Dear Databox: How Can I Grow My B2B YouTube Channel?

YouTube has over 2.68 billion active monthly users… yet, many B2B brands still have no presence on the platform and continuously postpone building and growing their channels.

Sure, vloggers are still running the most popular channels on YouTube, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some huge gaps in the B2B space that your company could fill and use for lead generation.

In fact, we’re already seeing big players like Salesforce, HubSpot, Ahrefs, and Oracle doing it.

But to grow a B2B YouTube channel, you can’t really use the same techniques vloggers use. You need a different approach when it comes to branding and marketing.

And if you’re struggling to understand these differences, you’re not alone. Here’s one question we got from a B2B founder:

“Dear Databox,

Like a lot of B2B companies, we’ve had a YouTube channel for years, but haven’t really leaned into it. We’ve mostly used it to host and embed product videos. We launched it years ago, but for the most part, it just sits dormant. We only have 13k~ views (total!) in that time.

That said, I know I use YouTube a lot for education, or to evaluate other tools. And after seeing what companies like Ahrefs are doing, and seeing that top companies are doing 16k views a month, I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity to build it as a marketing channel.

I’m just curious to learn what other B2B companies have seen work, and if they’ve been able to make it successful. For example, how they define what topics to cover, how often they publish, who handles production, etc.”

B2B Founder

We consulted B2B marketers via our Benchmark groups and a targeted survey to find the best strategies and solutions to answer this question. Read on to learn how to grow a YouTube channel as a B2B brand, check out useful benchmarks, and find the best strategies for traffic growth.  

This article is part of our Dear Databox series, where you can send an anonymous question through your Benchmark Group to get insights from industry experts.

• YouTube Benchmarks for B2B Companies
• B2B YouTube Channel Goals
• Type of Content B2B Channels Must Create to Grow Their Channel
• The Biggest Challenges B2B Companies Face When Growing Their YouTube Channels
• 6 Expert Strategies to Grow Your YouTube Channel
• Accelerate Your Channel Growth by Tracking Key YouTube Metrics with Databox

YouTube Benchmarks for B2B Companies

How can you know whether the numbers you’re seeing a good and if your B2B YouTube channel can be considered successful?

Well, several factors are in play – specific industry, the type of content you post, who your audience is, what you’re trying to achieve with the channel, how often you post, and more.

Typically, B2B channels will have a different set of objectives compared to B2C channels, which is why you can’t really compare your numbers to channels like Mr. Beast.

You need to take a look at B2B YouTube benchmarks instead, and that’s exactly what we prepared (fresh from the Benchmark Groups oven).

Here’s some interesting data:

According to data provided by YouTube Benchmarks for B2B Companies, the average number of views received in July 2023 was 1.49k (median value, 151 contributors).

At the same time, the Average View Duration was 1min 16sec (median value, 64 contributors).

Are you a B2B company looking to grow its presence on YouTube? You can join our YouTube Benchmarks for B2B Companies group for free and instantly compare yourself to industry peers.

Some of the metrics you’ll find include Views, Average View Duration, Watch Time, Subscribers Gained, Likes and Comments, and more.

Instantly and Anonymously Benchmark Your Company’s Performance Against Others Just Like You

If you ever asked yourself:

• How does our marketing stack up against our competitors?
• Are our salespeople as productive as reps from similar companies?
• Are our profit margins as high as our peers?

Databox Benchmark Groups can finally help you answer these questions and discover how your company measures up against similar companies based on your KPIs.

When you join Benchmark Groups, you will:

• Get instant, up-to-date data on how your company stacks up against similar companies based on the metrics most important to you. Explore benchmarks for dozens of metrics, built on anonymized data from thousands of companies and get a full 360° view of your company’s KPIs across sales, marketing, finance, and more.
• Understand where your business excels and where you may be falling behind so you can shift to what will make the biggest impact. Leverage industry insights to set more effective, competitive business strategies. Explore where exactly you have room for growth within your business based on objective market data.
• Keep your clients happy by using data to back up your expertise. Show your clients where you’re helping them overperform against similar companies. Use the data to show prospects where they really are… and the potential of where they could be.
• Get a valuable asset for improving yearly and quarterly planning. Get valuable insights into areas that need more work. Gain more context for strategic planning.

The best part?

• Benchmark Groups are free to access.
• The data is 100% anonymized. No other company will be able to see your performance, and you won’t be able to see the performance of individual companies either.

When it comes to showing you how your performance compares to others, here is what it might look like for the metric Average Session Duration:

And here is an example of an open group you could join:

And this is just a fraction of what you’ll get. With Databox Benchmarks, you will need only one spot to see how all of your teams stack up — marketing, sales, customer service, product development, finance, and more. 

• Choose criteria so that the Benchmark is calculated using only companies like yours
• Narrow the benchmark sample using criteria that describe your company
• Display benchmarks right on your Databox dashboards

Sounds like something you want to try out? Join a Databox Benchmark Group today!

START BENCHMARKING

B2B YouTube Channel Goals

B2B companies have different objectives on YouTube compared to B2C channels, as their focus is usually on providing valuable information, expertise, and solution to other businesses.

But instead of relying on “usually,” we decided to also survey 32 respondents in the B2B industry and get their direct feedback on the topic.

The respondents are B2B companies or agencies/consultants working for B2B companies. Or, to be a bit more precise:

• B2B Services or Products: 81.25%
• Agency or Consultant working for B2B companies: 18.75%

All of our respondents have YouTube business channels – and over 60% of them have had them for longer than 5 years.

When asked about their YT business channel’s primary goal, 43.75% of respondents stated it’s to Showcase their products/services.

For 37.5% of them, that goal is to Establish thought leadership through informative/educational videos. 18.75% primarily use it to Get in touch with their audience.

PRO TIP: Even when you have the right objective in place, tracking your YouTube channel’s performance is no easy feat (especially with the un-intuitive YT Manager interface). To make sure you’re on the right path, it’s best to determine your most relevant metrics to the goal and compile them in one easy-to-follow place.

You can do this with our YouTube Channel Performance Dashboard Template.

Track your audience engagement, subscriber growth rate, most popular video content, or any other insights you want by building a plug-and-play dashboard that takes your YouTube data and automatically visualizes the right metrics to allow you to monitor your performance at a glance.

Related: How to Create a Comprehensive YouTube Analytics Report: Step By Step Guide

Type of Content B2B Channels Must Create to Grow Their Channel

Okay, so we know what are the primary goals that B2B companies set for their YouTube channels… but what about the content they create to achieve them?

This was the next question on our survey, and most of our respondents stated that Product tutorials or demonstrations attract the most subscribers to their channels.

Creating product tutorials or demonstrations is essential for showcasing your B2B offerings in an easy-to-understand manner. These videos give your audience a clear picture of how your products work and how they can benefit from them if they sign up.

For this type of content, you can try walkthrough videos, how-to guides, and comparison videos as some of the more popular formats.

And if you want to mix things up a bit, consider adding content around customer testimonials and case studies. This serves as social proof of your product’s effectiveness and your company’s reliability. This content is great for building trust as it provides real-world examples of successful partnerships.

Another idea is to provide insights into industry news and trends, where you position your B2B channel as a go-to source for staying informed about the latest developments in your field.

Behind-the-scenes and company culture videos – although once fairly common among B2B channels – are now rarely the focus of any of the B2B companies that we spoke to.

The Biggest Challenges B2B Companies Face When Growing Their YouTube Channels

It’s no secret that growing a B2B YouTube channel is no easy feat… but what are the biggest challenges companies are seeing during the process?

According to our survey, the biggest challenge for 50% of our respondents is Consistently producing high-quality content. Another major issue is Attracting new subscribers to the channel.

Now, we talked to some of our respondents to try and find out how they tackle these issues.

Diana Vasile of inSegment shared some interesting strategies that you might find helpful.

She says that her agency used to have this issue because “B2B customers are typically busy, and they will not waste time watching videos if they are not engaging, informative, and well-produced. You need to put a lot of thought into each video, but more importantly, you need to properly conceive a robust content strategy.”

Here are the steps she put in place to overcome this particular challenge:

1. We created a comprehensive content calendar that outlines our plans for the coming months. This not only helps us to stay on track and to make sure that we’re always producing fresh content, but it allows us to be adaptive and potentially change plans without any last-minute panic.

2. One of the first things we did was to invest in high-quality equipment. Good cameras, microphones, and editing software are not an option, they are a must for any serious YouTube channel. Without them, the production quality of your videos will falter.

3. Third, and perhaps the most surprisingly beneficial measure we took was to partner with experts in our field and create content that is as engaging as it is educational. We do this to make sure that we don’t stray off-topic and that we are always addressing our target audience. As a result of these efforts, we’ve been able to consistently produce high-quality content that has helped us to attract new subscribers and grow our channel.

As for growing your subscriber base, Diana has a few helpful tactics even for this issue:

1. Promote your channel on your website and social media channels

2. Run paid ads on YouTube

3. Collaborate with other businesses on video projects to hit two audiences instead of just one

4. Look to be invited to provide guest posts on other B2B blogs

Diana says that while these challenges may seem overwhelming, “a solid plan, a bit of patience, and some creative thinking will help you reach your goals on YouTube.”

Attracting new subscribers is an issue that Stefan Chekanov of Brosix dealt with as well.

He says that “contrary to B2C companies, B2B businesses like ours frequently serve a specific niche market, which makes it challenging to locate and connect with the right clients.”

To solve this problem, Stefan recommends “conducting research to discover the interests, preferences, and pain points of our target audience. Then, using social media listening tools, surveys, and customer feedback, we gathered this data.

We began developing content that was suited to our target audience’s needs and interests as soon as we had a clear understanding of who they were.”

“B2B customers are typically busy, and they will not waste time watching videos if they are not engaging, informative, and well-produced. You need to put a lot of thought into each video, but more importantly, you need to properly conceive a robust content strategy.”

Diana Vasile

Head of SEO at inSegment

Want to get highlighted in our next report? Become a contributor now

6 Expert Strategies to Grow Your YouTube Channel

So far, we’ve covered which goals you should prioritize on YouTube as a B2B channel, what some of the most common challenges are and how to overcome them, what type of content you should create, and give you insight into some useful B2B YouTube benchmarks.

Now, it’s time we move on to some of the expert strategies we obtained during our survey that you can steal to grow your YouTube channel faster.

Let’s first go through the survey results:

In terms of audience engagement and growth on their B2B businesses’ YouTube channels, the strategies or tactics that have proven to be most effective are:

• YouTube SEO: Very effective for 68.75% of respondents
• Posting of new videos regularly: Very effective for 65.63% of respondents
• Promoting YouTube videos on other social channels: Very effective for 59.38% of respondents

Interestingly, half of the respondents stated that they haven’t tried hosting live streams or interactive sessions and running contests or giveaways.

Also, more than 40% of respondents haven’t tried Collaborating with other YouTube channels.

That said, let’s move on to the expert strategies you can implement:

• Host Webinars and Upload Them on YouTube
• Post More Videos and Share Them on Socials
• Educate Your Audience by Interviewing Industry Experts
• Collaborate with Other YouTubers in Your Niche
• Create Content That Tackles Common Challenges
• Run Paid Ads Using Brand Awareness Content

PRO TIP: Analyze Your YouTube Channel Performance Like a Pro

To find out what types of video content perform best with your audience, you may track video engagement metrics such as watch time, number of views, likes and dislikes of each video individually using a variety of tools, including YouTube itself.

Now you can quickly monitor your video content performance in a single dashboard that monitors fundamental metrics, such as:

1. Average watch time. How much time do viewers spend watching your video content?
2. Watch time by video. Which videos drive most of your audience watch time each month?
3. Subscribers gained vs lost. How quickly are you gaining or losing subscribers?
4. Number of likes, comments and shares. How engaged is your audience?

Now you can benefit from the experience of our video marketing experts, who have put together a plug-and-play Databox template showing the most important metrics for measuring your YouTube channel performance. It’s simple to implement and start using as a standalone dashboard or in marketing reports, and best of all, it’s free!

You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.

To set up the dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Get the template 

Step 2: Connect your YouTube account with Databox. 

Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.

Get the template free

Host Webinars and Upload Them on YouTube

If you’re already hosting webinars in your niche, don’t let them disappear once you’re finished hosting them. Instead, repurpose them and upload them on YouTube.

This way, you share a ton of valuable information with audiences in your niche, position yourself as an expert on the topic, and can generate new leads both for your business and upcoming webinars.

Plus, there’s always a group of people that would’ve loved to attend the webinar but couldn’t find the time. This way, you make it available for them as well.

Abhi Bavishi of Zopto says that he’s been using this tactic lately and saw some great results with it:

“We are currently hosting a lot of webinars on how to use our tool to grow on LinkedIn, and we’ve been uploading them on YouTube. This has helped us stay in touch with our customers and increased our customer retention.”

Here’s an example of how Abhi uses this strategy at Zopto.

PRO TIP: Want to closely monitor how your webinars (and other educational content) are performing? Then download this free YouTube Watch Time Performance Dashboard Template.

With this dashboard, you can keep a close eye on how long your audience is watching your videos and measure how effective you are at capturing their attention for longer intervals. You can also see the total accumulated watch time on all of your videos and identify the videos that are resulting in gain/loss of subscribers. The metrics you see below are all customizable to your preference.

Post More Videos and Share Them on Socials

Regular uploads are like a friendly wave to your audience. When they know you’ll have something new every week or so, they’re more likely to hang around.

Create a habit of posting new content often and try to do it at the same time each week.

Then, share your videos on social platforms where you have the biggest follower base. If you’re posting at a much higher volume, you can focus only on the ones that are getting the most engagement.

Another good idea is to release sneak peeks on social media before you actually drop the new video. Share a teaser or a fun fact to get your audience excited.

Janice Wald of Mostly Blogging says that by “consistently posting more, I made my subscribers happy. Then, I would share the videos on Twitter to inform my followers about my YouTube videos. Returning their comments is a great way to stir the algorithm.”

Related: YouTube Video Ideas That Helped 40 Businesses Grow Their Audience and Attract More Customers

Educate Your Audience by Interviewing Industry Experts

This strategy does take a bit more time and prep, but it’s a proven way of establishing your brand as an authority and growing your channel faster with relevant content.

Interviewing industry experts is probably the best type of educational content. These experts have seen the ins and outs of the business, and they’re usually ready to spill the beans on what’s working.

Plus, when experts share their wisdom on your channel, it rubs off on you. Your audience sees you as a credible source of information because you’re hanging out with the best in the business.

Vimal Bharadwaj of Optmyzr says that his team “consistently develops short-form and long-form content by speaking to the industry’s best PPC experts. They share actionable takeaways with advertisers addressing specific goals and challenges around PPC and paid marketing.”

Vimal says that “this was a 3-year process in the making, which grew our subscriber base from 800 to close to 5000 now.

This is the tactic that we suggest to newer B2B-based YouTube channels. Go all-in on educating your audience consistently. It sounds straightforward but over time it builds trust and grows your brand in a way few other initiatives can.”

Here’s one of Optmyzr’s recent interviews with a Google Ads expert.

Related: How to Use YouTube for Demand Creation and Product Education in B2B

Collaborate with Other YouTubers in Your Niche

Each YouTuber has their own fan base, and when you collaborate, you’re introducing your channel to their viewers, and vice versa. It’s like a friendly introduction to a new group of friends.

Not to mention that viewers trust recommendations from creators they already follow. When a YouTuber they like appears on your channel, it’s like a stamp of approval for your content.

This collaboration can take form in a few different ways, but the most popular strategy is to appear as a guest on their channels (and feature them in your videos).

Kurt Uhlir of Kurtuhlir does exactly this and says it’s one of the strategies that helped him the most in growing his channel successfully:

“To promote my YouTube channel successfully, I utilized a combination of effective strategies, but mostly what helped was my collaboration with other YouTubers or influencers in my niche.”

Kurt says that by “appearing as a guest on their channels or featuring them in my videos, we mutually benefited from cross-promotion and access to each other’s audiences.”

Here’s one of Kurt’s guest appearances on a channel that serves the same niche audience (real estate).

Create Content That Tackles Common Challenges

If there’s one thing that will attract audiences to your B2B channel, it’s content that solves their pressing issues.

When you address the common hurdles your audience faces, you become their go-to problem solver, which is a tested-and-proven recipe for channel growth.

Adam Stahl of Remotish is one of the respondents that utilize this strategy:

“To grow our YouTube channel, we decided to produce videos that cover common challenges we see across the companies we help, explore new or exciting features of HubSpot (the platform we provide consulting for), and share unique ways we found to clear interesting obstacles.

He says that simply by “focusing on challenges, features, and solutions, we started seeing prospects coming to us and noting that they came from “YouTube”. Likewise, we saw an upward trend in it as a referral source.”

Here’s one recent example of how Remotish tackles audience issues:

Related: From Boring to Captivating: Strategies for Improving Your Average View Duration on YouTube

Run Paid Ads Using Brand Awareness Content

This strategy does require an initial investment, but it’s a great way to accelerate your channel’s growth and expand your viewer base faster.

For brand awareness ads, it’s important that you showcase your brand’s values, culture, and uniqueness. When done right, brand awareness content isn’t pushy, it’s intriguing. It invites viewers to explore more about your brand.

Remember to experiment with different ad formats, visuals, and messaging to understand what resonates best with your target audience.

Amelia Munday of Custom Neon says that they saw the “majority of growth on our YouTube channel after we ran a paid ad using a 2-minute brand awareness piece of content.”

She also mentions that while it’s “hard to track success metrics for a brand awareness campaign, we did see a lift in subscribers that can be attributed to the ads.”

Accelerate Your Channel Growth by Tracking Key YouTube Metrics with Databox

By using the strategies and insights from this article, you should be able to create a custom blueprint for growing your B2B YouTube channel and building a solid presence on the platform in no time.

But when you start implementing all the right strategies and best practices, it’s also important to properly monitor your channel’s growth and stay on top of all the key YouTube metrics for your brand.

Even with the highest-quality content and most effective strategies, you can only go so far if you don’t understand the numbers.

Unfortunately, YouTube Manager isn’t really intuitive when it comes to reporting and analytics… but Databox is.

With Databox, you can instantly connect your YouTube account and pull out any metric you think is important to your overall goal.

You drag-and-drop these key metrics onto a dashboard and then turn them into professional visuals with just a few clicks of a button.

This way, you have a complete picture of what’s going on with your channel at a glance. Plus, you can set up alerts so you’re immediately notified of any changes as they occur in real time.

And after you build a report, you can share them with your team and stakeholders instantly so everyone can track the performance and watch the channel develop.

Oh, and if you’re ever confused about whether your numbers are on point, you can simply compare them to industry peers in the free YouTube Benchmark Groups program.

Everything we’ve mentioned is incredibly easy to set up, but you can always contact our customer support team if you’re having any issues.

Sign up for a free account and make Databox your YouTube growth partner.