when people click or share. This helps boost SEO for the things that matter, like your blog and website.
Send a blast to your entire list whenever a new video is uploaded. Include a call to action to click or tap. Include the type of repair highlighted in the video in your subject line.
Blog Content
Every new video should have an accompanying blog post. Your blog content should not mirror information in the video. Rather, it should push the pain points surrounding the problem that the video promises to solve. Address the issues and explain to people how watching the video can answer their questions, teach them the basics, or provide a better, visual, explanation of the details found in the article.
Social Media
Use social media to promote blog content as well as new video uploads. If it’s a choice between linking directly to the video and linking to your blog, link to the blog. This helps boost SEO and it helps create more clicks from backlinks to your video content. Organic outside traffic can help boost rankings on YouTube considerably.
Working with Professional Content Creators
If you’ve made it this far, it tells me a couple of things. First, you want to do this right. Second, you need some help figuring it out. Lastly, you seem to think I know what I’m talking about. You’re correct on all counts.
From a content creation standpoint, you are in a good position with repair videos. They’re cheap to produce, they give a better picture of what people can expect from your work, and they have a human element that is vital for building trust.
All of that in mind, professional content creators can help ensure that your hard work making videos in the middle of an already hectic work environment has a good return. It also frees loads of time, so you can keep the focus on getting your customers’ cars back on the road.
At BeezContent, we’re proud to work with a network of talented content creators who understand the intricacies of things like SEO and audience engagement. We can help build an entire marketing plan around your YouTube videos, even if you don’t already have some of the essentials, like social channels or a blog. Contact us today to learn more about automotive support content and how a more professional edge can help get more people watching your videos.
