So you want to start a new channel on YouTube to share your videos – or maybe even to run a successful video advertising campaign? Well, you’ve come to the right place! It may seem hard to create your channel, but read this how-to guide and watch our videos – you’ll soon be ready to go.

Two types of YouTube channel

On YouTube, you’ve no doubt watched countless videos that have been uploaded by other people. But you don’t have to stand on the sideline. You can make your own channel yourself by uploading your own videos to your own channel.

There are two types of YouTube channel available. The channel you choose to create depends on whether you're an individual video creator or you plan to operate as a brand online and engage in video advertising.

• Personal channels are populated with personal details and generally only have one administrator.
• Brand channels are run and managed by an advertiser or a company, and can have multiple users. Critically, there are no personal details on brand channels.

Creating a personal channel

To create your own personal YouTube channel that only you can manage using your Google account:

• Search for YouTube on a computer or using the mobile site
• Try any action that requires a channel, such as uploading a video or posting a comment
• You will be prompted to create a channel
• The resulting form will automatically pre-populate with your Google account details
• Check these details and confirm to create your own channel

Switching from your personal YouTube channel to a brand channel

To create a YouTube channel for a brand that can have multiple owners or managers:

• Sign in to YouTube and go to your personal channel list
• Fill in the details of your brand account and verify them
• Use the account switcher at the top-right corner of your screen to switch between the personal account and the brand account
• Go to your Advanced account settings
• Select Move Channel to Brand Account
• Select your brand channel and opt to delete the personal channel that you logged in as initially
• Follow the instructions on screen to add additional managers

With a brand channel, you can engage in display and video advertising campaigns, and target video ads at the right audience.

Video Upload

When you’ve created a YouTube channel, you can start uploading videos for other people to enjoy and engage with.

To upload a video to your YouTube channel, follow these steps:

• Sign in to Google
• Go to your YouTube channel
• Click on Upload
• Choose the video privacy settings
• Select where you’d like to upload from and the video you’d like to upload
• Set the basic information and the advanced settings of your video
• Click Done or Publish
• Click Share to privately share your video

Adding Metadata

Now that you’ve uploaded your video, you’ll want it to get as many views as possible. This is the time to think about your video metadata. Metadata helps your videos get discovered by viewers and by search engines. So it’s important to add relevant metadata, including video titles, video descriptions, and keyword tags to your video content:

• The video title should be a title that will encourage users to click on or watch the video
• The video description should accurately describe the content of the video a user is about to watch
• Keyword tags should be added to help YouTube and search engines identify what the video is about

Adding video thumbnails

Video thumbnails let viewers see a quick snapshot of your video as they’re browsing YouTube. It's important to add a thumbnail to your video that accurately represents its content. Remember, this is the viewer's first impression of your content, so it should invite them to watch and engage. You can add video thumbnails to your videos through YouTube’s Video Manager.

Follow these steps to add a thumbnail to your video:

• Sign in to YouTube
• Go to YouTube Studio > Video Manager
• Next to the video, click Edit
• On the left of the preview screen, choose a thumbnail
• Click Save Changes

You’ll need to verify your YouTube account to upload custom thumbnails. Verification just proves to the system that there's a real person behind this channel.

Video Management

You’ve uploaded your videos to YouTube – but you’re not done yet. You can use Video Manager to develop and manage your video content, and to make changes to existing videos you have uploaded. For example, you can use it to:

• Enhance video quality
• Edit audio
• Change video descriptions

Adding YouTube Cards

To increase user engagement further and drive more views, you can add YouTube cards to your videos. Cards help to drive actionable results from your video content. With cards, you can create clickable calls-to-action that link directly to your:

• Website
• Videos
• Playlist
• Channel

‘ABCD’ of effective creative for video

When creating, updating, and developing YouTube content, it's important to remember the ‘ABCD’ of effective creative for video:

• Attract attention from the start
• Brand naturally and meaningfully
• Connect with the viewer through emotion and storytelling
• Direct the user clearly with what you want them to do next

YouTube Studio

There are a number of useful tools available in the YouTubeStudio to help you manage your video content:

• Dashboard – for notifications and alerts
• Video Manager – to help you organize your videos
• Community – to review and respond to comments
• Channel – to adjust your channel’s settings
• Analytics – to review your channel performance
• Create – to create new videos from your library with your editor

Customizing your channel

You can customize and manage your YouTube channel by clicking My Channel in the top right corner of the screen.

It's really beneficial to correctly setup and manage your YouTube channel. It ensures continued discoverability of your content online and keeps your presence on the platform consistent.

Video Analytics

Measuring the success of your content is an ongoing task. You can analyze your video performance using YouTube Analytics reports. These reports are particularly important for content creators who rely on the organic success of their videos and are on the receiving end of YouTube advertising.

The available reports include:

• Earnings reports, which include estimated earnings and ad performance
• Watch-time reports, which include watch times, views, traffic sources, and audience retention
• Engagement reports, which include subscribers and annotations reports

Analytics reports can provide you with valuable insights. You can use them to gain a really deep understanding of your viewers, and their behaviors and preferences. Instead of operating in the dark, you’ll discover which videos captivate people, and which ones make them click off. You’ll understand why some videos are shared far and wide, and others have a small audience. You can use these insights to create high-quality content that provides real value to your audience and to optimize your video strategy for success.

These reports are waiting for you – so don’t waste any time: get using them.

Ten Creative Fundamentals for your YouTube Channel

What are they?

Over the years, YouTube has analyzed its top creators and how they engage with their audiences on the platform. They’ve identified 10 key fundamental principles to a successful creative strategy. While not all of them are totally necessary, the more of them you’re able to implement into your content, the higher the chance that it will be discovered and shared. These 10 fundamentals are that content should be:

1. Shareable
2. Accessible
3. Conversational
4. Consistent
5. Sustainable
6. Discoverable
7. Collaborative
8. Interactive
9. Targeted
10. Authentic

Let’s dig a little into these fundamental principles.

Shareable

You need to make engaging content that your audience will love and want to share with their friends.

Accessible

If a viewer discovers one of your YouTube videos, can they appreciate it without having to watch all the other videos in your channel? Being accessible will allow for your videos to populate various different feeds and audiences.

Conversational

Are you having a conversation with your audience? Make sure that there’s an element of speaking directly to the audience within your video. This should help you connect to your community and bond with your fans.

Consistent

Consistency can involve multiple things. Do you have a regular upload schedule that you stick to? Is the format of your videos similar across the board? Is the on-screen personality consistent with every upload?

Sustainable

If you make a video and it becomes super successful, will you be able to make more of it? This might not be the case if the video was very expensive to produce.

Discoverable

Will people find your content? This means ensuring that titles are correct, and that your metadata clearly identifies what your content is about. It also means that you need to make content that your viewers are searching for.

Collaborative

Many digital content creators collaborate with other creators to help grow their channels. For successful collaborations, make sure you have a similar target audience and create a guest spot that’s appealing. It’s also important to collaborate with creators who have already demonstrated an affinity with your product.

Interactive

Is there a way to involve your audience in your content? If your audience sees that they are being heard and that your content is being shaped according to their comments, they will appreciate it and come back for more.

Targeted

Do you know who’s watching your content? You can learn about your audience by engaging with them on social media, seeing what they like, what they don’t like, and understanding what they expect from your channel. The more niche your audience is, the more engagement you will see on your content.

Authentic

Your content needs to be authentic, authoritative, and most importantly show your passion for the subject matter. On camera, it will be clear from your body language if you’re passionate about your subject. Your audience will engage more with your content if they feel your message is credible and authentic.