Fun fact: YouTube is the second most visited website in the world behind Google, YouTube’s parent company.
Fun tip: your brand should have a presence there.
The opportunity to reach your audience on YouTube is huge. It’s the most popular social platform among US adults, and nearly 75% of Americans use the social video site, compared to 69% on Facebook.
More than half of those users visit YouTube every day. Wouldn’t it be nice if they checked out your content while they were there?
Fortunately, creating a YouTube account isn’t difficult. Creating a successful YouTube channel is a bit more work…but don’t worry, we’ve got you covered there too.
How to Create a New YouTube Channel in 5 Simple Steps
Creating a successful YouTube channel starts with creating a YouTube channel. Here’s how to create your account.
Step 1: Create a Google Account
If you use Gmail, Google Maps, or Google Play, you probably already have a Google account… so continue to the next step.
If you’re starting from scratch, head here to sign up for a new Google account.
The name and email address will not be publicly linked to your brand, so don’t worry about keeping them in the message. This is just the key to get into the YouTube door.
Step 2: Create a YouTube account
With your Google account, you’re set up automatically with a personal YouTube account. But to use YouTube for your business, you’ll want to set up a Brand Account.
Simply go to your YouTube account page, click Create a channel, and then enter a name for your brand account. You’re in!
When you create a YouTube Brand Account, you can give multiple people admin access and customize the name and appearance to match your brand.
Other Cool thing about the brand Accounts: They give you access to YouTube Analytics, which provides very useful information about who watches your videos and what content is popular. (Learn more in our post on using YouTube for marketing.)
Step 3: personalize your YouTube channel
It’s time to make this new social media profile your own.
In your channel’s dashboard, click Customize channel. Go to the three tabs: Design, Branding, and Basic Info, to enter information that will help optimize your channel for audience discovery.
When completing this information, use descriptive keywords that will help your account appear in searches.
Keywords They can include your channel’s topics, your industry, questions your content can answer, or featured products.
In Branding, you’ll have the opportunity to upload art and icons from your channel to give it a unique look. One that ideally aligns with your overall brand and visually connects this YouTube account to your other social media platforms and web presence.
We’ve got some customizable YouTube banner templates right here to get you started.
Step 4: Upload your first YouTube video
Well, this is exciting. You are about to become a YouTube content creator! I’m not crying, you’re crying.
To post your first video to the world, press the Create button in the upper right corner and follow the instructions.
Step 5: Make your YouTube channel discoverable
As the old saying goes: if you have amazing content on YouTube but no one watches… what’s the point?
To get views and subscribers, you’ll want to optimize your channel and videos for discovery. We’ve got a complete guide to promoting your YouTube channel if you want to go deeper. In the meantime, here’s the 30-second rundown:
Optimize video titles
Use concise, descriptive titles that include Google-friendly keywords .Titles are the first thing viewers see, but they also help the search engine understand what your videos are about. So make sure all your headlines are impactful and intriguing, but also clear and include keywords.
Optimize your YouTube description
It’s important to be clear and concise and descriptive here, too. Be sure to load your keywords first and add links to other playlists.
Another cool trick to use in video descriptions? Create a time-stamped “table of contents” to help viewers find what they’re looking for.
For more specific tips, check out our complete guide to writing a winning YouTube description.
Add tags (in moderation)
While it may be tempting to load this section with clickbaity tags, be sure to only include YouTube tags that are relevant to your content . Be honest and choose quality over quantity. The goal is to reach viewers who are genuinely interested in content like yours.
Tags also help YouTube’s algorithm understand what your content is about. Be sure to add a category or two to help the search engine get your videos in front of the right audience.
Cross-promote
Add a link to your YouTube channel on your other social profiles, website, and email signature to let your existing fans know you’re starting a video empire.
Understand the algorithm
If you haven’t already, now is the time to familiarize yourself with the YouTube algorithm. This AI determines not only search results, but also recommendations for the all-important “What Happens Next” sidebar.
9 Tips for Starting a YouTube Channel
1. Use eye-catching channel designs and thumbnails
Your channel design and thumbnails are your billboards, so make a good impression!
An effective thumbnail is clear and precise, and works in conjunction with the video title. But it also needs to stand out.
Thumbnails are how viewers decide what to see when they browse search results. This means you don’t just need to communicate what your video is about. You also need to stand out from the competition.
And a lot of the competition is… loud.
Evaluate what others are doing and try to deviate. For example, choose a different color palette, or go completely minimalist to stand out in a sea of neon colors and Impact font.
Experiment with our channel art templates here.
2. Choose the perfect channel icon
A channel icon is like a logo for your YouTube presence. It should match your brand and complement your channel banner.
When choosing an icon, follow YouTube’s recommended image dimensions to avoid stretching. Preview your channel on multiple devices to make sure everything looks good.
YouTuber J.J. McCullough uses a cartoon of himself as his logo to represent both his art and personality.
3. Create Playlists
Organizing and creating playlists of videos on YouTube is the best way to keep your viewer on your page.
Playlists from YouTube not only organize their related content in a neat and ordered list, they also play automatically. Once one video ends, the next one begins… and so on. This minimizes the chances of a viewer moving on to another channel.
Financial advisor Max Mitchell, for example, adds all of his TFSA videos to a playlist, so viewers can just sit back and learn. about taxes. free savings accounts for hours on end.
4. Create a channel trailer
When someone first comes across your channel, a channel trailer is a way for them to take a look at your content. Better make it count.
Just like Hollywood characters hook you into watching Avengers: Tokyo Drift, you can give your audience a taster that will leave them wanting more.
Assume the viewer is a complete stranger, so introduce yourself and tell them exactly why they should subscribe. Keep it short, sweet and to the point: let them know what your content is like and when they can expect new uploads, like Yoga with Adriene does on her channel.
5. Create Great Content, Consistently
This is going to sound pretty obvious, but we’ll say it anyway: viewers want to see great videos.
But what about Making a good YouTube video is a bit different than, say, making a video that would wind up a foreign film festival.
According to Search Engine Journal, successful YouTube videos have eye-catching intros and great branding, background music, and clear audio.
Calls to action are also important. Whether your goal is to drive your audience to your website, increase your subscriber count, or start a conversation in the comments, the right call-to-action can help make that happen.
Just like that with all the content on social media, nothing is perfect. formula for a successful YouTube video. Some brands thrive on witty, highly produced content, while others gain traction by being raw, unfiltered, and authentic.
Vanity Fair’s YouTube channel is inspiring. Going beyond what you might read in magazine profiles, it features videos of actors sharing everything they do in a day or taking a lie detector test.
Explore some engaging content ideas from other social media platforms to inspire your experimentation.
6. Schedule your videos
Give your videos the best chance of success by posting them at the right time: when people are online and ready to watch.
You analytics channels will tell you if there’s a specific day of the week or time that tends to get the most audience or engagement.
Once you have that information, you can post regularly within this time frame, with help from scheduling tools like Hootsuite.
Learn more about scheduling YouTube videos.
7. Understand your audience
It’s hard to create compelling content if you don’t know who you’re doing it for, so make sure you get a good idea of your audience’s personality before you do. dive in.
Who are they? What do you like? (Why not give me a call?!)
Once you have a few videos under your belt, see if you’re hitting the mark or not by diving into YouTube Analytics. The cold numbers will tell you if, how, and when your artwork is having an impact.
8. Experiment with YouTube advertising
If you’re not getting the reach you want with good traditional organic content, it might be time to invest a few bucks in a promotional campaign.
YouTube ads are available in these four categories:
- Skippable in-stream ads
- Non-skippable in-stream ads ( including bumper ads)
- Video discovery ads (formerly known as display ads)
- Non-video ads (i.e. overlays and banners)
To learn more about YouTube ad formats and how to use them, see our detailed guide to advertising on YouTube.
9. Ask viewers to subscribe
When someone subscribes to your channel (and hits the bell button), they get an alert when you post a new video to the world, so increase Your subscriber base is the best way to increase your organic reach.
There’s a reason “Don’t forget to subscribe” is the opt-out option for YouTubers big and small.
Of course, increasing the number of subscribers is easier said than done. For that reason, we have a comprehensive guide on how to get more YouTube subscribers.
Once you reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in a year, you will be able to sign up as a YouTube partner and monetize your channel. Learn more about the YouTube Partner Program here.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for building a successful YouTube channel. If you’re interested in learning more, check out our blog post on how to get more views on YouTube, 23 smart ways to promote your YouTube channel, and how to become a YouTube marketing master.
With Hootsuite, you can easily upload, schedule, and promote your YouTube channel and videos to multiple social networks from one dashboard. Try it free today.
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