Using YouTube to Get More Followers and Sell More Books

With thousands of titles published every month, authors should consider using YouTube to get more followers and sell more books. YouTube is the second largest search engine and an excellent vehicle for promoting yourself and your writing. YouTube, which is owned by Google, is a social media platform, and like the other platforms requires creativity, focus, and attention to details. It’s best to have a plan for setting up your channel, creating videos with purpose and sharing your videos with the world. Enjoy the tips below.

Using YouTube to Get More Followers and Sell More Books

Proper Video Setup:

Create and Brand a Professional Looking YouTube Channel- Your channel will be a reflection on you, your message and content. Make sure you create a professional looking, well-organized channel that complements your other platforms. It should be inviting and consist of well-thought-out content.

Choose a Proper Name- Your channel can be modified to fit your name or business name depending on what your brand is. Try and use the same name on all of your social accounts to complement and reinforce the brand.

Create a Branded Banner- The banner for your YouTube channel should be the same as your other platforms and website. Although the dimensions are different, a viewer should instantly recognize the channel as yours. All banners should encapsulate your message and be designed with hi-res images.

Use a Page Description as Your Author Bio- A well-written page description should tell viewers why you are qualified to write within your genre, what accolades support your writing and include information about you personally.

Add an Author Photo as Your Channel’s Picture- Use a hi-res, professional-looking photo on all of your social media channels.

Help Search Engines Find Your Videos:

Title- Choose and use the appropriate keywords in the title for each video. Make sure the title supports the content. The title is given a lot of weight when it comes to organic searches through Google. Dating your title shows current strategies.

Description- Start your description with the URL of your website and use the keyword(s) in the first sentence, and a couple of other times within your description. This will explain what your viewer is watching and will help your video get found through keyword searches on YouTube.

Turn Views into Traffic and Sales- Link back to your author website, social media platforms, and blog by including a Bitly.com ‘clickable’ hyperlink right after the description in the video description box.

Don’t Overlook the Tag Field- Tagging is a method of assigning keywords to digital resources. Your video should include your brand-specific tags along with other tags related to the video’s message. Most YouTube pros suggest adding as many relevant tags as you can to bring in organic viewers.

Make Videos Mobile Device Ready- Make sure your videos are created with the smartphone user in mind. Most views for videos are over smartphones. Several global forecasts predict that over 78 percent of viewers will use their mobile devices to watch digitally streamed content in 2018. They also state that a quarter of the population of the world will watch videos over their mobile phones in 2018.

Create Videos That Stand Out:

Be Clever When Creating Videos- Besides having a book trailer created, consider doing an author interview, series of short themed videos and a Q & A series. Readers want a relationship with the author, so being genuine is an effective way to achieve this. Be yourself, share your own story or author journey and allow others to get to know you. Keep videos to a reasonable length. It’s better to have more ‘attention-keeping’ videos to allow for greater search capabilities.

Use Videos for Testimonials- Ask your readers and customers to create a short and honest review of your book. Post these reviews on your channel. Take this strategy one step further and create a promotion to motivate readers to submit an honest review for your book.

Use Facebook Live to Create Videos- Authors can use Facebook Live to host a book read while simultaneously positioning themselves as an industry leader. You can sell your book online, or right from the live stream.

[Tweet “Create Videos and Turn Views Into traffic and Sales”]

Promote Your Videos:

Use a Call to Action- Use annotations directly on your YouTube videos that include a clickable call to action. These annotations appear on top of your videos for a specified length of time and can include links to your website or book page.

Embed Your Videos on Your Website- Use a plugin or embed code to get your videos on your website and blog articles. Then promote them using your social media platforms. Try and get others to share your videos on their social media platforms to create a buzz surrounding your book and YouTube channel. Using a video Seo plugin from Yoast.com will help organize your video sitemap and allow for videos to show up in search results.

Share Videos on Other Platforms- Promote your videos in the normal rotation on your other social media platforms. If you are running a promotion, you should increase the frequency of the posts to coincide with the details.

Connect with Higher Ranked YouTube Channels– There are many YouTube channels created by authors who have a larger number of subscribers within your genre. Subscribe to their channel, comment on their videos, reach out to connect and support each other. Keep in mind, the more established your channel is, the more cross promoting you can do.

Stand Alone, or Together- Make sure each video is set up properly and can stand on its own to give viewers all the information they need to find out more about you and your work. Not all of your videos will be viewed within your channel.

Using YouTube is one of the more effective ways authors can promote their work. Humans prefer watching and sharing a video over reading text. Especially if the videos are informative, creative and strike an emotional cord at some level.

Companies like Animoto make it easy to create videos without experience. You can also hire someone to help using websites like Upwork and Fiverr. With a little practice, you can be creating and uploading videos on a regular basis.  The more content you have on the internet, the more visible you will be. Using YouTube to get more followers and sell more books is a smart strategy that is proven to work. Happy Creating!

 

Rick Lite of Stress Free Book Marketing, stands at the forefront of the ever-changing book industry. He is a seasoned book marketing professional with over 13 years of experience in the industry. Rick’s expertise comes from tirelessly working on new and innovative ways to market his own books and CDs with his company and parent company, Stress Free Kids. Embracing the core values of integrity, innovation, and growth, Rick works closely with authors to create custom, robust book marketing programs. His easy-going manner provides “stress-free” support and comfort to authors going through the book marketing process for the first time. Rick is quick to share his knowledge and “insider tips” for a successful marketing campaign that will lead to increased exposure, awareness and most importantly, sales.