Recognizing that content includes video and more
When establishing a content plan, consider these factors that influence how your audience discovers your content and what action viewers take as a result of watching:
» Video: The channel trailer is the fi video visitors see when viewing your
channel. This is where you need to captivate your new viewers and get them to subscribe to your channel. It is important to make a compelling channel trailer to drive subscriptions; you never know where a new subscriber is coming from. Viewers can click your channel icon from any of your videos’ watch pages and jump to your channel.
» Intros and outros: Create consistent intro and outro styles for your videos. Think of intros and outros as what you see at the beginning and end of your
favorite television show. In the fi fi seconds, a viewer should know that this is one of your videos; this consistency can be something as simple as the way you say hello and greet your viewers or as complex as an animated logo. Outros should be similar across your channel as well — a goodbye ritual or recommendations for what they should watch next from your channel, and maybe end screens. (End screens, which are covered in Chapter 9, are screen overlays that allow you to direct your viewers to another video or playlist,
ask them to subscribe, visit other YouTube channels, or visit an approved
website.)
» Metadata: Metadata are the words you use to describe your video —the
video title, your keyword tags, and the video description, for example. The more specifi and precise your metadata, the better. The goal is to help viewers fi the exact content they are looking for. Keep in mind that, if you stuff non-relevant keywords into your metadata, it’s not going to help anyone. You’ll only end up losing viewers when they realize the content you’re showing them is not what they wanted. In Chapter 9, you can see how to add and modify your metadata content.
Metadata is important for discovery and YouTube Search. Viewers can also fi more information about the video or links back to your website if they want more information.
» Thumbnails: Thumbnails need to be descriptive of the content that viewers
can fi in your video. Make custom thumbnails (see Chapter 9) to help viewers discover your content above the rest, and don’t hesitate to update thumbnails whenever a video’s performance is lacking. You can change a video’s thumbnail at any time — it doesn’t have to be a new video.
» End screens: An end screen is the best way to keep a viewer engaged after
watching your video. If your video is longer than 25 seconds, you can custom- ize an interactive screen where viewers can click on videos you want to promote, subscribe to your channel, and more. You can even reference the end screen when you’re shooting the video, to encourage viewers to take action.
» Links: Use clickable links in your video description to drive viewers to a
specifi location on the web or somewhere within YouTube.
Your planning process should consider the viewer who wants more information from a specific video. Providing links in the video description or end screens is a helpful way to give the audience more information when they want it.