Build propane’s presence on YouTube

Start a YouTube channel for your company in 2023. (Photo: Maxxa_Satori/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images)

As you put together marketing plans for 2023, make sure to include YouTube. Users watch more than 1 billion hours of video every day. YouTube is the second-largest search engine, and people want to watch content that educates, informs or entertains.

Create your channel

Get started by creating a channel on YouTube – but make sure you don’t already have one. To check, log in with all of your Gmail addresses as a quick way to see what accounts you manage. You can toggle between accounts to see any potential channels.

Grow with Google Digital Coach Lindsay Sims recommends using the channel switcher if you have multiple YouTube accounts: youtube.com/channel_switcher.

If you’ve found an old channel with outdated videos, don’t rush to delete it. Sims suggests hiding old content by changing the video settings to unlisted or private. Don’t delete an entire channel, especially if it has content that people are still watching.

Customize your channel

Under branding, be sure to set up your profile picture and banner image. If you plan to use your logo as the profile photo, consider using a banner image that includes the faces of employees at your company. People like learning from other people, says Sims, who is also the founder and CEO of Predictable Results Marketing.

Using the video watermark feature is an easy way to ensure your propane company logo is in the bottom right-hand corner of every video on your channel.

Last fall, YouTube introduced handles to make it easier to customize your channel and find users on the platform. The handle will also serve as your channel’s customized URL. For example, ours is youtube.com/@LPGasmagazine.

You can review or change your YouTube channel handle here: youtube.com/handle.

Highlight your best content

Be intentional. Specifically lead users through the content you create on YouTube. Make sure they can learn about your propane company and continue to find more videos from you.

Be sure to add two video spotlights to be featured on your channel: One video is for people who haven’t subscribed to your channel yet, and the other is a featured video for returning subscribers.

Under layout settings, customize the channel’s video spotlights and featured sections (previously known as playlists). Your channel can have up to 12 different sections that are organized, allowing you to outline related content for viewers.

“We don’t want people to watch just one video and float away,” Sims says. Viewers want to keep going, so give them content to watch. If you don’t lead them through, they will find videos of related content from someone else.

If you’re looking for more subscribers on your channel, remind people that they can find you on other platforms. Consider telling your email list that you have a new video on YouTube or ask your Facebook followers to subscribe to your channel.

Streamline content creation

Set some goals for 2023 to get video content onto your YouTube channel. Give yourself some deadlines to follow and hold yourself accountable. Sims recommends a three-date sequence of deadlines: record, complete editing and go live.

Think about topics that your propane company could cover. What knowledge could your team share? The sweet spot is where your expertise meets customer pain points or interests.

Save yourself some time with a new feature that sets standard titles and descriptions that populate for each new upload on your channel. Find this option under settings and upload defaults. Also adjust video visibility to pending review in this section so uploads don’t go live right away.

Consider creating a livestream that can take viewers behind the scenes at your company. Thirty percent of internet users report watching at least one video livestream weekly, according to Hootsuite.