How To Brand Yourself On Youtube With 3 Simple Steps

If you are serious about building a substantial subscriber base or increased views on your videos, you need to think about creating a brand for your channel. Using my own Bushcraft Youtube Channel as an example, I will show you 3 simple steps towards branding yourself as a leader in your chosen topic of interest. The idea behind branding is to give yourself some credible identity on Youtube (or whatever platform you are trying to promote yourself). And your ultimate goal is to stand out from the crowd, making people want to visit your channel, watch your videos and subscribe. So what simple changes can you make, to stand out from the crowd ? Well, before we start I want to quickly mention your Youtube username. If you have signed up for your account, you will have already chosen a username and there is not a lot you can do to change it. But if you are just thinking about setting up your own channel, concentrating on a specific interest... STOP ! Before you dive in head first, think carefully about what username you are going to chose. As this could add to the strength of your brand. It is advisable to chose a username that : (1) Makes you unique or memorable (2) Is relevant to, or describes your specific topic of interest Take my username as an example : JesterBushcraft I have included Bushcraft as the majority of my videos and the specific topic of interest for my channel revolves around Bushcraft and Survival. And I chose Jester as it is an unusual name, that everyone remembers, especially when I link this username with a matching logo (Which we will talk about later). So, chose your username carefully, do your research and don't just pick something like Johnsvideos1984, as this is meaningless to most people and will have no relevance to a channel that is all about Custom Cars for example.

(1) One of the first things you can do is very simple, give your channel a title, relevant to the type of videos your subscriber can expect to see. Make it short and catchy, like "Jester Bushcraft - Outdoor Fun & Bushcraft Skills", which explains simply what the channel is about. Not "Johnsvideos1984 - videos of me"

You could also design yourself a small logo on Paintshop Pro or similar package. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just include maybe your username and a small piece of clip art that makes the logo relevant to you. In my case, I have added a Jester's hat to my username and that's it. But my subscribers are now familiar with this logo, it appears on the intro of my videos, on my channel and is also the same logo on Facebook, Twitter and my bushcraft blog... Branding !

(2) Brand Your Videos - Once you have uploaded a video to your channel, you will notice that 3 snapshots of your video are displayed as possible thumbnail images. This is what people will see on Youtube when your video appears in a list brought up by the specific search criteria. However, once you have uploaded a certain amount of videos, an option is made available to you, that allows you to create your own thumbnail image. This is a great opportunity to brand yourself a step further, as you can now make your video stand out from all the rest.

Take this example. A search has been carried out for a Nite-Ize CamJam (Which is a cord tightener used in bushcraft) and a list of 88 results have been displayed by Youtube. For this example I have just taken a snapshot of the top 4. Out of the 4 videos displayed, I think you will agree that one of them stands out from all the rest. It has a slightly more professional look and feel to it. And the more people search for videos in this specific category, they will start to notice and recognize this particular channel, due to the neat video thumbnail. And they can see right away, who's video it is, as it's branded onto the video itself. You may also notice the number of views to the number of days the video was uploaded, compared to the rest.

(3) Write a brief description about yourself, what your interests are and why you have created this specific channel. If you can't be bothered to write something about yourself, why should people bother to take an interest in you. You should also add links to other sites, you may host, that are relevant to your channel (And remember to use the same name, logo, branding etc on your other websites, blogs, facebook accounts etc.) I have added a link to my Bushcraft And Survival Skills Blog This says to the onlooker, "Wow, this guy knows what he's talking about, he also has a blog or a main website" and that you are not just about Youtube videos. All good companies have different branches, sub divisions etc. but will come under the same brand. And if you want to build a brand, attract more subscribers, resulting in more video views, you should do the same.