{"id":4000,"date":"2013-02-05T07:18:27","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T12:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=4000"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:22:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:22:27","slug":"setup-your-youtube-videos-for-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/setup-your-youtube-videos-for-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Setup Your YouTube Videos for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Video
Beyond post-production: Optimizing video content for YouTube.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Producing a video is a lot of work—concept, storyboarding, scripting, location and talent scouting, shooting, editing and post-production. At the end of all that, you have a shiny new video, likely destined for YouTube. Upload, share, and wait for the hits and plaudits to roll in!<\/p>\n

Or not. Much like launching a website, some of the most important work comes after videos are produced. Yes, YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google, but realizing that benefit takes work. We have to pay as much attention to the findability of our videos as we do to the findability of our websites. <\/p>\n

Beyond SEO (search engine optimization) considerations, our up-front work inputting settings and metadata also establishes a more productive context in which people view our videos.<\/p>\n

Sure, we share and promote our video content on the web and via social media. But our content has a whole life that we don\u2019t control. All we can do is set it up for success. So, don\u2019t let that awesome faculty interview or student performance go undiscovered. Give it extra life by taking a little extra time up front.<\/p>\n

One for the Money, Two for the Show<\/h2>\n

1. Basic Info: Title, Description and Tags<\/h3>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Title<\/h4>\n

Your title does a lot of work. Whether you\u2019re posting a video to Facebook or embedding it on your homepage, it will likely be the first thing that somebody sees. For that reason, it\u2019s important that your title accurately and compellingly describe the content of your video. In addition, the keywords for your video should precede your institutional branding. (More about keywords in a moment.)<\/p>\n

Description<\/h4>\n

The first one or two sentences of your video\u2019s description are the most important. You want to lead with a relevant or intriguing hook. You also want to include a specific call to action—it could be an event signup form, a program page, a related news story, you name it. Be sure to lead with the http:\/\/ to prod YouTube to hyperlink your URL. But don\u2019t add any unnecessary or generic links. (And you\u2019re going to want to track who followed through on that call to action, so employ bit.ly and\/or Google Analytics as appropriate.) <\/p>\n

(The description area is also a good area to place any key credits, e.g. a music credit or the original source of the video.)<\/p>\n

Tags<\/h4>\n

Your description should also echo the keywords used in your title and the tags section. These keywords should be a mix of general search terms (e.g. \u201ca cappella\u201d university students) and branded terms (e.g. \u201cMeet Content A Cappella All Stars\u201d—it could happen, right?). You also want to consider any taxonomy you are employing beyond YouTube (e.g. your news site, blogs, webpage metadata) and align your video content keywords with those terms. Keyword order is also important—list keywords in the same order within all three fields. Need help with keywords? Try YouTube\u2019s keyword tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sharing Options and Categorization<\/h4>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

YouTube also lets you notify subscribers and enable default sharing to Google+, Facebook and\/or Twitter. If you\u2019ve been mindfully building up your YouTube subscriber base via calls to action, a specific message to those subscribers could be useful. But as always, be careful auto-sharing content to social networks without customizing your message.<\/p>\n

When selecting a category, you may be inclined to default to \u201cEducation.\u201d But think closely about your content. If it\u2019s a panel of political science professors discussing a Supreme Court ruling or upcoming election, \u201cNews and Politics\u201d may be a more suitable category.<\/p>\n

2. Advanced Settings<\/h3>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

It can be tempting to let the default settings suffice, but think through the implications of these options:<\/p>\n