First published on LinkedIn
By Stuart Stubbs, Founder, Navigate Video

It’s the beginning of a new year and along with the rest of LinkedIn, I’m inspired to look towards the coming months with optimism and excitement.

2022 saw some great changes and growth in YouTube. From new shopping shelves and Shopify partnerships to the rise of YouTube podcasts.

This article builds on 2022 with 8 areas of focus for your 2023 YouTube strategy.

1.    SEARCH: YOUTUBE IS AN INTRINSIC PART OF TODAY’S DIGITAL SEARCH JOURNEY

Recession fuels the research process when people are making a purchase. Google’s Messy Middle bulges with more consumers using YouTube to help them make better, more informed purchase decisions.

So, what does this mean for brands?

Think with Google state that 55% of people search for a product on Google then use YouTube to learn more about it before making a purchase. It is imperative that brands ensure they have an active and managed YouTube channel to act as a digital shop window emulating the standard of creativity and design that the brand has on all its digital platforms.

Check out my last article to learn more.

2.    COMMUNITY: EMBRACE YOUTUBE’S ABILITY TO BUILD AND INTERACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

Is it a hosting platform, a social platform or a dumping ground for old ads? The age-old question of YouTube and the reason why so many brands’ channels need a little TLC.

YouTube is a platform like no other. How people engage with the platform, how brands and creators are showcased and how the users are served their individual content is all completely unique to YouTube.

One distinctive component to YouTube is the communities it creates. Shared passions bring people together and YouTube has billions of passionate people connecting every day.

Yes, a brand can just dump their videos on YouTube. But if a brand curates content that is specifically relevant and engaging for their audience they have hit the jackpot. If they can continually engage their audience through varying video formats and through pertinent community tab posts, their engaged audience grow to become ‘money-can’t-buy’ brand advocates.

3.    CADENCE: DRIVING THEIR DESIRE WITH CONSISTENCY IN THE SCHEDULING OF YOUR CONTENT

Like looking after a pet or growing a plant, creating an engaged community on YouTube requires regular input. Posting videos once a quarter or even once a month is not enough to drive audience engagement.

The most successful creators usually post bi-weekly. To ensure their audience ‘tune-in’ to their videos, the schedule of their videos is advertised through verbal CTA in their videos and by utilising the banner art.

4.    MULTI-FORMAT: ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL

With the advent of YouTube Shorts, the platform now has a myriad of formats that can propel your contents’ reach. By creating content in many formats and lengths you are increasing the probability that your content will be served up in search results.

59% of Gen Z use short-form video apps to discover things that they watch longer versions of.

Your content strategy should be packed full of content in all its formats to ensure you are serving up content the algorithm will find and creating content that appeals to new audiences. But try to consider this at the point of brief and creation, and not as an afterthought.

5.    EFFICIENCIES: MAXIMISE THE OPPORTUNITY OF EVERY PIECE OF CONTENT YOU CREATE

People come to us time and again and say their TikTok channel is booming but don’t have time or budget to spare for a YouTube channel.

What they don’t see is the opportunity to cross pollinate. TikTok videos uploaded to YouTube Shorts, YouTube videos cut and re-spliced to be used as Shorts; the opportunities are endless.

Video content can be expensive so it’s imperative that an efficiency strategy is thought about at the beginning of the creative process.

6.    CONNECTED TV: THE GROWTH OF YOUTUBE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM

According to Nielsen’s total TV and streaming report, YouTube is the leader in streaming watch time. And viewers watch a daily average of over 700 million hours of YouTube content on TV devices.

With the cost of living rising and disposable income dropping, audiences are abandoning paid services and are finding new content and new talent in the living room via YouTube, where long-form content is being consumed.

This dominance has a huge impact on paid media strategies but should be ringing alarm bells for all brand managers.

7.    SEARCH BASED CONTENT STRATEGY: WHAT ARE YOUR AUDIENCES ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR

• Does your brand create a video content strategy that is based on what people are actually searching for?

• Are you utilising Google Trends, Semrush, MOZ or YouTube analytics to look for keywords that have high search volumes?

•  Are you capitalising on seasonal search volumes to dictate when you publish your content to ensure you rank highly in the algorithm?

Many people forget that YouTube is essentially a search engine. YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. It is the most visible domain within Google Search with 26% of search results display a YouTube video.

By ensuring your content is optimised for search your content has the best chance of being served.

8.    MULTI-LANGUAGE: GLOBLISATION OF YOUR CONTENT 

Getting your content to the widest audience as possible has always been a challenge on YouTube.

When reaching a global audience, creating content in multiple languages can be seen the one solution, BUT this can be expensive and often prohibitive.

YouTube subtitles (closed captions) has filled this gap well, but can it alienate the audiences? Do they can feel ‘unloved’ and separate from the brand as you’re not connecting with them in their own language?

Aloud is YouTube’s newest tool for creators. An automated language dubbing tool allowing creators to dun their videos automatically into the language of the audience’s choice.

Although it is still in its infancy, I believe it’s a game changer for creators.

To summarise:  

YouTube is synonymous with creativity. It is literally home to millions of highly creative and imaginative brands, business and people creating new and innovative videos every day. So, to keep fresh and relevant it is so important for brands to continue to innovate on YouTube.

Whatever your marketing strategy is for 2023, YouTube is the place to innovate, engage and grow your brand.

GET IN TOUCH

If you brand is considering sprucing up your existing YouTube channel or you are contemplating creating one, get in touch to talk to our team.
We can help you navigate this exciting platform: hello@navigatevideo.com