OK, so you’ve decided to take the bull by the horns and finally take advantage of the 2nd largest search engine on the planet: YouTube! It’s about time since 8-out-of-10 new vehicle shopper uses YouTube to watch 3rd party vehicle reviews of the models they think about purchasing which makes them prime candidates to snack on the videos posted by your dealership.
If you haven’t made that important decision already, now would be a great time. As you probably know, Google owns YouTube, so videos with the right title, description, and tags will not only rank solidly on YouTube but also have a good chance to get indexed on Google Search.
So your video is uploaded to YouTube, now what?
The first thing you want to do is to create a strong headline with all the keywords associated with your video, your dealership, your city or business area and any brand prospects might associate with your video. Make a good use of all the characters YouTube makes available for the title field. When people search for stuff, they often ask questions so positioning your title as an answer to a potential question could provide great results.
The second item you’re going to want to focus on is the description of your video. YouTube allows for quite a bit of space in the description field so take the time to write a quality intro to your video providing viewers the main tenets of the content while making good use of the keywords. Make sure also to include the make and models names of competing vehicles so potential viewers can stumble on your content. The description is also a good place to include the names of surrounding cities you also naturally attract buyers from.
It’s important that you also include in the description of your videos the links to your site, product page or the incentives that you are featuring in the video. Don’t always send people to the home page. If it’s a used car video, send prospects to the used car section of your site.
If it’s a specific new model, send the traffic to the section of that model of your site. If you’re featuring new vehicle incentives, send the traffic to your specials page. It’s important to always include the full URL with the http:// because if you use only the www, the link won’t be active or clickable.
Finally, fill the tag section with all the keywords relating to your video, industry, model, manufacturer and every brand competing with the product you are featuring in your video. Separate each tag by a comma. You might want to create for yourself a text file with the most important tags that you will want to include for all your videos. You will be able to copy/paste these, and it will save you a bunch of time after each upload.
Don’t Forget The Custom Video Thumbnail
If your channel allows it, upload a custom video thumbnail specifically designed to feature the content of your video. Use an image that will present the vehicle or incentive in its best light and add a good call for action on your image. YouTube will always provide you three thumbnail to choose from, but often these don’t provide an enticing image that will make viewers want to click to watch.
Sounds Complicated? Use This Spy Tool And Mimic The Title, Description, and Tags of Winning Videos
You don’t have to go crazy to write the perfect title, description, and tags to rank your videos at the top of searches on YouTube and Google Search. I use a really simple tool that helps my spy on the videos that are already at the top for the keywords I want my videos to rank.
1) First, you enter the keywords you want your video to rank and the number of videos you want the system to analyze.
2) Second, you review the title and descriptions of the winning videos your video will be competing with.
3) Third, you build your title, description, and tags based on the videos performing the best for the search rankings you’re after.
4) Finally, you review all potential tags, and the level of competition you’re video will have for each level.
That’s it!
Check out my YouTube Spy Tool here.
Final Tip: Don’t Delete Your Old Video
I see dealers all the time deleting promotion and incentive videos once the specials are no longer valid. That’s a HUGE error! If you do, you will lose the views associated to your channel, the keywords, the engagement and all that good stuff that Google associates to your channel and that gives your channel authority as an automotive business in your city.
A better solution is to adjust your title and description with a note mentioning that the promotion is now over and to “stay tuned” for more promotions like these. This strategy will protect you against having to give customers rebates that are no longer valid and will keep all the momentum of your channel and your videos.
Sean Cassy is co-owner and the automotive digital marketing strategist at Turbo Marketing. You can contact him here by email or reach him from 8am-6pm every weekday at Turbo Marketing Solutions