Some more research suggests that:
- 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool (if you’re a part of the 14%, you’re missing out!)
- The number of business using video as a marketing tool has increased by 41% since 2016
- The pandemic has affected how much consumers watch video content, with 96% saying this has increased
- 84% of video marketers said that video has helped in lead generation
- 89% of the marketers surveyed plan to upload video to Youtube as a part of their 2021 strategy
- The return on investment for those who use video content is 87% in 2021
- Although some marketers have started using TikTok (10% in 2019 and 20% in 20200, Youtube still remains to be the most effective channel for them
This just goes to show the importance of video content for brand websites. And if you want to reach your businesses’ maximum potential, you can’t ignore the platform any longer. That’s why in this article, we will teach you how to upload to YouTube and how to embed your YouTube video to your website.
How to Upload Video to YouTube
- Plan your content
When you upload a video to YouTube, first you must have a content strategy. This is because a good content strategy serves as the foundation of your plan to attract and delight your customers so they would always be interested in your product. If you do this first step right, you’re off to a great start.
A content strategy would include:
- Identifying your target market: Who would you want to buy your products? What is their gender, age, and where do they live? Does your product or service concentrate on a certain area or is your reach international?
- Addressing your target market’s pain points: How would you add value to your clients’ lives? What solution are you seeking to provide with your product or service?
- Crafting your unique edge: How would you differentiate yourself from the competition? Since most markets are already saturated, you would need to set yourself apart from other brands or businesses that offer the same things as you do. You can choose to sell your products at a lower price or add incentives to every purchase.
- Identifying the content formats you will use: This can range from infographics, to blog posts, and, of course, videos.
- Choosing the medium or location where you will publish your content: Do you want to create your own website? Do you want to post on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Do you want to upload a video to YouTube or perhaps you might want to try them all.
- Managing content creation and publication - Who is creating what, where will it be published, and when is it going live — all these things and more are the questions you need to ask yourself when planning your content strategy.
- Select a YouTube upload video file
Log in to your account and go to YouTube Studio. Next, upload a video to YouTube by selecting the source file. You can do this by dragging and dropping the video and it will begin to upload. Make sure to upload the correct format, or else YouTube won’t be able to read it.
Acceptable formats:
- .MOV
- .MPEG4
- .MP4
- .AVI
- .WMV
- .MPEGPS
- .FLV
- 3GPP
- WebM
- DNxHR
- ProRes
- CineForm
- HEVC (h265)
- Choose a good thumbnail for your video
Your thumbnail will be the first thing viewers will see while scrolling so you have to make it catchy. YouTube will suggest a few thumbnails from your video but they aren’t that good so it is still best to use your own.
Tips for choosing a thumbnail:
- Clarity - High quality and unblurry pictures work best.
- Size - It should have a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels.
- Text - Use title texts and relevant keywords to your video.
- Font - It should be readable so avoid very thin fonts with colors that blend with the background.
- Emotion - Choose a photo that would evoke strong emotions and draw viewers to click and watch your video.
- Branding - You should maintain brand consistency all throughout your videos which include a custom logo, using your brand’s colors, similar fonts, and even similar emojis or other elements.
- Fill in other video elements
Before you upload a video to YouTube, you will be asked to fill in video elements that will help you internally link your video to other videos in your channel.
Add an end screen: If you’re familiar with YouTube intros, then think of your end screen as an outro. This allows you to promote related content before your video ends. YouTube gives you flexibility as you can choose at what exact timestamp the end screen will appear. This encourages your viewers to engage with your channel further.
What you can add to an end screen:
- Video - Take advantage of linking another video of yours to the end screen so users won’t leave your channel.
- Playlist - When you upload a video to YouTube, you can organize them into playlists. A playlist is a curated content with the same theme. By adding this to the end screen, you can entice your viewers to learn more about other topics related to the one they just watched.
- Subscribe button - You would want your viewers to be loyal subscribers so that every time a new video comes up, they will be the first to know.
- Website link - This is helpful because you can link to your own brand’s website and even encourage them to avail of your products and services.
Add cards: Like the end screen, YouTube cards are added to make your videos more interactive. For example, if you have ever watched a video about how to take good photos, at one point of the video a link might have appeared titled “10 Best Apps Used to Edit Your Photos.” You then proceed to click on the link and go down the rabbit hole of the world of photography. That is the power of effective card usage. There are different types of cards that you can use to customize your video including: video cards, playlist cards, channel cards, and link cards. To upload a video to YouTube effectively, you have to maximize the potential of the video by offering as much resources to your viewers as possible. These are all designed to complement the message in your video and enhance viewer experience with relevant information.
- Publish your video
After doing steps one to four, you will be given the choice to publish your video publicly or privately and the time and date as to when it will go live. Then, you are now ready to publish your video. The end result when you upload a video to YouTube should be like the photo posted above. Make sure to keep on updating your channel and add new content on the regular. Take advantage of one of the biggest platforms in the age of the Internet and you will soon see your brand’s success and exponential growth.
However, the journey doesn’t end after answering the question of “how do I upload a video to YouTube?” In fact, your video marketing gig has just begun. After you upload to YouTube, don’t limit yourself to the platform and instead, take it one step further and embed your video on your brand’s website. You might think, isn’t it enough that I upload a video to YouTube? Not necessarily. Having a video website of your own and not just a YouTube channel allows you to expand your market reach even further and engage your customers to stay on your website as much as possible. And while there are many website builders out there, not all are as good as Strikingly. The great thing about Strikingly is that it allows you to add videos without any hassle.
4 Easy Steps on How to Upload YouTube Videos to Strikingly
- Click Add New Section on the sidebar.
- Select Big Media on the Image & Media tab.
- Click Edit video and paste your YouTube video link.
Remember that the first step when upload a video to YouTube is the easy part of video marketing. It’s the management and expansion of your brand that will be the tricky part. But as they said, all the great things worth having in this world don’t come easy. Once you have a YouTube channel of your own and want to learn more about how to maximize it by embedding it on your own website, by all means, the team of experts at Strikingly will always have your back.
