How to Build a Brand on YouTube—Tips for Success

YouTube is filled with channels that educate users, review products, and dazzle viewers with a variety of entertaining content. The competition’s fierce, but it’s worth the effort to build your presence and attract your unique audience.

With 2.476 billion users in July 2022, YouTube is second only to Facebook in the number of active users.

• YouTube’s mobile app has around 370 million daily active users worldwide.
• 5 years ago, YouTube reached a milestone of users collectively watching over 1 billion hours of videos every single day.
• The pandemic has changed video consumption trends, increasing video consumption from roughly 73% of internet traffic to roughly 82%.  

To grab the attention of this vast audience, you need to learn how to build your brand on YouTube. These tips will help get you there.  

Branding on YouTube vs. Other Platforms

Your SEO, titles, and descriptions are important, but with YouTube’s emphasis on videos, it’s equally important to make your visuals truly captivating. Keep the following in mind:

Be Consistent with Your Graphics—Especially Video Thumbnails

Make your banners, logos, and profile pictures recognizable across every social media site. Specifically, when building a brand on YouTube, include eye-catching thumbnails that stand out amidst competitor videos (while remaining consistently recognizable as your brand).

If you’re building familiarity as an individual rather than a company, using your face in thumbnails is a memorable way to let users familiarize themselves with you and your content.

Video Is Unique: Use It to Your Advantage

When you’re considering how to build a brand on YouTube, exploit the unparalleled creative flexibility that only comes from video. Plan a unique style, and map out how you use every second of your videos to keep their attention.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself While Building a Brand on YouTube

Consider the following when you’re first building your channel:

1. Who Are You Trying to Reach?

Use YouTube analytics and study comments on competitor channels to gain insight into the specific people you want to attract.

1. How Do You Interact with Your Audience?

Check your video comments daily, responding to the most pertinent comments respectfully and promptly. You may not be able to reply to every comment, but always check them daily. Delete trolling posts and spam.

1. Would Music Make it Even Better?

Videos impact your followers with sight and sound, so consider finding background music to enhance your content. Brand building on social media is about establishing your unique voice in as many dimensions as possible. Music is a great way to make a statement that matches your visuals.

Be aware—you’ll have to follow copyright and licensing laws. If your budget is limited, there are plenty of options for royalty-free music. In many cases, artists simply want you to share a link to their channel somewhere in your description.

5 Important Ways to Benefit from Trends and Competitors

1. Build Partnerships with Other Channels

Collaborate with competitors to both reach a wider audience and project credibility in a friendly, approachable manner.

1. Identify Holes in the Market You Can Fill

Researching YouTube keywords will help you improve your SEO and attract new subscribers. Using Google Ads’ custom intent audience feature, you can capture viewers directly to these keywords when they search them.

1. Use Trends to Your Advantage

Don’t go chasing trends; instead, learn to adjust to people’s interests. Use YouTube search trends to get video ideas that will attract viewers.

1. Create New Relevant Content from Edits of Previous Videos

Making videos takes time, but if your earlier content touches on trending topics, edit pieces of your videos to create new content—just in time to ride the wave (with minimal production time).

1. There’s a Season for Everything

Holidays come at the same time every year, so plan for ways to incorporate seasonal themes into your messaging.

Your YouTube Video Checklist

Make sure you remember the following when posting every new video:

1. Keep your introductions brief and attention-grabbing.
2. In all your videos, remind people to subscribe, click the like button, ring the bell for notifications, and share a link with friends.
3. Post your video on your other social media channels.
4. Create playlists organized around common themes or products.
5. Create an SEO-friendly video title and description for every video.

Create Ad Campaigns That Only Appear with the Most Relevant and Suitable Content

Once you’re ready to start your first ad campaign, make sure your ads gain exposure where people are the most interested. Ad placement is crucial to connecting with viewers, while protecting your brand from negative and irrelevant exposure.

When you’re ready to take the next step with your YouTube channel, partner with Channel Factory to make sure your ads only appear with the most relevant content.