Top Lawyer Coach, LLC

10 Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of YouTube

When we think of social media marketing, Facebook and Twitter are the probably the first Websites that come to mind.

But, believe it or not, YouTube is a powerful business tool too!

YouTube's free-to-use model and mass market audience means it's a great channel for law firms - big and small - and solo attorneys.

Just like any tool though, YouTube must be used properly in order to unleash its full potential.

Here are 10 tips that will help you build a brand on YouTube.

1. Customize your channel.

You should add your firm's branding, customize the colors to compliment your firm's look, and add relevant information and links.

A channel setup also offers YouTube users the option to subscribe to your content via the click of one button and the option to search just your uploaded content. The channel structure also allows you to highlight new uploaded material, playlists, favorites or all.

2. Add subtitles.

Auto-captioning is available to all YouTube users, so there's no technical excuse not to. Doing so adds captions for the hundreds of millions of hearing impaired folk across the world, ensuring your content is accessible to anyone who'd like to watch it.

3.  Don't overuse annotations.

YouTube gives you the ability to add comments that display over the top of the footage, but don't be tempted to go down this route! Annotations look unprofessional, and they can be a distraction to viewers.

Sure, you want to grab people's attention and make an immediate impression, but your video content should be enough to not have to rely on extra text.

4. Remove offensive comments.

While you can't stop people from leaving nasty comments to your videos or channel, you can take action to delete offensive material.

But, use good judgement. It's not a great idea to instantly remove any negative or critical comments, especially relevant ones, but you can certainly remove any spam or comments that use foul language. If you're getting seriously spammed or abused by a particular person, you can also block that user, but this should be a last resort.

There are also options open to you to moderate comments before they go live, so you can nip any nasties in the bud before they are posted.

5. Engage with the YouTube community.

Remember, YouTube is a social platform so be sure to check out other content on the site, favorite appropriate videos and make suitable YouTube "friends."

If you really can't, or don't want to associate your firm with other firms or competitors, then think wider. Why not look at content or channels that cover your local area, or that are for a good cause that you/your company supports.

6. Keep content "viewer friendly."

Create playlists to group relevant videos together, or lump older content into time-related archive folders.

Also, remember that YouTube offers users the option to embed entire playlists (in addition to individual videos) into external sites, so give the creation of them, their titles and description, some decent thought.

7.  Don't forget tags!

Take the time to add the correct tags to your videos. The beauty of a tag word system is that it works on the basis of logic, but also on the more-the-merrier principle as you can't know what search terms people will use. Really try and brainstorm around the tags you're adding.

For categories, YouTube offers around 15 to choose from. Try to use the most relevant, but don't be afraid to experiment. Monitor how the different videos perform so you can make an educated decision about categories in the future.

8. Promote your videos.

Don't assume viewers will come to you, or automatically think to look you up on YouTube. Every time you post a video that's relevant for general sharing, blog about it, tweet it or add it to your Facebook Page.

9. Use YouTube's analytics tools.

YouTube offers every user free analytics data via the "Insight" button on every uploaded video.

This free-to-view info should not be overlooked as it can offer you some valuable info on not only views stats, but demographics, community, and  information on how users came across the video, including the popular links they followed to get there.

10. Don't neglect your channel.

Don't let your enthusiasm for YouTube dwindle a couple of months in. Even if you don't have new content to post, still keep logging in to stay on top of comments, friend requests, add favorites, etc, so as not to ignore your channel.

Sure,  YouTube can be a source for wacky, entertaining videos. But, the service also has a firm stance in the social media marketing sector.

Any firm or business that is not using YouTube to build their brand is missing out!

Adapted from article Top 10 YouTube Tips for Small Business by Amy-Mae Elliott.