Viral content on YouTube, are seen, consumed and shared in a way that for brands is an attraction. Because when the content of a brand is shared at that level, it is talking about the content, buy youtube views but also about the brand. This helps to build or consolidate the image of the brand and improve the public’s relationship with it.

But YouTube is like a huge ocean full of millions of Internet users wishing to consume content, but to succeed is not enough to use a good bait, a good hook or be in the right place at the right time.

To get good engagement on YouTube, we must take care of the content of our videos, but also many other factors that we must take into account.

What do videos that generate engagement have in common?

When it comes to building our content strategy for YouTube, we must first focus on the SEO of the video itself on YouTube. It is a step completely unrelated to the content and its quality, but will tell the search engine how to locate the video. For it:

• We will carefully choose the title.
• It agrees that the name of the file is the same as the title. Avoid self-generated names by programs (eg VID20141122.mp4).
• We will also take care of the keywords and the description .
• The description must be as complete as possible, a good summary of the content. But we can include additional information about the brand, such as links to other social profiles, URL of the website / store / blog, etc.
• We can and should choose a good thumbnail that represents the content of the video and that easily distinguishes it from other videos on the channel and YouTube.
• Of course, it is still better to create a specific image to be used as a miniature.

In terms of content, this will undoubtedly be of interest to our target audience. But also:

• If the video is very long, it should be divided into more digestible fragments, of no more than 10 min. Of course, we must link each video with the next taking advantage of the annotations or the new functionality of Final Screen.
• Needless to say, the visual and sound quality must be optimal . Depending on the type of content we offer, certain qualities are expected from us.
• The introductions or headers, should be short or better still do without them. After having been visualizing an ad, what less users want is to have to wait another 15 seconds to visualize the contents.
• The videos must follow certain guidelines, maintaining a certain homogeneity in all its aspects (duration, style, writing, script). In such a way that a follower who watches a video of the brand, automatically knows who has posted it and what to expect from the video.
• There is a fairly undervalued content, and that helps both users, and the YouTube search itself: the subtitles . Transcribing the video to include the subtitles to the language of the video, is a task that requires time and dedication, but that compensates, since YouTube can better understand what is told in the video and can position it better. At the same time, users with hearing problems are being reached.
• If we also include subtitles in English, the brand will be making it easier for the video to viralize globally.

Another very important factor are the miniatures . By creating small thumbnails of other videos at the end of each video and framing them with Annotations, we can direct users to new related videos. This allows to take advantage of the moment in which the user has been showing interest in a type of content, to offer similar content, so the chances of clicking are much greater.

Of course, this is only the beginning. We must not forget about the recycling of contents . Our videos can be converted into blog articles, infographics, SlideShare presentations, etc. and all of them with a link that directs the video itself.

Would you add any other advice to achieve better engagement on YouTube? What do you think of the new Final Screen functionality?