Right after Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, despite also being a social media site. This means that the importance to build and promote an online video presence has gained more relevance over the past couple of years and will continue to do so.

B2B companies are now seriously using videos as part of their overall marketing strategy and B2B events have been recording tons of video content at their events far longer BUT they are no way near as savvy when it comes to capitalising on it.

That is why we have come up with 6 simple tips to optimise your B2B YouTube presence:

1. Use Targeted Keywords in your Video Title

Nothing is more frustrating than not knowing what you’re about to see. When uploading a video onto your channel, best practices include to choose keywords that are related to your business, have a high search volume and that describes exactly what the video delivers. Not only does this help your user’s lives become simpler, but it also helps from an SEO point of view - giving your video more advantage over those who don’t.

2. Write a Compelling Video Description

Keep in mind that YouTube only displays the first two or three lines of text - before viewers have to hit the “show more” link to see the full description.

This means that you should share the most important information (including keywords) such as CTAs and links on the first three sentences of your description, as this is what will entice viewers to take any action and/or continue interest in the content of your video.

All in all you have 5,000 characters that you can use, so make sure you actually use the space available to you.

Another tip that’s useful when optimising your video description is that many viewers enjoy transcripts of the video as it gives them the full gist of what they’re viewing, tempting them to view the whole video, which is obviously a good thing.

Here is a really good template from Backlinko which shares stuff around SEO.

3. Add Hyperlinks to Your Video Description

I am going on about it, because it is extremely important. If your video is long (especially if it is a presentation or workshop etc) you should make reference to key points within the video so the viewers are able to jump straight into the relevant sections.

Include links to how you can download free ebooks, subscribe to newsletters and sign up to attend an event.

See how Gary Vaynerchuck does it here:

And see how it is done here with time stamps. Here's a PRO tip for you, if you run out of space in your description, you can make a comment and place the remaining content there, so that you as the owner of your channel are able to pin relevant comments.

4. Use Relevant Tags

YouTube helps categorise your video and helps broaden its reach by associating it to other videos based on your tags. That’s why it’s important to use relevant tags to what the content of your video is about (just like your video description) to help segment and optimise your audience as well. Keep in mind that using irrelevant tags can get you penalised by the platform.

5. Customise Your YouTube Channel

Here you can use your company branding to help give your page the look and feel that seems right for your business and purpose.

To keep engagement with your viewers, you can take advantage of:

• Featured videos
• Playlists to direct your audience to other videos / topics / areas that you cover
• Personalised end screens
• Cards and end screens

Remember that one of the main purposes to include videos in your marketing strategy is to help your users/viewers. So make sure you’re taking advantage of all the features and doing the most you can to help make their lives simple.

6. Market your YouTube Channel

Now that you have an optimised YouTube presence, you must bring in the audience - tell your viewers how you can help them. How? Use your social media platforms to promote this new channel, include your channel in your emails and definitely feature it on your main page.  Stats such as likes and shares also help your video (and channel) become more relevant and pop up in the YouTube search engine, so definitely tell your employees/colleagues to help you spread the word, be prepared to market the content you create on YouTube.

Using the tips mentioned above can significantly improve B2B YouTube presence and position companies in this powerful search engine. Now, in order to be successful in this task, the video content must be attractive and helpful to the audience. For this, there are many tips and tools that you can take advantage of and if you haven’t started using videos in your marketing strategy, what are you waiting for?

Main Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash