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With the rise of video content in the past decade and YouTube’s addition of Shorts to keep up with TikTok, YouTube is now a staple in many companies’ marketing channels.
But as with any channel, you can’t just hop on the bandwagon to guarantee success. You need to identify YouTube strategies that work for your business and keep up with them.
While these approaches will vary between businesses, you can take inspiration from companies that see success in what they’re doing right now. That’s why we partnered with Jamar Diggs to investigate what’s working for today’s business through a 70-company survey. By understanding what strategies get results for others, you can make YouTube work for your business.
This survey is linked to the YouTube Benchmarks Benchmark Group. Here, you can anonymously compare nine of your YouTube metrics to data from over 300 contributors.
Let’s learn what you can do to improve your YouTube channel’s performance from the following insights:
Before we dig into the strategies today’s marketers use in their YouTube channels, let’s gain some context. What does average YouTube performance look like, based on data from our YouTube Benchmarks Benchmark Group? We’ll look at viewing metrics.
Based on data from 56 contributors, the median metric for average percentage viewed was 40.04% in August 2024.
For the same period, the median metric for average view duration was 1 minute, 23 seconds, based on data from 136 contributors.
“The average view duration of 1 minute and 23 seconds may seem smaller than one would expect, but with the rise of YouTube Shorts, it seems like most businesses are taking advantage of leveraging shorter content as part of their overall YouTube strategy.
This trend aligns with the survey’s finding that 40% of respondents plan to diversify their content formats, including Shorts, in the coming year.”
Jamar Diggs
YouTube Consultant & Marketing Advisor at J Diggs Media
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If you notice your viewing metrics could use improvement, whether due to not attracting the right viewers or creating content that suits your audience, keep reading. We’ll explore some tactics for you to try.
In our survey on successful YouTube business strategies, we asked company representatives about their approaches to strategy, analytics, content, and optimization. Most of the companies we surveyed have 50 employees or fewer.
Their answers covered these three topic areas:
What do today’s businesses prioritize in their YouTube strategies, and how do they measure their performance? Five questions related to the respondents’ current strategies for their channels.
When we asked participants to choose the ways that their YouTube content strategy supports their broader marketing objectives, driving brand awareness – using YouTube to introduce and expose the brand to a wider audience – was the top answer at 76.56%. But the respondents also chose answers such as:
Companies often choosing multiple answers and having such a broad range of tactics suggests that they consider YouTube a versatile tool for marketing. But that also begs the question: How can these businesses balance all of these objectives and measure their success accurately for a more integrated YouTube strategy?
Speaking of integration, the companies we surveyed bring other platforms into their YouTube strategy mainly through two forms of promotion: sharing video snippets or teasers on social media and embedding their videos in website content.
“It seems that business owners are benefiting from the quick ability to distribute their YouTube content when it’s first published, particularly through sharing video snippets on social media.
However, there remains more opportunity to repurpose content and engage in collaborations for increased reach. The survey shows that while many businesses share content across platforms, only a quarter actively use collaboration as a strategy, indicating untapped potential for growth.”
Now onto analytics and measurements. The most common metrics the surveyed companies use to measure YouTube audience engagement are watch time and retention rates at 75%.
Looking at another dimension of success, the companies we surveyed most frequently measure the return on investment (ROI) of their YouTube channel by tracking direct conversions or sales attributed to YouTube traffic. You can use a similar tactic by setting up a marketing attribution dashboard.
But this answer wasn’t a clear winner – the businesses we surveyed were nearly split in their ROI measuring methods. There was a balance between tracking direct conversions and analyzing engagement metrics.
“We create a YouTube conversion data board in Databox with our 1:1 clients to show where their conversions come from. For the majority of our clients, their first conversion is typically a free resource of some kind; an on-demand demo, free training, or a free guide. This Databoard allows our clients to appropriately attribute where their conversions are happening across their channels.”
Respondents’ approach to measuring overall YouTube success is similar to how they track audience engagement. Most of them (62.50%) prioritize watch time and audience retention as key performance indicators (KPIs). The two closest KPI priorities were view counts (56.25%) and subscriber growth (51.56%).
With respondents’ strategies for YouTube content in mind, how do they translate into performance? And what content is currently working for these businesses?
Respondents most frequently chose educational and instructional content as the most effective content type for their business at 37.5% of responses. Even though entertaining content tends to be the most common type of content on social media, educational content won out.
“For B2B brands, we focus specifically on creating customer-centric content on YouTube. Potential customers are searching for understanding of what their next step should be, so education and product demos being the top two content types aligns well with the results we’ve been able to get for our clients.”
When the companies we surveyed try to optimize their videos for visibility, they mainly perform SEO optimization in their keywords, titles, and descriptions and use YouTube analytics for insights. On the flip side, a surprisingly large one-third of respondents don’t regularly update content as an optimization strategy.
Survey participants find that the most effective strategy for improving their YouTube performance is to analyze audience retention and make adjustments to content structure.
But the strategies companies don’t use also have a lot to say here. Even though the answers to this question show that A/B testing is the second most effective strategy, 25% don’t use it. And collaboration shows known benefits elsewhere, yet another 25% of respondents don’t rely on it. Are respondents less willing to try these strategies due to a lack of resources, awareness, or planning?
With respondents’ strategies and performance established, how do they plan for the future and adapt their current strategies? Two questions examined how companies prepare for future growth.
Most of the businesses we surveyed adjust their YouTube strategies based on performance data at least occasionally. 60.94% specifically reported making changes occasionally when major shifts or trends happen.
Looking forward, the top plan respondents have for evolving their YouTube strategy in the next year is diversifying content formats such as live streams and Shorts at 40% of responses. This trend indicates that companies are embracing a variety of content types.
We know now what strategies our respondents use on a broad level, but we also asked about their most successful strategies in an open-ended question to learn about their specific experiences. Six strategies came up in their responses:
Respondents commonly mentioned that posting videos consistently helped them gain momentum on YouTube. Many social media algorithms reward regular posting, and YouTube is no different.
Here’s how Jon Molek from Best Offer Ohio explains this practice: “I’ve found that YouTube’s algorithm is much like LinkedIn’s, where consistency matters. If you consistently post quality content that’s not only useful but also engaging for viewers, then YouTube’s algorithm is likely to show it to a potentially relevant audience, even if you haven’t put much effort into those SEO tactics.”
Jon continues, “The idea is to be creative, think about how to make your content short and worth watching, cut the fluff and unnecessary talks, perform some heavy editing, and there you go – just be consistent and repeat the process.”
While the closed-ended questions in the survey touched on sharing parts of a bigger YouTube video as Shorts, there wasn’t room to explain how that strategy worked as part of a greater tactic. One company deliberately builds a video funnel through YouTube videos and Shorts to draw customers to its content.
Kinga Edwards explains how Brainy Bees develops a video funnel:
“Our most successful strategy for growing our YouTube channel’s audience and engagement has been creating a long-form video and a shorter version as a YouTube Short. With that, we create a natural (albeit a little longer) funnel, attracting viewers through Shorts via paid traffic, then directing them to the longer version, and ultimately leading to clicks into our CTAs/conversions. It’s way better and more effective than solely relying on long videos.”
Kinga Edwards
Owner & Creative Director at Brainy Bees
The companies that participated in our survey named a few types of content that worked for them in their open-ended questions. What these answers had in common is that the companies paid attention to what kinds of content worked for their audiences and made more of it based on those metrics.
“Evergreen instructional video content has historically performed best for us,” says VisualFizz’s Marissa Ryan. “Sometimes, instruction videos are a bit at the mercy of technology changes and can get out of date quickly. We try to do a mix of content that’s relevant to both ‘right now’ and ‘always’.”
Brandon Fowler at Machinist Guides has a similar experience. “Offering videos that are informative and instructional is where we have seen the most success in growing our channel. Since we embed videos into our content, we want our audience to be able to see visually what we are describing, so it works well for our target audience,” Fowler says.
Meanwhile, Khunshan Ahmad demonstrates that EvolveDash uses a different approach: “Creating interactive content has enhanced our YouTube growth. We regularly post responses to comments and host question and answer sessions.”
As you can see, there’s no single answer for the type of content that will perform best on YouTube. It depends on what your audience likes. You can determine the answer for yourself by monitoring YouTube Analytics and creating reports for easier analysis.
Marketing is a back-and-forth process between marketer and audience, and YouTube marketing is no different. Authentically engage with your community, and they’ll pay back the favor.
One tactic that’s really stood out for me in growing a YouTube channel is prioritizing community engagement,” says Content Whale’s Bhavik Sarkhedi. “This means actively responding to comments, asking viewers for their thoughts and feedback, and creating content that sparks conversation.”
Sarkhedi continues, “This approach not only makes your audience feel valued and heard, but it also fosters a sense of community around your channel. It’s about making your viewers feel like they’re part of something bigger, which, in turn, encourages them to keep coming back and engage with your content. Plus, engaging content tends to get shared more, organically expanding your reach. It’s a straightforward yet incredibly effective strategy that has worked wonders for me.”
Remember how one of the top metrics the companies we surveyed use to measure success is watch time? One of the best ways to optimize that metric is to front-load your most important information so viewers know what to expect in a video and can trust you to answer their questions clearly.
Tim Connon from ParamountQuote says, “The most successful strategy is keeping videos short and front-loaded with information. Our videos are up to 1 minute long and immediately present the most important information upfront to the user so they get their questions answered quickly. By offering quick, transparent, and to-the-point videos we give users exactly what they are looking for on the topic.”
Since YouTube is part of the Google ecosystem, its videos have a good chance of appearing in search results. You can optimize your videos for search engines like you would your website content to bring in more users from outside searches.
Take it from Aleh Barysevich of SEO PowerSuite: “What really moved the needle for us was doubling down on creating content that our viewers are actively searching for. We spent a lot of time researching keywords that are both relevant to our niche and popular among our audience, then used those insights to shape our video titles, descriptions, and even the content itself. Engaging directly with our viewers through comments and creating community posts has also been key.”
Recommended reading: Video SEO: Ranking on Google vs. Ranking on YouTube
We’ve already mentioned the importance of tailoring your YouTube content to your audience’s preferences. But what steps do you take to actually do that? When we asked respondents about their methods for adapting their strategies to their audiences, they mentioned three approaches:
Your audience is already demonstrating their opinions on your videos through their behavior. You can measure this behavior through YouTube Analytics directly or use an analytics platform like Databox to view that data side-by-side with other audience data.
“We frequently monitor YouTube Analytics to better understand audience demographics and behaviour,” says Sajad Entesari from Republic Marketing. “This helps us identify which content types perform best and pinpoint correlations between drop-offs and content issues. Based on these insights, we make targeted changes to our content. For example, we’ve recently noticed a growing interest in ‘behind-the-scenes’ content among tech enthusiasts, showcasing how products are developed and tested.”
Guyker’s Samuel Jackson takes a similar approach: “I adapt my content strategy by closely monitoring analytics and viewer feedback. I pay attention to which videos perform well and which topics generate the most interest and clickthroughs. This process ensures that my channel remains relevant and valuable to my viewers, ultimately fostering stronger engagement and loyalty.”
If you don’t have enough YouTube Analytics data to make clear conclusions yet, you can also just ask your audience directly. YouTube’s description and comments sections make it easy to consult your viewers about their preferred videos. You can also consult your audience on other platforms where you have a bigger following.
According to Jance Staten, The Boutique Academy consults its audience using all sorts of channels:
“We ask [our audience] to leave a comment and say what they would like a future video to be. We also use polls on Instagram to make suggestions on future YouTube topics. That helps me see where they are in business and what they are struggling with.”
Jance Staten
Founder at The Boutique Academy
PS212’s David Gaglione also prefers to learn about audience preferences through comments. “Comments provide direct insight into the minds of our clients’ audience. The key is to ask the right questions that prompt people to share the topics they enjoyed most in the video so you can continue that trend or theme,” Gaglione says.
As part of broader audience research or before you have enough of a following to try the previous two methods, you can also reference your research on your general marketing audience. See what pain points you’ve identified among your audience and create content that addresses them.
“Since our target audience consists of digital marketing agencies, we create videos that address their specific pain points,” says Georges Fallah from VBOUT. “We produce explainer videos that highlight these challenges and showcase how our solution addresses them. Additionally, we provide tours of our features, emphasizing functionalities that set us apart from our competitors.”
In the last part of our survey, we asked companies what challenges they face as they try to grow their YouTube channels. These four challenges came up:
YouTube is a paradoxical place for businesses right now. Even though it was originally built with independent creators in mind, businesses now use it as a marketing channel. This leads to a lot of new business competition despite the platform not always aligning with the ways companies operate. It can get especially tricky for atypical industries like B2B that need to adapt to a landscape not quite built for them.
Ali Schwanke faces this issue at Simple Strat:
“Our content is specifically around a software platform that we consult on, so our challenges are an increasingly competitive landscape of other people wanting to create content about the same thing. It’s also a continual challenge to promote the content in a world that’s driven more and more by creator-led content (which we are, but we’re a brand as well, not just making videos for entertainment value).”
Ali Schwanke
Founder at Simple Strat
By far the most common problem companies named was finding the time and resources to keep up with the YouTube algorithm’s preference for regular publishing.
As John Reinesch from Exponential Growth puts it, “The main challenge is the time and resources needed to handle all of the various aspects of video production.” Reinesch adds, “For me, lower production, more raw videos have outperformed higher produced videos. This has helped me produce more video content and saved some costs as well.”
Mariah Liszewski of Mariah Magazine points out that this problem especially comes up when you’re new to YouTube. She stated her top problem with growing her YouTube channel is “Staying on track when you feel you aren’t building momentum the way you want to.” Liszewski adds, “The beginning part of building a channel is the hardest. Once you notice that your videos are reaching people and they are helpful, it’s way easier to stay motivated and inspired.
“In the past, it’s been capacity and consistency,” Da Silva Life’s Kristi DaSilva says of the company’s top issue with YouTube growth. “I consider myself consistent, but there have been times when videos have been delayed due to my capacity being high. Also, creating content that is similar to competitors with larger channels can give the feeling of being defeated before even starting. Luckily, we have strategic relationships with partners and affiliates as our channel has grown so that feeling doesn’t show up as often.”
Since YouTube’s home page shows users videos regardless of their subscriptions, it can be harder to get people to subscribe compared to the past. And subscriptions are one of the most surefire ways to keep your content in front of people.
Lucy Hurst from Screaming Squid puts it like this: “One of the biggest challenges that we, and many other content creators, face is getting viewers to subscribe to channels. It seems like, generally speaking, Joe Public doesn’t care to subscribe as YouTube will suggest videos based on what they’ve viewed anyway.”
Another common problem companies mentioned was keeping up with the YouTube algorithm. Like SEO and other social media, YouTube frequently changes it algorithm, which can shake up the best practices to follow.
Khunshan Ahmad of EvolveDash says, “The biggest challenge we face is the unpredictability of the YouTube algorithm. This algorithm causes us to have to change our strategy sporadically without knowing what changes are needed.”
While growing YouTube for your business takes a lot of experimentation and knowing your audience, you don’t have to go it alone. You can see how your performance compares to other companies to understand where your YouTube channel thrives and needs more support.
The YouTube Benchmarks Benchmark Group lets you anonymously share and compare these YouTube metrics:
The group has more than 300 participants, meaning you’ll have plenty of data points to benchmark your performance against. Plus, it’s free with a Databox account that has the metrics you want to check connected.
It’s free to sign up for a Databox account, too, so there’s no barrier to entry. Get your Databox account and join the group today.
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Melissa King is a freelance writer who helps B2B SaaS companies spread the word about their products through engaging content. Outside of the content marketing world, she writes about video games. Check out her work at melissakingfreelance.com.
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