THE POWER OF THE PLATFORM: VISUAL STORYTELLING ON SOCIAL NETWORKS 73 TIPS for Engaging on YouTube • Add value and entertain. People come to • Consider posting videos in response to YouTube to be entertained. They don’t questions or comments from fans—it’s so want sales pitches. much more engaging than an e-mail. • There are options to add your social media • Keep track of statistics, and use them to links to the channel, but consider first if inform your YouTube strategy. doing so will distract viewers from your • Mix up your formats with tutorials, behind- featured link. Alternatively, if you are the-scenes videos, regular commercials, using content to connect and engage with and extended versions of the story you are your clients, you can make them aware of telling on traditional media. other places they can interact with you • It’s worth remembering your potentially and remind people to like or share your global reach when it comes to searching content. for videos. Try to optimize your content • If you are more focused on customer and key words accordingly. support and informational videos, be sure • Video is one of the most flexible and to use your video description and chan- in-depth ways to tell a story, so get cre- nel page to point to places customers can ative and use your imagination. obtain more information. • Don’t always get stuck on high-quality pro- • Think carefully about the length of your duction. Sometimes videos shot on the fly videos. The average video duration is 2 with your phone or small camera that are minutes 46 seconds, so if it is much more relevant and will help engage your audi- than that, there is a chance you could lose ence in real time are more valuable and viewers’ interest. Avoid putting too much more authentic. information in one video: if it is too long, • It’s not all about you. Let your fans and you could consider breaking it down into customers tell their stories. several videos covering separate topics.