How To Optimise Your YouTube Channel For B2B

Learning how to optimise your YouTube channel for a B2B audience could be the most valuable thing you do for your brand this year. Following Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, and the website with the second highest traffic.

Over 3 billion searches go through YouTube every month, and 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute. It’s not just B2C customers leveraging YouTube content either. Business buyers also use YouTube to learn about products, research companies and compare software options.

The question is, how do you make sure your YouTube videos stand out among millions of other clips?

Here’s your guide to optimising YouTube for B2B.

Optimizing Your YouTube Channel

First, Google owns YouTube, so it’s fair to say many of the same rules you use for SEO are going to apply here. This means YouTube will prioritize quality content and use sophisticated machine learning algorithms to decide which viewers should see what.

To stand out on YouTube, you’ll still need things like keywords to tell the algorithms what your content is about. However, you’ll also need to think about audience engagement levels, watch time, and the number of subscribers committed to following your channel.

Here are just some of the best ways to start refining your YouTube presence.

1.   Complete the “About Us” Page

The “About Us” page on YouTube is a surprisingly underutilised piece of digital real estate. Companies have no idea what they should place on this page most of the time, and instead rely on their videos to do the talking for them.

However, the “About Us” page populates the first 48 characters of text which show up on the YouTube search results for your brand. It’s also an excellent opportunity for you to tell the algorithm and your viewers what your channel is all about. Make sure you:

• Use your keywords: The same B2B keywords you prioritise in your SEO campaigns are also extremely useful on your “About Us” page. Mine Google Analytics and YouTube Analytics for ideas if you’re not sure where to start.
• Describe yourself: Highlight the value you’re going to deliver to your audience and what kind of content you produce. This will help your audience to understand what they can expect to see from your YouTube channel.
• Use visuals: Leverage visuals to make your YouTube channel look more appealing. A more “complete” profile makes your company seem more professional.

2.   Make the Most of your Keywords

Keywords are a crucial part of most optimisation strategies. You can use these terms to ensure you’re capturing the attention of your specific B2B audience, by focusing on what you know your customers want to learn about. Businesses on YouTube can leverage keywords in a range of ways to improve their rankings, including adding terms to their channel name.

For instance, instead of just “Comms Company” you could use “Comms Company: UCaaS”. The keyword in your channel name will help to define your brand and improve your chances of people finding you if they’re looking for information about the service you sell.

Aside from using keywords in your “About Us” page and channel name, you can also add keyword tags to your profile within the YouTube Studio “Advanced Settings” page. This page gives you 100 characters to apply tags which relate to your channels content.

Again, the purpose here is to highlight the topics you’re going to be covering for both the information of your audience, and the Google and YouTube search crawlers.

3.   Publish Longer Videos

Watch time is one of the most important ranking factors on YouTube. This means the longer you can retain your audience on your channel, the more likely you are to get more attention from the search algorithm. You don’t need to publish hour-long videos, however. Keep in mind your B2B customers probably have limited time to consume content.

Generally, you’ll want to go for something between the 10 and 20 minute mark. The average length of a YouTube video is around 11 minutes. Remember, B2B customers are looking for insightful, in-depth, and useful information.

If all your videos are just a minute or two long, most people will assume they don’t have a lot of value to offer. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should create content just for the sake of it. Create long videos specifically based on information you know your customers want. You can find inspiration by:

• Talking to existing customers: Ask your current B2B clients what kind of YouTube content they’d most like to see or run polls on your social media channels.
• Talking to your teams: Ask your sales and marketing teams what kind of questions they commonly get from customers. These can be great inspiration for how-to videos.
• Analysing the competition: Check out what competing companies are publishing and look for ways to create content even more valuable than theirs.

4.   Capture Attention Quickly

Remember, while long videos are great, you’ll need to capture the attention of your audience in the first 15 seconds or so of your video if you’re going to convince them to stick around. Most viewers on YouTube don’t have a lot of time to waste on content they don’t find interesting, but B2B clients are often even more discerning.

Start each video by immediately explaining what your video is about and why it’s valuable for your customer “Here’s what you’re going to learn…” Next, provide proof to highlight how great your video is going to be. For instance, you might say “We’re sharing the secret of how our last client increased their conversion rates by 200%.”

Next, jump straight into the action and meat of the content, keeping the tone as engaging and professional as possible. Remember to follow your brand guidelines to create a consistent experience for your audience.

5.   Refine Each Post Before Publishing

Finally, before you post each video, make sure you examine it for ways you can optimize and improve its appearance. For instance, make sure you end the video with a call-to-action to increase engagement, so you can improve your chances of more followers and boost your position with the ranking algorithms. Having a sign-off at the end of each video which encourages liking and sharing can significantly strengthen your YouTube presence, even in the B2B world.

Next:

• Customize your video thumbnails: Make sure your thumbnails are enticing enough that B2B clients will want to click on them. Intuitive splash screens with your business color scheme can be an excellent way to make your brand look more sophisticated.
• Use compelling language in titles and descriptions: Use your title and description for your YouTube videos not just to leverage your keywords, but also to explain exactly what viewers are going to get from the content. Try to use engaging, active-driven language like “turn your contact center into a revenue machine”.
• Use video cards and end-screens: Video cards and end-screens are an excellent way to drive people who view your videos to other content on your playlist. The more your customers interact with your content, the more likely it is they’ll “follow” your channel.

You can also experiment with things like sub-titles and closed captions. A lot of B2B customers will be checking out videos on-the-go, without sound. This means they may need closed-captions to get more information from your content. If you do use closed captions and subtitles, make sure they’re easy-to-read and optimized for SEO.

Make the Most of Your YouTube Presence

Optimising your YouTube presence is an excellent way to give yourself an edge, particularly in today’s video-focused landscape. Remember, you can consistently improve your profile over time, by using analytics and insights to learn about your target audience, and the kind of content they engage most with. Use your reporting tools to update your strategy as you go.