How does a small business start a successful YouTube channel? Follow these essential tips to get a YouTube channel up and running and begin attracting engaged subscribers.
Many experts widely consider video marketing as the most effective communication and conversion practice online. About 87% of all online marketers use video to sell because it works. Everyone everywhere watches video—on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter—and on TikTok.
Not only are there a billion users on YouTube, but nearly half of the people watching videos will view more than an hour’s worth on Facebook or YouTube a week. It makes sense to tap into this highly personal, highly engaging social marketing tool that will work to expand your bottom line.
So how does a new entrepreneur get started? Use these simple tips to establish a YouTube presence today for exceptional potential growth in the future.
Tip #1: Create a YouTube Channel Design
To get started on YouTube, a new business needs to sign-up and create a channel.
Having a company YouTube channel is the modern-day equivalent of having a television channel, only a big part of the job is attracting new viewers.
The channel should be driven by viewership strategy, and it should visually communicate business identity and purpose through all published channel content.
This is achieved in a number of ways:
- Intentionally design a brand-specific YouTube channel presence (custom images)
- Align all company videos with the core brand story
- Be distinct and easy to spot among other niche channels or videos
The goal of effective YouTube channel design is to guarantee that new subscribers or visitors can quickly see that the channel belongs to the company and that standalone videos belong to the channel. Entrepreneurs can design the channel art themselves or hire a freelancer to do it.
- Canva and Adobe Spark are the best DIY channel art creators
- 99Designs or Fiverr are affordable options for hiring freelance talent
Most small business owners are not designers, so it pays to spend $50.00 or so on a professional YouTube channel design. Populate the about section with a brief description outlining the company mission and what problem the channel will solve for subscribers.
Here are some amazing examples of YouTube channel design.
Tip #2: Pick 3 Video Themes or Categories
Setting up a company channel is easy—but what about the videos?
People will only subscribe to the channel if the videos are informative, educational, and entertaining. These videos also need to be fairly predictable—in either format, content, or delivery. Every video a person enjoys is a promise of another they might enjoy if they choose to return.
- Create three themes or categories of video to post
- Filming can be done on a phone, tablet, or laptop
- Simple editing is all that is required for entry-level videos (don’t go big and complicated)
A restaurant might divide its channel into three themes:
- What’s on the Menu?—videos of the chef creating restaurant dishes
- Staff Stories—vlog-style stories of the staff at work and home
- Bloopers—funny things that happen at the restaurant
These three categories support the restaurant’s goal of finding and retaining a local audience (1), bringing their customers closer to the restaurant and its staff (2), and engaging them in light-hearted amusement to increase likability and personal connection (3).
Simultaneously, these themes are informative, educational, and entertaining—hitting the trifecta for maximizing audience growth and engagement on YouTube.
Tip #3: Film and Post Videos Regularly
The more content that is posted, the faster the channel will grow.
In a perfect world, a video-a-day strategy would kickstart a lively channel. Creating videos takes time, so it’s best to maintain reliable consistency when starting out and aim for one video a week. This shouldn’t be too challenging if you stick to simple filming and basic edits.
Graduating to special effects and fancy editing comes later once the channel has a substantial following, and you can justify (and measure) the return on investment.
A small business channel must have at least seven videos before the regular video post frequency is activated. These videos are broken down into two for each category theme and one channel explainer or welcome video. This video outlines what the channel is about and what viewers can expect if they subscribe.
See what other small business YouTubers are doing here.
Tip #4: Spend More Time Marketing Your Videos
A video is a significant time investment that needs ten times the marketing to succeed.
Posting a video once across all social platforms is just the beginning of getting views. At this stage, video marketing needs to be more aggressive so that viewers stand a better chance of coming across the content on your channel.
- All videos should be marketed across multiple platforms at least ten times each.
- Getting friends and family to watch, like, and comment will boost the algorithm.
- Promote the entire channel using the intro or welcome video.
- Find similar videos on YouTube and leave an invite for people to watch yours.
- Create other content to support video views (blogs, eBooks, podcasts).
- Run a YouTube ad promoting your latest video to a couple of thousand people.
The goal is to get at least 1,000 views per video in the first month of that video’s life. Video content should be continually showcased in other content that you share to boost views. Get creative with how the videos are shared and promoted to inspire subscribers.
Tip #5: Monitor and Improve Video Results
Video performance can be optimized, and so can the content you include in business videos.
The key is to dial into YouTube Analytics to monitor, track, and analyze each video’s results. YouTube videos are an excellent source of organic traffic to your website if you create them around niche keywords and prominent niche questions.
Analytics will tell you:
- How many subscribers have been won
- How long people spend watching each video
- Which videos are most popular
- How many likes, shares, comments, and playlist inclusions the video has secured
- Which devices are used when viewing the videos
- Where the traffic comes from
There is a lot more to be learned when an entrepreneur taps into their video data. Using this information, you can create more videos that the audience likes and wants, streamlining everything from duration to click-through rate to publication time.
Starting a small business YouTube channel takes strategy, time, and some financial investment. It can be done on a shoestring budget, but what is saved in money will be spent in time. Remember that the channel doesn’t have to be fully realized or perfect for it to win subscribers.
Too many entrepreneurs get caught up on the details and give up when they only have a few subscribers by month four. Often, one video, in particular, will hit home with an audience, and suddenly the channel will come together.
The trick is to stay consistent and not be afraid to invest where necessary. Several small companies have collected their TikTok videos and placed them on YouTube, which has prompted a successful transfer of their bustling TikTok audience to the YouTube platform.
Cross-promotion and ramping up engagement around vital content pieces like video will help all of a small business’s social media presence blossom and grow. Every video is a long-term investment in an online audience. Start that YouTube channel now and become a media powerhouse in the future.
