8 YouTube Strategies To Super Charge Your Channel

Gas stations are to cars, what YouTube is to business.

Much like a car needs gas to run, people need information to grow.

Think about it, without these basic requirements neither can get from point A to point B.

In business, people have all sorts of informational needs: knowledge, inspiration, humor and the list goes on.

Holding strong as the 2nd largest social media network and the #1 video destination site, YouTube IS the information station of 2015.

The truth is…

If your not using YouTube to share your informational octane you’re a damn fool!

BUT, if that shamefully honest lashing isn’t convincing enough, here are a couple stats that should do the trick.

➽ Video is the 3rd most effective social media marketing strategy {Invodo}
➽ Video results command more attention than all other type of results in search listings – Hint, hint…Google owns YouTube! {Invodo}
➽ Videos are known to be shared 12 times more than link and text posts combined {Jeff Bullas}

Sooo, IF you’re ready to remedy your octane deficient YouTube channel than I’ve got the gasoline to ignite your fire.

Here are 8 YouTube strategies that will help you grow your channel into a ‘go to’ information station.

1. INTRO BUMPER

Adding an intro bumper to your videos has two huge benefits:

➽ They’re a great way to create brand recognition with your viewers {it’s all about consistent repitition, baby!}
➽ They’re a subtle way of introducing yourself and/or your company, opposed to the typical {and awkward} “Hi, I’m Dre, the founder of The Branded Solopreneur…”.

Effective intro bumpers range anywhere from 3-15 seconds and very in style and complexity.

Here are a couple different types of badass intro bumpers you can model yours after:

We’ll start with the professionally made and work our way to the DIY friendly.

Marie Forleo

If you’re farther along in your entrepreneurial journey or you have a sizable video budget you’re going to love this first intro bumper style.

If you’re looking for a way to infuse your personality and style intro your videos and celebrate the person {or people} behind your brand this is the style for you!

Full disclosure: Marie’s got a killer team of professionals behind her, so don’t try to pull this one off unless you have the right expertise guiding you. The last thing you want viewers to associate with you is ‘cheesy low budget’.

If nothing else, save this idea for when your budget allows for hiring and outsourcing.

Jeff Sieh

Here’s another intro bumper that has design chops behind it.

Jeff {the man behind the intro design AND in front of the camera} is one of the cleverest video guys out there, so the top notch video intro he created for his Manly Pinterest Tips series is a must see!

It’s full of effects, sounds, movement and everything you’d want from a manly brand like his. If Jeff’s work hits a chord with you I hear he’s available for hire.

Let’s get real, he’s an investment well worth it…IF it’s in your budget.

Derek Halpern

If short and simple is how you roll then Derek’s intro will be right up your alley.

Derek’s intro is short {we’re talking just a couple seconds} logo animation, which is the perfect dose of branding to create that visual pattern viewers need to form brand recognition.

Plus Your Business

I love including Plus Your Business in my YouTube strategies examples because they keep their visuals incredibly simple and succinct across their content, proving branding visuals don’t have to be complicated!

They’re also a great source of visual inspiration for newbies and DIYers as most of their visuals can be created using PowerPoint, Keynote, Canva or any of the other free image tools out there.

While you check our their intro keep two words in mind: PowerPoint/Keynote….and animations. BAM!

Amy Schmittaur

Amy keeps it super DIY simple in her Savvy Sexy Social videos, using two PowerPoint or Keynote title slides with a short sound effect that results in a short and sweet 3 second intro that she can quickly customize each week for her new videos.

Video bumper branding at its finest!

Moving on, let’s get down and dirty with some YouTube strategies for your video descriptions.

2. DESCRIPTION LINK FRONT & CENTER

Depending on what type of device you’re viewing YouTube from you can only see the first 1-3 lines of text in the video description, so it’s important you use this real estate wisely.

Nothing is wiser than offering a link to where you want a viewer to visit right out of the gate!

You can include links galore through out your video description but the one you want viewers to visit, above all else {a specific blog post, a landing page, a sales page, etc}, needs to be the one you include in the VERY beginning of your description.

Here’s an example from Plus Your Business:

{Plus Your Business}

3. TIME STAMPING

We’ve all been there…

A 10, 30, 90+ minute video and there’s only maaaaaybe 5 minutes that we’re looking for in it. Don’t be this offender!

Learn from your experiences and provide a better one for YOUR viewers.

YouTube makes creating timestamp links in your description completely tech overwhelm free. All you have to do is type in the time {i.e. 9:10} followed by a brief description and once you save your video all times are turned into clickable links that jump straight to that time in the video. BAM!

Here’s an example of a timestamped description from Plus Your Business:

{Plus Your Business}

Now let’s dive into some ‘in video” YouTube strategies.

4. ANNOTATIONS

Let me introduce you to your new BFF…

Annotations meet Badass…Badass meet Annotations : P

All joking aside annotations give you the ability to pop notes {that can be linked to a variety of things} onto your video at any time and length of your choosing.

For instance, if you want to address something wonky in the video that just wasn’t worth the extra editing {you know, when the cat is in the background cleaning themselves}…add an annotation that pokes fun at the video bombing. If your call to action is to subscribe to your channel…add a ‘channel subscribe’ annotation that links directly to your channel. If you want folks to opt-in for your training series…add an annotation that’s linked to your landing page.

Sky’s the limit on these bad boys!

Think of them as virtual and clickable post notes. Who doesn’t love post it notes?!

Here’s an example from Plus Your Business where they created six annotations, each linked to a different video in their training series. This allows their viewers to pop right over to another relevant video without losing them on the rabbit hole that can be YouTube’s video suggestions pane.

{Plus Your Business}

Moving on, now it’s time to wrap up your video so here are a couple strategies to do that with style and strategy!

5. END CARDS

You can close out your videos with a canned outro bumper….BUT people get tuned out to these real quick, which leads to viewers clicking off or leaving your video as soon as they think the good stuff is finished.

To prevent folks from prematurely leaving your video close out your video by moving your goodbyes and call to action to a video end card.

An end card is a graphic/image that has placeholders for multiple videos or images.

They come in all different styles, depending on what type of content/action you want to promote to your viewers.

Instead of trying to explain end cards and confuse you more, let’s get visual!

Here are several different variations of end cards.

Amy Schmittauer

Amy has a spot for her current video, a spot that she plays and links to her previous video and a spot for a subscribe area….

…and guess how she makes the previous video and subscribe graphic links?? Annotations, baby!

{Amy Schmittauer}

Chase Jarvis

Chase has 3 spots for previous videos and a subscribe graphic. See those subtle red borders? Those are annotations {i.e links}.

Now are you seeing why annotations are your new BFF?!

{Chase Jarvis}

Darrel Eves

Darrel has spots for 4 previous videos with a subscribe button front and center

{Derral Eves}

Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary opts for an image with no video. Instead of video Gary creates annotations for three areas of his image that link to his previous and next video as well as a subscribe link smack dab in the center.

Keeping your end card as a graphic with no video slots will save you a lot of time, especially if you are new to video editing!

{Gary Vaynerchuk}

6. BLOOPERS & CUTTING ROOM FLOOR FOOTAGE

After you deliver your signing off call to action reward your viewers for staying until the end by gifting them some hilarious bloopers and outtakes.

This strategy is genius for two reasons:

➽ It trains your viewers that watching until the end is worth it, which increases the likelihood that they will do just that.
➽ It shows your viewers a personal and funny side of you flubbing, screwing up or doing something off script – video editing makes things look flawless, bloopers make things look real. People love REAL!