How to Optimize a Corporate YouTube Channel and Attract Viewers

The number of channels earning five figures per year on YouTube has grown more than 50% year-over-year.  For many companies, YouTube has become the go-to platform for their online videos. 

While many brands are on YouTube, they have not fully taken advantage of everything YouTube can do.  Using YouTube as a video player on a company website is only skimming the surface with this powerful platform. 

Over the years at our agency, we have seen many of the same mistakes committed by brands using YouTube.  With that in mind, we wanted to share a quick how to guide for optimizing a corporate YouTube channel.  This can deliver organic growth for companies using the platform. 

Optimizing a YouTube Channel: The Back-End

Setting up a YouTube channel can be a time-consuming process.  In our experience, the usual case has been the following: Someone created the YouTube channel a long time ago, and ownership/management of the channel may have changed hands on several occasions.  If this sounds familiar, the items mentioned in this section should be beneficial for you. 

Exploring the Advanced Settings under your Channel Settings is a great way to look at the backend of your YouTube channel. 

Channel managers have access to many essential things in this section.  For starters, this is the area where you can create a custom URL for your YouTube channel. 

For those who are eligible, creating this URL can give your viewers an easy-to-remember web address.  The custom URL is something that you can use on your company website and other marketing materials when promoting your channel.  This section is also where a channel manager would go to change a custom URL. 

Navigating back to the Account section under Settings is another vital area to review.  Under the View Additional Features link, publishers can see all of the different available features. 

Here, you can access or learn more about features such as monetization, live streaming, uploading longer videos, custom thumbnails, channel memberships, and more.  YouTube is continuously adding platform features that can offer new experiences for both your customer and your brand.  We suggest coming back to this area often to see what is new and what could improve your channel performance. 

The channel memberships section is a newer feature that many companies should explore.  According to YouTube, “Channel memberships allow viewers to join your channel through monthly recurring payments and get members-only perks like badges, emojis, and other goods you offer."  Overall, this is another way to monetize your company YouTube content.  Read the eligibility requirements. 

Another typical section that is not fully used is the Settings section, when logged into the Creator Studio page for your channel. 

Starting with the Keywords section, this is an area that should be populated with keywords associated with your channel and brand.  Filling these keywords can help with your channel SEO and rankings.  It is crucial considering YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. 

The Branding tab of this section is where you can add some interactivity to your channel videos.  Rather than adding a logo watermark that’s embedded into your video, videos created for YouTube should use this branding feature.  This watermark logo is clickable and can encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel.  Additionally, channel managers can choose whether to display the logo throughout the entire video, at the end, or at a custom start time. 

Back in the main settings in Creator Studio, publishers can add other features such as upload defaults, which can simplify and optimize the process for each video.  There are also some great ways to minimize spam in your video comments by blocking unwanted links or hashtags for your videos.  Those settings are found in the community section. 

Optimizing a YouTube Channel: The Front-End

Now that we have looked at the backend of YouTube, we will offer some guidance on front-end things you can do to improve your channel. 

Staring with your YouTube homepage, there are two different options for what users may see.  First, if the user is a returning subscriber, channel managers can now feature a video for those viewers.  This is a great way to spotlight a video for users who are already familiar with your channel.  It could be anything from a new product demonstration to a helpful tutorial for your audience. 

For new visitors, YouTube allows you to serve up a video trailer.  Just like a traditional movie trailer, the channel trailer is a great way to provide new visitors with an overview of what they can see on your YouTube library and encourage them to become a subscriber. 

Keep in mind that YouTube rewards your channel for “watch time” and gaining subscribers can lead to longer watch time sessions.  This can help increase your rank on YouTube and get your videos in front of the right audience. 

The About section in the homepage settings is the final area that we will explore. 

Here, users can see a description for your channel.  It is another way to submit useful information for both YouTube and Google search.  Adding a posting schedule for users, such as the example above, can be an excellent way to encourage more subscriptions. 

Additionally, companies can provide an email address for business inquires to ensure that YouTube messages are all going to the right place.  Finally, channel managers can add relevant links to websites and social media channels to connect with users on other platforms. 

On the right side navigation, channel managers can add other Featured Channels to their YouTube homepages. 

This is ideal in a situation where your company may have multiple channels across YouTube.  It could also be a destination for other channels or collaborators that your company has partnered up with.  According to YouTube, "Collaborations can be a powerful way to reach new viewers and forge connections to find a broader audience." 

These are all simple and free ways of optimizing a YouTube channel for growth and engagement.  A little extra time in these areas will go a long way in producing better results on YouTube.  The critical takeaway is that all of these fields should be populated with the most current information for your company and should not be ignored.