Social Media tutorials , infographics and blog from Andrew Macarthy, author of Amazon Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips.
Now more than ever, people are turning to video content to be informed and entertained on the web. And for brands who want to take advantage of this massive opportunity for exposure, an established YouTube presence is crucial. Here are five elements that make up a successful YouTube video...
Read MoreEnd cards or end screens are a technique that allows YouTube creators to finish a clip with a few seconds in which they can direct viewers to act - asking them to subscribe, click to view more content, visit their website, and plenty of other stuff. The possibilities are huge, and they are a simple and effective way to garner more engagement from your viewers. Here are five examples of really great end cards:
I like the design and simplicity of Food for Louis' end screen. Viewers are encouraged to subscribe, visit his Facebook Page, and given not one, but three options for clicking through to see more stomach-churning eating challenges.
Chuggaconroy is one of YouTube's most popular Let's Players (i.e. he records himself playing and commentating over videogames), and his channel and end screen designs are some of the best in the LP'ing community.Many Let's Players have more than one project ongoing at a time, so 'next', 'previous' and 'playlist' buttons (brought to life with spotlight annotations) are essential additions. Another impressive touch is the branding of the end screen, which always reflects the game in question, is neatly done, and helps to project a greater sense of professionalism.
In this example, not only does Epic Meal Time use its end screen as a way to tease more of its videos, but also as a a way to drive home a promotional message, encouraging viewers to visit their shop to buy merchandise.
Last up is this colourful example of an end screen from Today I learned, featuring two clear call to actions - "Watch more Today I Learned" and "subscribe for new videos every week - and a choice of three new videos thumbnails to choose from.
How do you use your YouTube end screens to encourage more engagement from viewers? Let me know in the comments below!
Andrew Macarthy is the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, available for Kindle and in paperback.
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Playlists are a great way to group videos of a similar theme on the YouTube website, but their reach can be boosted by embedding them on your website or blog for whatever reason you wish. In my case, I place an embedded playlist above my YouTube "Subscribe" widget - you can see it at the bottom of this site's sidebar - to add some visual clout to the widget and encourage new viewers to click for updates.
1. On your YouTube account, select "Playlists" from the menu on the left-hand side. On the Playlists page (pictured above), hover over the group of videos you want to embed and select "Play all" if you want to add a whole playlist from the beginning, or click on the name of playlist and select an individual video from which you want the playlist to begin.
2. On the video page itself, select the "Share" and then "Embed" tab beneath the player. Use the drop-down menus to choose whether you want to begin the playlist from the current video or from the beginning, and at what size you want the video player to appear on your website.
3. When you're done, copy the embed code and paste it into the HTML on your website where you want it to appear, as I have done above. That's it!
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Even though most YouTube content is no longer than a few minutes long, there are still plenty of barriers to the goal of having a viewer engaged to the very end of one of your videos once they have clicked on it, and that will put a heavy dent in arguably YouTube's most influential analytics - audience retention and watch time. Reasons for viewers not watching to the end of a video include:
It is the last bullet that I want to focus on for this blog. Once you have attracted someone to click on your content with a great title, description, and thumbnail image, it is so important to set expectations or hook the audience in the first few seconds of the video. Here are two ways this technique can be used:
No one wants to sit through even a few minutes of video instructions if they don't know what the end result will be, so if your video is a tutorial, show your audience what they will achieve at the end of the video in the first few seconds.
Whether he pops onto screen with a fascinating fact or intrigues his audience with his tone of voice and location, Vsauce does a great job of compelling his audience to continue watching, even though his videos are - in YouTube terms - very long.
Similarly, you could use a teaser clip of a scene coming up in the video or a spoken line ike, "Want to know that links a pot of jello and a punch in the jaw? Keep watching to find out!" to hook in your audience.
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YouTube video thumbnails act as mini marketing posters for your videos, so the more clued up you are about using them effectively, the more clicks you will attract through to your content. Here are five examples of great YouTube video thumbnails:
hilahcooking's 'How to Cook a Lobster' video wasn't the first to appear in YouTube's search when I went looking, but its branded thumbnail, complete with a quality close-up image of the cooked lobster, encouraged me to click on it over a handful of others. And whether displayed in a big or small size across the site or on the web, the image always looks great.
Vlogger, Louis Cole, has experimented with several different types of thumbnails - often including channel branding - but has most recently settled on choosing one powerful image to represent the video. Whether you're a One Direction fan or not, you'd be hard-pressed not to be tempted to click through and see what all that crowd-filled craziness is all about!
For most social media platforms (Pinterest being a notable exception), the appeal of connecting with viewers instinctively by using a close-up image of a human face, is extremely strong. And while this example is on the extreme end of the scale - after all, Barbie isn't a real person! - for people who see this thumbnail in search results and are hunting for a particular look, the effect is extremely powerful.
This might be the most important point of all. One of the worst things any content creator on YouTube wants to do is to mislead their audience, so implementing a custom thumbnail that is a true representation of the video itself, is very important in helping to build loyalty and trust. While the above example might not make for the most exciting thumbnail image, it is a fair and true reflection of what the video is about and does its job very well.
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Hi there, and welcome to my website. I'm Andrew Macarthy, a social media consultant and author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing TIps. hope you enjoy my blog. If so, please do get in touch to hire me to help you with for your social media marketing needs.
