YouTube Marketing: Everything You Need to Know

May 3, 2019

Have you ever found yourself falling down a YouTube black hole and suddenly three hours have disappeared?

It’s okay, it happens to the best of us. But think about it. If you’ve ever spent an embarrassing amount of time on the site, odds are that other people are doing the exact same thing.

Ever since its creation, YouTube has been a trailblazer during the uprise of the internet. In the beginning, the site was a place to watch funny skits and viral videos. As advertising evolved, it became an irreplaceable tool for marketers when developing their social media marketing strategies.

Maybe you’re thinking to yourself: “Ok, YouTube may be popular, but my audience is mainly on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.” Think again! 

According to Hubspot, 54% of people want to see more video content from marketers and 83% of consumers worldwide prefer using YouTube to watch video content over any other video platform.

YouTube is the second largest search engine (just behind Google) and boasts an astounding 1.9 billion monthly users. With this in mind, it’s clear that using the site as a marketing, promoting, and advertising tool can help boost your brand presence and reach the widest audience possible.

Any social media platform can be confusing to navigate at times, so we’ve compiled this extensive guide for you. Whether you’re just starting to use YouTube in your marketing strategy, or you’ve already implemented it, we’ll walk through everything you need to know about YouTube marketing. 

Feel free to skip ahead to the topic you want to learn about:
How to make a YouTube channel
YouTube brand account
YouTube banner size
YouTube video size
YouTube Analytics
YouTube Ads
How much do YouTubers make?
How to delete a YouTube account

Why YouTube marketing is important

As mentioned before, YouTube is the second largest website in the world. This makes sense though, people love video content. In fact, incorporating YouTube into your marketing strategy is an enticing option because of video.

Video marketing is extremely popular right now, and will continue to grow into one of the most effective ways to consume media. Video content can work just about anywhere, but it really thrives on YouTube. Thousands of businesses are already on YouTube, posting great content and taking advantage of the advertising options available to you.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s start at the beginning.

How to make a YouTube channel

Everyone knows what YouTube is. From small creators to big corporations, people have been signing up and creating their own YouTube channels for a while now. No matter if your business has been around for a while or you just launched this year, you need to create a channel. It may not be obvious, but a large majority of the audience you have is also active on YouTube. 

YouTube’s growth is incredible. In June 2017, 1.5 billion people had accounts. Now, almost 2 billion people are on YouTube every month. That’s a lot of people your business could be targeting.

youtube monthly users

Image courtesy of Fanatics Media 

In 2019, there’s no excuse to not have a YouTube channel. Utilizing the platform is only going to broaden your reach and help your company’s online image. To get started, bookmark this page, check out how to make a YouTube channel and then come back to learn more about how you can find success on YouTube.

YouTube brand account

Now that you’ve created your channel, you may want to consider turning it into a YouTube brand account.

“Okay what the heck is a brand account?” A YouTube brand account is essentially a business account that assists you in managing your YouTube channel. The brand account gives your business a presence of its own with your company’s unique name, branding, and content.

youtube brand account

This sets you apart from owning a regular channel. With a brand account, your audience will take your channel seriously. When they see the branded banner and icon, they’ll know the channel is the one they were looking for. You can also add channel managers so that multiple people on your team are able to create, post, and monitor your content.

YouTube banner size

It’s not enough to just create a channel nowadays. People are visual creatures are they like looking at pretty things. You know what this means. Your channel should be pleasing to the eye.

For starters, your banner should be 2560 x 1440 pixels. That information makes no sense in text. But what if you transformed it into an image?

youtube banner size

That makes it a lot easier to understand, but there’s more that goes into creating a great channel banner than just the size. Your YouTube presence depends on a lot of little things, including the YouTube banner size. Click through to read up on some useful tips and great banner examples.

Need some banner inspiration? Check out these YouTube banner ideas to get you going!

YouTube video size

How many times have you watched a video on YouTube that was shot vertically? It’s the worst. Absolutely no one wants their content formatted that way. Vertical video may work on Instagram, but you’re guaranteed to lose viewers if your video isn’t horizontal.

youtube video size

Additionally t, there are various video sizes you can upload your content in. It can be confusing to know which size will work for you, but don’t worry. We’ve put together a thorough guide on the right YouTube video size, dimensions, and quality for you.

YouTube Analytics

If you’ve been on YouTube for a while, you probably already know how to create a channel and the intricacies that go along with producing good content, but analytics may be a foreign concept. It’s okay, they’re pretty confusing. 

If your videos have seen any engagement, big or small, checking out your YouTube Analytics will be helpful to understanding how to connect with your audience more effectively. 

When you access your analytics, they’ll probably look something like this:

youtube analytics

It may look intimidating, but once you learn how to read this data and apply it to your marketing campaigns, it’ll be something you’ll check regularly. YouTube Analytics are the heartbeat of your channel. When looking at them, you’ll be able to understand who your audience is, what content they enjoy most, and how they like to interact with videos online.

YouTube Ads

Did you know that almost 5 million videos are viewed on YouTube daily? If you’re on YouTube as a business, you may want to think about advertising on those videos. But how do you go about creating an ad and placing it onto existing content?

YouTube advertising is integrated into your Google Adwords account. Once you’ve created a video ad, you can upload it to Adwords, customize your demographic and target audience, and start placing it on YouTube videos.

youtube ads

There’s a lot to learn about YouTube Ads

Three ad formats exist: TrueView ads, ore-roll ads, and bumper ads. Each type is customizable and serves a different purpose. When it comes down to it, advertising is huge on the internet (we see hundreds of ads in a single day). Implementing YouTube Ads into your marketing strategy can help you to segment your audience and reach the people who care about your business.

How much do YouTubers make?

Being a “YouTuber” is a profession now. As YouTube grew in popularity, dozens, hundreds, and eventually thousands of internet personalities posted content for their subscriber’s entertainment.

how much do youtubers make

You may be wondering, “How much do YouTubers make?” In 2008, the YouTube Partner Program launched and allowed creators to start making money from their content. This money is made by placing advertisements on your videos. You’ll get paid based on how many viewers click on the ads on or around them. It may seem strange, but some of the most famous YouTubers are millionaires. 

Being a YouTuber is still a pretty new concept, but it’s a very real part of internet culture. If you’re an individual creating content, you’ll need to know the basics. Click on the link above to start learning.

How to delete a YouTube account

Okay… it’s time. You want to delete your channel.

Maybe you never used your account for business purposes, but for posting embarrassing Hannah Montana lip sync videos when you were ten. You want your entire channel to disappear from the internet. Or maybe you never really got into the platform at all. Discover how to delete your YouTube account and voila, it’s gone.

It was fun while it lasted.

Get creating

YouTube has become one of the biggest websites in the world. Billions of people have watched videos, posted content, and advertised on the platform. There are endless opportunities when it comes to YouTube marketing. Go create a channel, post videos, reference your analytics, and maybe even start an ad campaign.

Everything you need to know to begin your YouTube journey is right here. What’s stopping you?

Having a strong social media marketing strategy is crucial to finding success online. Check out our social media marketing hub to learn everything you need to know about social media, content creation, analytics, and current best practices. 

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YouTube Marketing: Everything You Need to Know Businesses are using YouTube marketing in their social strategies now. If you want to expand your audience, check out our guide that covers all the YouTube basics. https://learn.g2crowd.com/hubfs/youtube-marketing.jpg
Alexa Drake Alexa is a former content associate at G2. Born and raised in Chicago, she went to Columbia College Chicago and entered the world of all things event marketing and social media. In her free time, she likes being outside with her dog, creating playlists, and dabbling in Illustrator. (she/her/hers) https://learn.g2.com/hubfs/_Logos/Alex%20DrakeUpdated.jpeg https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexadrake7/

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