There are several mistakes you need to avoid in order to have compelling branding on your YouTube channel. If you are serious about growing your YouTube channel then you need to make a great first impression with your viewers.
First you need to hone in on the target audience for your YouTube channel: Have you decided what niche you are speaking to? Who are you making videos for? Does the look of your channel attract your niche?
The reason I ask these questions is because it’s important before you dive into your YouTube journey that you really think about the audience you are serving. YouTube is a huge video ecosystem with 1 billion hours of videos viewed every day. So, how are you going to attract even a small fraction of those viewers?
So, let’s talk about those mistakes you want to avoid.
(Watch the video for more info on these tips)
#1 — Not having a channel banner
When people land on your YouTube channel one of the first design elements they will see is your channel banner. Be sure your channel banner clearly states what your channel is all about. Include your logo, a photo of yourself, and your business tagline.
#2 — Not uploading thumbnails with an appealing design
Your thumbnails really need to stand out and have design elements that attract your target audience. So be sure to have your branding colors in the thumbnail and match your design to overall branding (on your website and social media).
But, also be sure the photo you include of yourself or of a scene in your video is appealing. People are most attracted to faces so try to take an expressive selfie.
By expressive I mean with an over the top expression. You literally have about 1 second to impress someone coming across your videos on YouTube — so these days animated photos can get higher click through rates.
Here’s a statistic that isn’t talked about a lot:
More than 70% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices.
Think for a moment about your own habits scrolling apps on your smartphone. In order to pay attention the thumbnail needs to really appeal to you, right?
Here’s a pro tip: Every time you make a video do a search on YouTube for the title of the video you are making. Look at the thumbnails on the videos that appear in the search results and try to make your thumbnail look a little different.
So if the thumbnails don’t have people smiling — take a selfie for your thumbnail with a big smile or a “surprised” expression to make yours stand out.
#3- Not uploading a Video Watermark
Your video watermark is what you see on the bottom right hand side of any video on YouTube. To change your Avatar follow these steps:
- Go into YouTube studio
- Click on customization
- Under channel customization select “branding”
- Scroll down to “video watermark” and upload your logo here
#4- Not having a channel trailer
So if you think of your YouTube channel like walking into a shop . The channel trailer is introducing people to what you have to offer.
This is everything your channel trailer needs to convert viewers into subscribers:
- Quick intro of you and your channel
- Overview of the types of videos you publish
- Highlight reel of your video content
- Posting schedule (optional)
- Call-to-action to subscribe
Don’t be intimidated by all of these steps to get your channel branded appropriately. It’s super important that you just get started with making videos and not get into a perfectionistic mindset. Start implementing the tips that you can do now then integrate more in the future. You’ll soon find that your channel starts growing and the best part is you are attracting the right fans who will keep coming back.
