When you publish a video on YouTube, you might be tempted to celebrate a job well done as soon as the content is live. After all, YouTube is a massive search engine, right? The right audience will find your content directly on YouTube? Well, yes and no. 

While YouTube is a search engine and its algorithm will help get eyes on your content, if you want to take full advantage of your content, you should do your own video promotion, too.

Think of it this way: you’ve spent time and resources creating content that your audience wants to watch. In our own original research, we found that 90% of survey respondents “very much” or “somewhat” enjoy watching video content from brands online. You’re selling yourself short—and wasting the time and energy that went into the content creation—if you don’t try to get your video in front of the right viewers.  

With that in mind, here are five foolproof ways to cross-promote your YouTube videos on other marketing channels. For best results, build these steps into your strategy before you begin production!

1) Share your YouTube videos on social media

The first step towards promoting your YouTube videos is taking advantage of the many social media platforms that accommodate video. Here are a few specific ideas to consider:

• Share the full-length video on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 
• Share a snippet of the video using short-form placements like Instagram Reels or TikTok.
• Share an Instagram or Facebook story linking to the YouTube video itself. 
• Ask the people on your team to share the video on their personal LinkedIn accounts.

Your priorities here will depend on your existing platform(s) of choice, where your audience is likely to engage with video content, and where the video’s concept is most likely to succeed. But if your goal is boosting your video’s success, make sure to share it on at least one social platform to expand your reach.

2) Tag any relevant parties when you share your video

As you leverage social media for promoting your YouTube channel, make sure to tag any relevant parties who might be interested in promoting the video personally. For example, you might tag your production company partner, any actors or voiceover artists who are featured in the video, crew members who worked on the project, or brands whose products are featured throughout.

Each of these entities has their own incentive to help the video succeed, so tagging them is a great way to make sure they know the video is live and shareable. Then, they’re free to promote it however they see fit!

3) Embed your YouTube videos in blog articles

One of the most natural ways to cross-promote your YouTube video is by pairing it with relevant blog posts. Ideally, you’d identify these blog posts before you begin video production in the first place, but this is a powerful step regardless.

Take a look at your organization’s blog articles, and identify a few that align most closely with the content of your YouTube video. Try not to force it, though—in some cases, there truly is no natural overlap, and forcing a connection isn’t helpful. (For example, if your video is a recap of a recent event your company attended, it may not make sense to plop it into an informational blog article.) 

If a natural link does exist, you’ll want to embed the YouTube video directly on the blog page. To complete this step, click the “Share” button on your YouTube video, then click “Embed.” Copy the HTML code that comes up on the page, and paste that code into your blog page where you want the video to appear. Just make sure to check that it embedded successfully before you republish your blog.

4) Link to your video in your email outreach

If you run an email newsletter or send out other email outreach, consider linking to your new video in your next distribution.

Most email platforms don’t currently support a full video embed in the email itself (at least not successfully), so the most common workaround is to take a still image from your video, edit a play button over the image, and make the whole image clickable with a link to the YouTube content.

Just make sure to provide some context around what the video is and why your email subscribers might want to watch. You can even A/B test these details within your email, experimenting with different thumbnail images, text descriptions, or placements within the email. In addition to boosting your video, you’ll gain important insights into your audience’s email preferences.

5) Include a YouTube badge on your website

Last but not least, embed a YouTube badge on your website to direct your audience to all your video content at once. Many businesses will include a YouTube badge in their site’s header or footer alongside other social media links. 

Clicking the badge should take your audience to your YouTube channel to explore your latest videos all together. It’s a great way to capture additional attention from users who are already engaged on your website. 

Final Thoughts

Gaining traction on your YouTube channel is an imprecise science, but aligning your video promotion across multiple marketing channels is the best way to succeed. Use the five approaches above for your next video to find what works best for your organization. And while you’re at it, check out our YouTube channel for more video marketing tips and tricks!