Nielson Net Ratings reported in 2008 that YouTube has over 68 million unique visitors per month and has the 6th largest visitor audience in the U.S. (ahead of eBay, Amazon and Wikipedia). More than 2/3 of the U.S. population over the age of 25 has watched a YouTube video and 91% of users have purchased something online. YouTube represents a very powerful marketing channel and opportunity for exposure on the net.

There are ways to tap into this immense audience with big ad spend, however I will focus on more cost effective “organic” tactics. These require time but not a direct cash outlay. For the purposes of this article, I will assume that you have already created a branded YouTube channel and are now looking for ways to leverage your channel, broaden your reach and increase your subscriber base. (If you are new to YouTube and have not yet built your channel, the YouTube help center is a great place to start.)

The first step in maximizing the effectiveness of your YouTube channel is to take a step back and examine your purpose for marketing on YouTube. Is it traffic, distribution, brand? Once you have established a firm purpose, you can begin to put together a targeted plan of attack. Your channel design should reflect your purpose and it is necessary to regularly to take a look at your layout, logo, images and profile information. Make sure your design adequately reflects your brand and message. Think of your YouTube channel as an extension of your website; therefore, it should closely resemble the look and feel of your website and other business materials.

Include information in your profile that describes the type of content that can be found in your channel and website. Further, make sure that you link to your website and include your contact information outside of YouTube. Further, make it known in your profile that you would like users to add comments, rate, share, add video responses and to subscribe to your channel.

When adding video content to your channel, make sure that each video has a clear message and is not obscure and confusing. Keep your content fresh and upload a steady supply of 1 to 2 new videos per week on the same schedule so your subscribers know when to expect new content. Further, update the featured videos frequently. You have the opportunity to feature nine videos on your channel and can control the order and placement of your featured videos. Further, use the playlist feature as a way to organize your videos. Building out playlists by subject matter will help users and subscribers find videos that they are looking for as well as expose them to content that they might not otherwise see.

Also, pay attention to the quality of your videos. YouTube has the capability of displaying videos at a higher quality level. The quality of the uploaded video combined with the individual viewers’ bandwidth will determine if the video is displayed at higher quality. Higher quality video means improved sharpness and visual clarity. The difference is especially noticeable in videos that contain text or fast movement and in full-screen mode. When uploading a video make sure your video resolution is 480 x360 or higher and a frame rate of 24fps (frames per second) or higher.

Each time that you upload a new video, pay specific attention to the types of videos that have done well in the past as well as VSEO (video search engine optimization). Copy the format and subject of videos that have a lot of views, comments and ratings to try to re-create the success. Include specific keywords in the title that people will be searching for in YouTube as well as external search engines. Further, make sure that your description is keyword rich, specific and give credit to participants who appear in the video (same applies to location). This way people who do not know the title of your video can search by the participant’s name or location and your video will come up in the search results. I would also recommend placing your video in the proper, relevant category (contrary to the belief that you can manipulate views by placing your video in a different category). If you are trying to drive traffic from YouTube to your website, include the link to your website at the top of your video description so the link will appear directly below your video title.

Another effective tactic that you can use when uploading new videos to your channel is to use the video annotation feature. Video annotations are a new way that you can add interactive commentary to your videos. You control what the annotations say, where they appear on the video, and when they appear and disappear. The annotations appear like pop up word balloons (text boxes) as well as onscreen overlays. You can even link from an annotation to another YouTube video, channel, or search result. Annotations are effective in keeping users engaged by linking to your other videos and channels so that they stay focused on your content.

After you have tweaked your channel design, message, organization, video frequency, video SEO and site links, you are ready to increase your subscriber base. The key to successful marketing in YouTube is a large subscriber base. Subscribers will serve as evangelists for your content and they validate your purpose. They increase your view count, rate your videos, comment, add you to their favorites, share with their friends and ultimately increase traffic and exposure to your website/brand. In addition, content submitted by a channel with higher subscriber and friend counts is given more weight when it comes to video rank and popularity.

YouTube has built their engine in a way so that subscribers have to be earned. In order to ask someone to subscribe to your channel, you first have to invite them to become a friend. Once they have accepted your friend invitation, then you can invite them to subscribe to your channel. The key is to invite as many people as possible to become friends. To find these potential friends, stick to the popular channels; these people tend to be the most active on YouTube.

Further, participating in the groups feature is another great way to find friends and increase exposure. Joining groups is an effective way to get in front of people who are interested in certain subjects and ideas, which ultimately can lead to more friends and subscribers. It is also very easy to create a new group in YouTube to attract like-minded users. If you create a new group, make sure it is open and an invitation is not required to subscribe. get youtube watch hours