A Quickstart Guide to Branding on YouTube

Branding on YouTube can help establish your brand’s identity and attract viewers on YouTube.

Did you know? YouTube allows viewers to navigate its platform in 76 different languages and approx 95% of the Internet population explores YouTube. Even if you have a slow connection or access to limited data, you can easily download videos, watch videos, and share videos using the YouTube Go App (currently, available in 130 countries only.)

YouTube is a platform that gives your brand a voice. You can share videos and build communities around your brand. You can express your brand the way you want. Gradually, your community will increase which will surely blow your mind!

Believe it or not! But, it’s really very easy to do branding on YouTube. Let’s get started! And, don’t forget to check out the latest Digital Marketing trends.

Set Up Your YouTube Channel

Just 5 simple steps and you’re all set!

1. Sign in to YouTube

In today’s scenario, almost every one of us has a G-mail Id. If you haven’t created your own yet, do it now. In order to sign in with your YouTube account, you have to make sure you’re logged in using your G-mail Id.

2. Create Your YouTube Channel

  • To create a channel, go into your YouTube account ‘Settings‘ and click ‘Create a new channel’
  • The channel name will be the default name that you have mentioned in your Google Account. But, you can change this name to your Brand Name. Just click on the link “Use a business or other name” as shown in the below image.

 

Branding on YouTube

The brand account allows you to pick a specific name and let multiple people access your channel as managers.

What should be your Channel Name?

If you’re creating an account for your business, use your business name to create a channel on YouTube. If you’re a blogger and want to do personal branding, use your name to create a channel.

Branding Tip

Include keywords in your channel name if possible. This will ensure you gain maximum reach for your brand.

3. Set Profile picture

Wherever your channel will appear on YouTube, your profile picture will be shown. It can be shown next to your videos or any comments. Your profile picture should be at least 98 x 98 pixels in size and 4MB or less without violating the YouTube Community Guidelines.

Branding Tip

Use a consistent profile pic across all the platforms- be it your YouTube channel, social media platform, online business listing directories, or a logo on your website.

4. Set Banner image

Next, you have to set a banner image that will appear across the top of your YouTube channel. This will help your channel look incredible. The recommended YouTube banner size for all devices is 2048 x 1152 pixels and 6MB or less.

Branding Tip

Use high-quality YouTube Channel Art to promote your business events, upcoming webinars, etc. This will assist you in driving your audience attendance.

5. Add Channel Description

Adding a description of your YouTube channel will let viewers know what your channel is all about. The description will be shown on your channel’s “About” page. The character limit is 1000. A description, if written correctly, will help boost SEO, subscriptions, view counts, and watch time.

Branding Tips

 

  • Include 1-2 keywords that best describe your brand. Tools like Keyword Planner and Google Trends will help you. Use language that your viewers are familiar with.
  • Don’t forget to add a CTA. Use this opportunity to encourage viewers to like, comment, subscribe, read more, or any other action that you think might engage your audience.

This is how you can get started with your own YouTube channel. But, when it comes to promoting your brand online, there is a lot of room for branding on YouTube. Now, let’s take a look at some interesting ideas that you can follow to engage your audience on your YouTube channel.

Quick Ideas for Branding on YouTube

1. Live Streaming

Live streaming helps a lot in reaching customers, building brand awareness, and generating qualified leads. As mentioned earlier, approx 95% of the Internet population explores YouTube. Therefore, we would recommend you use this opportunity to build hype around your brand. Don’t know how to do it? Here is an ultimate guide on how to use live streaming to build a brand.

2. Youtube Shorts

YouTube Shorts, similar to Instagram Reels and Tik-Tok videos, will help you reach potential customers. There are millions of active users, your brand will be known and visible.

Youtube shortsAccording to Digidart’s CEO & Founder, Siddhartha Vanvani, “For well-established YouTubers, Youtube Shorts is a welcome feature as it presents them the opportunity to repurpose their content bank effectively through another medium.”

There are various experts who have spoken about using YouTube Shorts like the founders of Media Moments, Pulpkey, IPLIX Media, Mad Influence, Brand Visage Communications, and many more.

 

3. Add a watermark to your videos

 

Video Watermark

Watermark is one of the best ways to do branding. You can add a watermark to each of your videos. It will appear in the right-hand corner of the video player. Make it appear at the end of the video, throughout the video duration, or set a custom start time; it’s totally up to you!

4. Video spotlight

Video spotlight is another best idea to let your viewers know about your brand and channel. You can use this section to add a channel trailer or a featured video on the top of your channel homepage. Channel trailer is best for the viewers who haven’t subscribed yet whereas you can add a featured video for your returning subscribers.

5. Add Featured sections

 

Featured Videos

You can add up to 10 featured sections. Use this opportunity to highlight popular uploads, short videos, live now, past live streams, upcoming live streams, single playlists, created playlists, multiple playlists, subscriptions, and your featured channels.

6. Optimize Your Channel for Global Audience

Would you like to expand your reach and influence on YouTube? Targeting your audience at the global level is helpful. But, not all of them might understand your video language. So, it’s recommended to use the Channel Translation feature.

7. Customize Channel URL

Customize your channel URL as per your need. By default, your channel URL includes your channel ID. You can customize the meaningless URL to something that’s meaningful and easy to recall.

Your custom URL can be based on your:

  • Display name
  • YouTube username
  • Current vanity URLs
  • Linked website name

Before applying for a customized URL, make sure your channel is at least 30 days old and has 100 or more subscribers. Also, your channel should have a proper profile image and banner image.

8. Display Useful Links on Channel Banner

 

Adding Links on YouTube Banner

Adding external links is another fruitful way to do branding on YouTube. This lets you redirect your YouTube audience to other platforms that you think might be useful for them. You can display a maximum of 5 links on the banner of your channel homepage.

9. How would they contact you?

Add your business email address to the About section of your channel. This is an important step that you can’t afford to ignore. Your ultimate goal would be to connect with your target audience. Hence, you should provide them with relevant contact information for further business queries.

10. Analyze, Analyze and Analyze…

The most effective business decisions are based on accurate facts and figures. In order to engage your audience on YouTube, you need to dive deeper into YouTube Analytics occasionally. YouTube offers personalized insights, the latest news and insider tips, and more. You can access powerful analytics such as Real-time Impressions, Typical Performance, Notification Metrics to see what’s working and to fix what’s not.

11. Encourage subscriptions

Don’t forget to include a call to action in your videos to invite subscribers. Share your videos on other social media platforms to promote your brand. When it comes to sharing videos on social media platforms, you won’t like to miss out on these helpful social media marketing trends.

Ready to promote your brand on YouTube? Share your ideas and views regarding branding on YouTube in the comment section below.