How Can Companies Improve Customer Engagement on YouTube?

Creating a video that goes viral on YouTube should not be your end goal. If you have a YouTube channel, the main aim should be to encourage your subscribers and viewers to visit your channel and videos multiple times. Your aim should be create a connection with them which goes beyond the immediacy of a viral video; the association with your audiences should be long-term.

Viewership of a video that you have created is important but it is more important to engage them.  The video should not only be watched but should be shared, talked about on social media and in the comments section, liked and should induce more subscriptions to your channel or more conversions on the landing page of your website. Creating a video which people watched but failed to entice them to take any action will prove to be counterproductive in the long run.

Some interesting stats:

According to a post published on Kissmetrics, the National Center for Biotechnology Information has recently published a study where it has been found that the attention span of human beings in 2015 is 8.25 seconds. Also an infographic published by Adweek states that the average watch time of a single internet video is down to 2.7 seconds although the average session length has increased.

Longer videos have been seen to have lower retention. So, a video which has time duration between 5 to 10 minutes has retention of 50% and the viewership has been seen to drop midway drastically. Also among different devices, smartphones are used by Millennials the most when watching a YouTube video.

In such a scenario, the only long lasting solution to the problem is to make engaging content so that the viewers find it interesting enough to watch the entire video and also come back to the channel again and again.

Tips to Drive Customer Engagement on YouTube

1. After the video has been posted, keep in touch with your audience

Your job is only half done when you create and publish a YouTube video. The more important job is to use different metrics to keep track of the number of views, comments, shares, etc and the popularity of the video. You will also have to engage with your audience by replying to comments that appear in the comments section, in your social media accounts where you have cross promoted your video and on any forum where you find a mention of your video. If there is a negative perception or if you think the concept has been misunderstood, it is your duty to address the concerns and explain to your audience the purpose and actual meaning of the video. That is the only way in which you can build connections.

2. Live streaming videos

YouTube allows companies to live stream videos which can help in improve and increase customer engagement. You can get a top executive from your firm to discuss an issue directly with your ideal audience and also get instant product or service feedback; this helps to bridge the gap.

3. Using annotations

Never forget to use the annotation feature that YouTube offers as it allows you to embed certain links to the video. Use it to embed the subscription link or direct your audience to related content on your company website or direct them to a blog. The effectiveness of a video without a call to action is halved.

YouTube is a platform which allows you to post content which people love. It is much easier to retain the contents of a video than a long post. So, learn to use it effectively. There is much to gain.

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