YouTube for Business 101: Launching and Optimizing a Channel

From boosting site traffic to generating leads, there are several benefits of using YouTube for business. As the second-largest social media platform and search engine, YouTube can be an invaluable marketing tool for businesses looking for new ways to reach their audience and grow their brand.

If you’re planning to use YouTube for business but have no idea where to start, keep reading! In today’s article, we’ll guide you through the step-by-step process of creating a YouTube channel for your business and provide expert tips to optimize your channel for maximum visibility.

Let’s start!

How to Set Up a YouTube Channel for Your Business in 5 Simple Steps

Setting up a YouTube channel for business purposes involves the same steps as setting up a personal account, but the main difference lies in the profile optimization that happens after sign-up.

Here’s a simple breakdown of the steps involved in creating a YouTube channel for business:

#1. Sign into Your Google Account

The first step is to sign into your Google account; to do so, go to the YouTube homepage and click Sign in on the left sidebar or in the upper right corner.

Then, you’ll have to choose the account you want to use for your channel; simply tap the email address and sign in.

That said, if you want a separate email to use on YouTube for business, you can click on Use another account and follow the on-screen instructions for creating a new Google account.

#2. Create Your YouTube Channel

Once you’ve logged in, you can create a YouTube channel for your business by tapping your profile icon in the upper right corner and clicking Create a channel.

Then, you’ll be prompted to upload a profile picture and choose a name and handle for your YouTube business channel. When done, click Create channel.

#3. Change Your Channel’s Layout

Now that you have a YouTube channel for business, you can change its layout to make it easier for you to navigate.

To do this, click Customize channel.

This will redirect you to the YouTube Studio, where you can change your layout, customize your branding, and add your business information.

To change your layout, click Home tab under Channel customization and toggle the switch.

From there, you can click and drag the different sections to change how they appear on your YouTube profile.

There are five elements on your profile by default, namely:

• For You. These are videos from your channel that YouTube recommends to the viewers based on their interests and watch history.
• Videos. These are all your uploaded videos, arranged from the most recent to the least recent upload.
• Short videos. If you have any YouTube Shorts, they will be arranged here in the same order as your regular videos.
• Past live streams. You can save previous YouTube Live sessions on your channel and feature them on your profile.
• Created playlists. All curated playlists will show up here unless set to private.

If you want to remove any sections, simply hover over the one you want and click the three-dot icon on the right.

#4. Customize Your Channel With Your Branding

When you’re done optimizing your layout, go back to the Profile tab to start customizing your YouTube channel for business. This is an important step for succeeding on the platform, as maintaining consistency in your branding across all your content and your profile will help build brand awareness.

There are three ways to showcase your branding on your channel:

• Picture. Your profile picture is one of the first things viewers will see, as this appears on your videos and comments on the site.
• Banner image. This refers to the graphic on top of your YouTube profile, similar to the Facebook cover photo.
• Video watermark. These appear in the bottom right corner of videos.

Simply upload the photo of your choice by clicking Upload beside each section. Keep in mind that the recommended dimensions for each image will vary.

Here is a quick overview of the ideal sizes for each element:

• YouTube picture dimensions: 800 px by 800 px and a maximum file size of 4 MB
• YouTube banner dimensions: 2560 px by 1440 px and a maximum file size of 6 MB
• YouTube watermark dimensions: 150 px by 150 px and a maximum file size of 1 MB

Due to their small size, there isn’t much room for creativity when it comes to the profile picture and watermark. In fact, it’s best to use your company logo or a simple and easily recognizable icon associated with your brand for these sections.

When it comes to the YouTube banner, however, you want it to be as eye-catching as possible; don’t be afraid to use bold colors and elements that immediately draw the eye of the profile viewers. Just make sure to keep your branding in mind when choosing a color palette, font, or styling for your banner.

#5. Add Your Business Information

Lastly, you need to add all the important business information to your YouTube business channel to make it easier for your audience to get in touch with your brand.

On the Profile tab, you can find and edit the following:

1. Name. If you aren’t satisfied with the channel name you set during sign-up, you can change it to something that best represents your channel or your business.
2. Handle. The handle functions similarly to an X/Twitter or Instagram username and can be used to search for your channel.
3. Description. The YouTube description functions as your channel’s About section, where you can tell your audience more about your brand and content. This has a maximum limit of 5,000 characters, so you can be as descriptive as you want. Aside from your information, you can also add relevant keywords to your description to help improve your channel’s visibility.
4. Channel URL. The channel URL is your profile’s unique web address, often comprised of numbers and letters. When you add a new handle, it will replace your current channel URL, so this is another section you should optimize to emphasize your branding.
5. Links. If you have other social media profiles or an external website, you can promote them on your YouTube business channel to redirect traffic from one site to the other. You can add up to 14 links to your channel.
6. Contact info. Here, you can add an email address where people can contact you for business inquiries or collaborations. This will show up in your channel description when users click on More.

7 Expert Tips to Increase Your YouTube Business Channel’s Visibility

Aside from optimizing your channel’s features, here are some expert tips to help you improve your YouTube business channel’s visibility:

#1. Optimize Your Videos for SEO

Optimizing your videos for YouTube SEO will help them rank higher and increase your overall visibility on the platform. As mentioned earlier, YouTube is the second-largest search engine today, so it’s important to utilize key elements for discoverability.

To find relevant terms to use in your content, you can conduct keyword research using YouTube’s built-in tool. This will help you show up in search results for that specific keyword.

You can find this feature by going to YouTube Studio and clicking Analytics on the left menu. Then tap Inspiration and enter a broad keyword into the search box.

This will generate a collection of popular videos for this keyword as well as the top searches for this topic.

Aside from keywords, it’s also important to use the right tags in your videos to help the YouTube algorithm determine what your content is about, which will affect its ranking and visibility. You can do this for both newly uploaded and old videos.

#2. Develop a Content Strategy

If you want to successfully use YouTube for business marketing, you need to develop a solid content strategy to guide your efforts on the app. First, you need a thorough understanding of your audience and why they use the app. Then, you can use this information to create a social media marketing strategy centered around their interests.

#3. Use Interesting Thumbnails

While quality content will help improve your overall watch time and engagement, using an interesting thumbnail will help you get more views on YouTube. In fact, according to Google, 90% of the top-performing videos have a custom thumbnail.

Moreover, a study by Koh and Cui (2022) found that a thumbnail’s visual attributes can affect the view-through rate of videos. So, if you want your videos to stand out in search results and turn YouTube impressions into clicks, use bold colors and eye-catching visuals in your thumbnails.

You can also incorporate some text to give the viewer a glimpse of what the video is about and encourage them to watch it. However, since you are using YouTube for business, it’s best to avoid using clickbait thumbnails just to get more views, as this will negatively affect your branding and reputation.

#4. Upload Content Regularly

If you already have a dedicated following on YouTube, it’s crucial to maintain their interest by uploading content regularly. According to Wyzowl, 2,500 videos are uploaded on YouTube every minute, which means if you stop publishing videos, your audience likely won’t wait around and can simply find someone else to watch.

To help you build a consistent posting schedule, consider scheduling your YouTube videos. This way, you can plan and shoot all your content in advance and simply schedule them to publish throughout the week.

However, since YouTube’s native scheduler doesn’t support bulk scheduling, you need a social media scheduling tool like Publer to manage your content.

#5. Utilize YouTube Shorts

Short-form video content, like YouTube Shorts, is the best way to reach and engage new audiences. Plus, they’re much easier to make compared with regular videos, so they’re perfect for companies that want to use YouTube for business but don’t have the resources to make longer content.

Like regular videos, you can also schedule YouTube Shorts with Publer to improve their performance further. Moreover, according to Statista’s recent data, Shorts recorded the highest engagement rate across all short-form videos in the first quarter of 2024, beating even TikTok, making it a valuable tool for building awareness.

#6. Promote on Other Social Media Platforms

You can maximize your video’s reach and your channel’s visibility by cross-posting your content on other social media platforms. Since different sites cater to varying demographics, your audience on platforms like Instagram or TikTok may not be aware that you have a YouTube channel in the first place.

Plus, this is a great way to repurpose your videos and ensure that all your social media profiles always have fresh and relevant content.

#7. Monitor YouTube Analytics

Remember to monitor YouTube analytics to keep track of your current KPIs, determine whether your current strategy needs updating, and identify areas of improvement. On the platform’s analytics tab, you can also find your top-performing videos, which can help you understand what kind of content resonates with your audience.

If you use Publer to schedule your content, you’ll find even more in-depth information about your YouTube channel’s metrics on our analytics tab.

3 Effective Ways to Engage Your Audience on YouTube With a Business Account

In addition to the tips we discussed above, engaging your audience is another way to improve your YouTube business account’s visibility.

Here are the most effective ways to do so:

• Participate in conversations. Comments are an important factor for the YouTube algorithm, so consider participating in conversations in the comment section to promote engagement. Liking, pinning, or replying to comments will encourage other viewers to comment on your videos and help their visibility.
• Curate a playlist. If you have multiple videos on a single topic, consider curating them into a playlist to make it easier for your audience to view all related content. This not only provides more value for the viewer but also boosts your channel’s watch time.
• Utilize the Community tab. The YouTube Community tab is a feature on the platform that allows creators to share text-based posts with their audience. This is a great way to share news, updates, and other important details with your followers and make them feel more involved, which can help create a sense of community.

YouTube for Business Pros and Cons

Like other social media sites, using YouTube for business has its own pros and cons.

Let’s see what they are:

3 Key YouTube for Business Pros

Here are some of the pros of using YouTube for your business:

• Diverse audience reach. YouTube is one of the most popular social media sites across all demographics, making it an excellent way to target a large market. According to Google, despite the misconception that YouTube is only popular among younger audiences, the platform’s older demographic, aka those with purchasing power, is steadily growing as well.
• Improved ROI. Running YouTube ads alongside Google ads results in a 3% increase in search conversion rates, which can help improve your return on investment (ROI).
• Free to use. Another advantage of using YouTube for business is that pricing is completely free; unless you’re running ad campaigns, you don’t need to spend on anything to start your channel.

2 Crucial YouTube for Business Cons

Despite its great advantages, there are also some cons to using YouTube for business, such as:

• More time-consuming to manage. From conceptualization to post-production, creating YouTube content can take much more time and effort compared to other kinds of content, which can make it difficult for businesses to maintain and manage.
• Skippable ads. While running YouTube ads can definitely be effective at reaching new audiences, ads on the platform can be skipped after a few seconds, significantly limiting their impact. This means businesses have to work harder to hook the viewer within the first few seconds to generate a lead.

The Top 5 Benefits of YouTube for Business Advertising

Leveraging YouTube for business advertising can provide several crucial benefits, such as:

• Improving brand awareness. With the app’s general popularity and diverse audience, using YouTube for business can be an effective way to boost your brand awareness. In fact, according to YouTube, 70% of users say that the platform has helped them become more aware of new brands.
• Generating leads. By creating content that resonates with your audience, you can generate leads and expand your reach on the platform. Whether they want to be entertained or informed, you are more likely to convert followers into customers when they show genuine interest in your videos.
• Establishing credibility. Producing videos that are useful and relevant to your audience will help you become a leader in your field. It’s not just about being known—your credibility is essential to gaining your audience’s confidence. Furthermore, videos are far more entertaining and give your content a personal element, allowing you to make genuine connections with your followers.
• Reaching a broader audience. The popularity of video content is on the rise, so by using YouTube for business, you have an excellent opportunity to reach a bigger audience and easily promote your products.
• Driving website traffic. Videos are a fantastic way to get your brand out there and drive people to your website or turn them into leads. When you post your videos on YouTube, include a compelling call-to-action (CTA) that encourages viewers to take that next step. You can also embed your video on other sites to get more eyes on it and get it ranking higher in search results.

Key Takeaways

• To set up a YouTube channel for business, you need to sign into the platform using your preferred email address and add the necessary information.
• If you want to increase your channel’s visibility, it’s important to optimize your videos for SEO, use interesting thumbnails, and consistently upload quality videos.
• Some ways to engage your audience with a YouTube business account are by curating playlists, utilizing the Community tab, and engaging in conversations.
• Using YouTube for business has several pros, including improved ROI and a diverse audience reach. But it also has some cons, such as skippable ads and more time-consuming management.
• If you decide to use YouTube for business, you can benefit from improved brand awareness, better lead generation, and a broader reach.