A great way to promote your new business, talent or brand is to use video shorts. There are several platforms out there to upload, showcase and share them. And while some may specifically serve your niche, the one that is most well known and accessible world-wide is YouTube.  While there are others, like Vimeo, I teach that a YouTube account is one of my Big Five Social Media accounts to have. Get one, even if you’re not yet sure how you will use it. At the time of this writing, a basic account is free, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Once you’ve verified your account, you should be able to visit your channel, click the gear settings, and “customize the layout of your channel.” From there, you can add your website and social links—in addition to other advanced features of designing your YouTube channel. Cross promote yourself on every outlet you have.

Don’t miss putting your website in the description text such as “Learn more at http://YourName.com.”  To add a website link and social media icons to your YouTube channel, you first have to verify your account. Visit youtube.com/features and click “verify” next to account status. This usually involves confirming through your phone to make sure you’re not a robot.

In the tags, include your name or business name or both and any other relevant key words.

Make it easy for people to follow you by adding “?sub_confirmation=1” to the end of your YouTube hyperlink. This generates a pop up to subscribe when someone clicks your YouTube icon or hyperlink.

Put your YouTube videos on every one of your social media outlets, and ask friends and family to share it on theirs—directly from YouTube’s site if possible.

Stay tuned to this blog for more tips – the next being the all-important YouTube ranking.