YouTube for Law Firms: How to Boost Video Visibility

Did you know that 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute? The sheer volume of video content on YouTube is growing exponentially and the platform is increasingly competitive. In turn, there is a lot of clutter and noise, which makes the platform selective about what content rises in the rankings. In order to benefit from the time and money that went into creating your law firms’ videos, it’s important to understand the strategies that will help you achieve maximum visibility and exposure on the platform.

In order to accomplish the goals you have for improving your YouTube presence, you need to focus on Click Through Rate (CTR). That’s the number of people who click on your content when they see it appear on YouTube. Maintaining a strong CTR works with the YouTube algorithm to boost your video visibility. There are a few ways to build CTR on YouTube. Keep in mind, clicks from a website do not factor into CTR, neither do clicks through an endscreen, when embedded in a social timeline, or through push notifications. YouTube only factors in endemic clicks.

Here are 5 tactics to help you improve the all-important CTR. 

1. First, make sure you understand what your CTR is.

To find an individual video’s CTR, open YouTube Studio and select the video you want information on. Click “analytics” and choose “reach”. Make note of the CTR for any of the videos you’ve posted within the last 30 days. If your law firm’s video receives 1,000 impressions and 100 of those people click on it, the CTR is 10%.

2. Build a loyal following inside your niche.

Your channel should have a clear area of focus and target audience. Begin by posting several relevant videos in the practice area or topic that you’ve settled on. Once you’ve built a following, you can always expand into new topics and subject matter. Upon expansion, we advise organizing your YouTube videos into clearly defined playlists to help keep the topics organized and easy to choose from for your subscribers. Jones Day does an excellent job organizing playlists for their subscribers.

3. Don’t underestimate YouTube video titles.

Take time to research the right titles for your videos. There are free tools for doing so, such as Ubersuggest. This particular tool searches for terms used on Google, but can be used for YouTube as well. Use the tool to discover the number of monthly searches, other keyword ideas, and how competitive your keywords are in order to build a compelling title. You can also check out forums like Quora to see how people phrase questions. It’s important to keep these elements in mind when you craft video titles. 

4. Create a multi-level keyword strategy to help with search.

Everything digital revolves around search ranking, and videos are no exception.  Develop a plan with three levels of keyword titles, ranging from the very specific that will likely have very few – but very relevant – searches, to competitive terms with more monthly searches. For example, a multi-level keyword strategy for a video on divorce might be: 

1. Shortening Divorce Timelines in the State of California
2. Shortening Divorce Timelines
3. Divorce Timelines

5. Make sure your thumbnail images are eye-catching.

Keep in mind your video could end up anywhere on YouTube – even the home page. That means you audience will have a lot of choices when deciding whether or not to click on your video. An image can make a huge difference in CTR. HubSpot has a guide on how to create engaging thumbnails. Their suggestions include using a human in the photography, using some text, and an emotional expression. Remember that the image size should be 1920 x 1080. Other than that, be creative!

Takeaway

Your law firm’s YouTube video visibility is largely determined by audience engagement. If you want your videos to appear more often in your audience or subscribers’ suggested video sidebar or on their YouTube video homepage, garnering more clicks is a sure way to do so. It’s also key to keep timing in mind. The first 48 hours after publishing a video are key for YouTube data collection. The more engagement you get in that crucial time period, the more often the YouTube algorithm will promote your content.

If you are ready to incorporate video into your law firm’s content marketing strategy, contact us for assistance today. We’ll work with you to create an effective and profitable video marketing strategy that achieves maximum results.