10 youtube hacks you want to know about

10 YouTube Hacks You’ll Want to Know About

Undoubtedly, YouTube is one of the most popular video streaming sites on the internet. The first place that pops up in our minds whenever we want to check out latest music videos or tutorials is always YouTube.

After its parent company, Google it is the second largest search engine. And, in terms of general usage it has the second greatest reach in the world.

Despite the fact it being so popular there are few features, tips and tricks which aren’t known to most of the users. Here is the list of lesser-known features you should know about for better YouTube marketing.

1) Lets you create your Own Custom YouTube URL Not all the users have access to this feature. To be eligible for creating your own custom URL, you need to have; at least 100 subscribers, channel icon should be an uploaded photo, uploaded channel art and your account must be 30 or more than 30 days old.

With the help of custom YouTube URLs, you can create URLs which can be easily remembered like it can be based on username, display name, etc.

How to set it up?  

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Go to your YouTube account settings Click on ‘Advanced’ in the name section

You will have to claim it, by clicking on ‘You’re eligible for a custom URL. Claim it here’ Paste the URL Select the box to agree to the Terms and Services Finally click on ‘Change URL'

The custom URL can’t be changed ever, so be very careful while creating it.

2) Create a Link that Starts the Video at a Specific Time With this feature, you can create a link that starts the video at a certain time. So, now if you want to send someone a video and point it to a specific moment, then you can easily do it with this link.

How to set it up?    

Open the video Click on the ‘Share’ button present underneath the video title A tab will open up with the name ‘Share’ Check the box next to the ‘Start at’ and then, type in the time you want them to start with

Note: If you don’t want to add the time, then you can stop the video at the time you want it to start and this field will be auto-filled.  

A generic link will be generated Copy and paste the link to send it to others

3) Add Clickable links to your videos You can engage with viewers while they are watching videos by keeping clickable links in them. These links are referred to as annotations. You can even ask people to subscribe to your channel or link them to another campaign, as these annotations work as call-to-actions. If you want to add annotations to your video, then your account needs to be verified.

How to set it up?   

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Turn on your accounts external linking Click on ‘My Channel’ And then, click on ‘Video Manager’

Find the video in which you want to add the links Click on the arrow next to the ‘Edit’ From the drop-down menu choose ‘End screen and Annotations’ Then, go to ‘Annotations’ To add, click on the ‘Add Annotation’

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Choose the annotation type from 5 Annotations present in the drop-down list Add the text Select a font size, color and background To add a link, check the box next to the ‘link’ Then, finally click on ‘Apply Changes’

4) Add an End Screen to Promote Content You can keep the viewers engaged on your channel by showing them customized end screens which suggest other videos they can check out.

How to set it up?   

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Go to ‘Video Manager’ Tap on ‘Edit’ From the drop-down menu, select ‘End screen & Annotations’

You’re taken to End screen creator studio You can play different templates and background to know which ‘End Screen’ you want to select To finally add, ‘Add element’

5) YouTube generates written Transcripts for every video YouTube generates a written transcript automatically for every video that you upload. These transcripts are visible to all the viewers. If you don’t want your transcripts to be shown, then you can hide it manually.

How to see your transcript?    

Open the video Press on the ‘More’ tab present underneath the video title From the drop-down menu select ‘Transcript’ Transcript appears in the same window as a new module

You can even edit the transcripts manually, so that it gets find in the search.

How you can edit the transcript?   

Open the video Click on the icon ‘Subtitles/CC’ present on the right side Then , you’ll have to select a way from three different ways to upload ‘Subtitles/CC’

1. You can upload a pre-written text transcript or you can upload a timed subtitles file 2. Paste in a full transcript of video in which subtitle timings are set up automatically 3. Type the transcript as you watch the video

6) Compare Popularity of YouTube Search Query in Google Trends Most of us don’t know that we can use Google Trends to compare the popularity of YouTube search queries.

How you can compare it?     

Open Google Trends Enter a search term in the ‘Explore Topics’ search bar present at the top Then, click on the ‘Web Search’ From the drop-down menu select ‘YouTube Search’ And, you’ll get the search results

Search trends of some search terms are very different on YouTube as compared to Google.

7) Lets you Upload and Watch 360-degree Videos YouTube announced the support for 360-degree videos two years ago in March 2015. If you are watching the video on desktop, then you can click on the video to watch it from different angles. And, if you’re watching it on mobile, then you just have to move your camera to change the angle.

How to create a 360-degree video on YouTube?    

Having a camera with 360-degree capability that is compatible with YouTube is must Create the video Prepare it for uploading To upload the file, click on the ’Upload’ button

8) Remove Ads from YouTube videos for 10 $ per Month You can watch ad-free videos for 10 bucks per month. And, you are not only able remove ads from the videos, but you can also save videos on your mobile, watch videos in the background and offline.

With this subscription you can watch ad free videos and can also watch the videos in offline mode. If you like to collect music video and songs and don’t want to get interrupted by the ads, then you must avail this subscription.

9) YouTube Ads are Targeted on the basis of an Algorithm YouTube target the ads on the basis of an algorithm which is somewhat similar to Facebook and Google. YouTube provides you exposure to the ads which are related to your demographics, interests and videos you’ve watched before.

The algorithm also makes sure that the users aren’t overloaded with ads while watching the videos.

There are five ad formats that you’ll see on YouTube: 1) Display ads These ads appear next to the video and only appear when you’re watching it on desktop and laptop. The advertisers are paid when you click or watch the ads.

2) Overlay ads These ads appear only across the bottom of 20%of the video window. And, now it only appears on laptops and desktops.

3) Skippable & TrueView in-stream Video ads These are the most common ads. You can skip these after watching it for 5 seconds.

4) Non-skippable Video Ads These ads cannot be skipped, no matter how much you want to.

5) Midroll ads You need to watch this ad to continue watching the video, as these ads appear in the middle.

6) Bumper ads These are short ads which are only 6 seconds long. These ads play before the video viewer has selected and these are also non-skippable.

10) Edit your videos right in the YouTube YouTube has an in-built online video editor with the help of which you can edit your videos right in the YouTube. You can splice, trim, enhance, add tracks and effects to your video by using it.

YouTube’s video editor has all the basic functions that you would like to use to edit your video, so now you don’t need to use advanced and time-consuming video editing tools to enhance your video. With this free tool, you can even add up multiple videos to create a longer one.

You’ll surely become a more adept YouTube user by getting to know these hacks and start making the most out of this video platform.

Source: 10 YouTube Hacks You’ll Want to Know About