People talk about video consumption – we’re consumers of video – and, it seems, we’re addicted! Do you go on YouTube to check something out and lose an hour or more watching entertaining or interesting video – and you still haven’t finished your to do list for the day?
There’s that subconscious knowledge that, if we don’t watch it now, we’ll probably forget it exists in ten minutes time – let alone come back later to watch it (good luck with finding it without a link). It’s FOMO.
What makes us watch the videos that YouTube serves up?
Well, apart from the fact that their algorithm works out what we like if we’re logged in when we watch anything, and will serve up similar stuff, it’s whether it looks interesting/entertaining.
That means the thumbnail that shows up needs to tell us what to expect. If it’s just the first still from the video that may not be the case, so it’s important to create a thumbnail that gives a title and a short overview – and perhaps an image from the video that is quirky, interesting, funny or enlightening.
Did you know …
If you don’t watch a video to the end (or at least a substantial portion of the actual video),
YouTube doesn’t count it as a view?
Do your videos show up in searches?
People use YouTube like a search engine – the difference being that they don’t then leave the site – they stay on it and keep watching more videos. That means your videos need to be optimised for your key phrase:
- In the title
- In the tags
- In the description
Pick ONE key phrase (use answerthepublic.com for inspiration) and integrate it into your title, in the meta tags on your MP4 file and in the description that you enter when you upload the video.
When it’s uploaded add an overview below it and pin it to the top of the comments.
TIP: put the video title between asterisks and it will save as bold text.
When you’ve uploaded it:
- Watch it to the end
- Add a comment
- Like the video
- Like the comment
This all adds to the optimisation and helps your video to turn up towards the top of the searches for your key phrase.
Give them more
When someone has chosen to watch one of your videos, it’s a good idea to give them some more. This is where cards come into play. You can add a card to suggest another of your videos to an existing video. This gives people who are interested in your kind of information more of the same kind of videos.
It’s an easy way to get more views.
So, how delicious are your videos? Are they getting plenty of consumption?
