6 YouTube Hacks You Need To Know

Often YouTube is the social media platform that gets overlooked in favour of Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. However, this is often an error in strategy, as YouTube actually has a lot of potential. In fact, it has the second greatest reach in regards to general usage, only falling behind Facebook.

With video becoming more and more popular, it’s time for marketers to consider using YouTube. But how do you get the most out of the social media platform? We've compiled a list of YouTube hacks to help your campaign reach its full potential.

Top 6 YouTube hacks you need to know :

1. Include video transcripts

Including a transcript of your YouTube video is a great way to help your content rank in Google. After all, this gives more of a description to Google about what your content is actually about, and gives you the opportunity to rank for the keywords you want.

To add a transcript to your clips description field, you’ll need to:

• Open your YouTube video
• Click on the “Subtitles/CC” icon
• If you haven’t already done so, select the language your video is in. You’ll then have options of how to upload your transcript, which include:
  • Upload a file of your transcript
  • Type or paste a transcript to be used as subtitles
  • Type subtitles or closed captions while watching the video
  • Hire a professional to transcribe your video.

2. Include a clickable link

This is a rookie error that people often make. You want to include a link to your business’ website within the video description in order to increase your traffic and likelihood of conversions. However, this isn’t going to happen if your link isn’t clickable, especially if people are accessing your video on a mobile device.

To make sure people will be able to click your website’s link, you need to stylise it as https://www.website.com, rather than just www.website.com .  

3. Have an appropriate thumbnail image

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buhPIz9s0Kc

To grab people’s attention, you need to ensure you are using an eye-catching thumbnail for your YouTube clip. After all, this is one of the first things people will see before they click to view your video. If your thumbnail isn’t appealing, people will simply keep scrolling to another video.

Before you settle for the thumbnail selected by YouTube, consider creating your own thumbnail that will entice viewers. This will only mean a few minutes of extra effort, but it could result in a large increase in views and conversions.

4. Have links that jump to the right point in the video

Sometimes you want to share an entire video, but a certain part of it starts a few minutes into the video. Rather than telling people just to scroll across or wait until that part comes up, you can be more efficient and create a link for people to click.

How do you create this?

• Click “Share” underneath the video
• The first tab will also be titled “Share”
• Check the box “Start at” and choose the time you want the video to jump to
• Alternatively, drag the video to the time you want it to start, and YouTube will auto fill this space
• A tag will be added to your video allowing you to jump to your allocated time. Copy this link into your description.

5. Create a custom URL

You want people to easily remember your business’ name and be able to easily navigate back to your YouTube page. You can help this happen by creating a custom URL. Consider using your brand’s name or your YouTube username. Make sure you are certain of your URL before you select it, as once it has been chosen you will be unable to change it, nor transfer it to another account.

There are a few things you need to achieve before you can get a custom URL, including having:

• Over 100 subscribers
• Your account for more than 30 days
• An image as your channel icon
• Channel art

Think you want a custom URL for your YouTube account? To claim yours, navigate to the YouTube account settings. Under your name section, select the “Advanced” button. This will tell you whether or not you are able to have a custom URL. If you are eligible, you will be prompted to claim yours. You will then have to accept the Terms of Service and select the “Change URL” button to finalise it.  

6. Add an end screen

You don’t just want people to watch one of your videos, you want them to keep watching. To promote your content, you should add an end screen. These help to keep people on your channel rather than navigating away.

If you want a customised end screen, you need to:

• Navigate to the Video Manager
• Select “Edit”
• Select “End Screen & Annotations” within the drop-down menu
• Create your end card by choosing a template and background.
• Click “Add element” to select where viewers will be navigated to when they click the end screen icon

Fortunately, you don’t need to be eligible to add this feature - anyone with a YouTube channel can do this.

Following these tips will ensure your YouTube channel gets more hits and people will spend more time engaging with your content.

Got any other hacks? Let us know in the comments.