Mashable did an interesting article about how non profits can use YouTube to increase their impact. Unfortunately, most of their ideas aren’t applicable to Christian ministries since they hinge on being a part of YouTube’s non-profit program which excludes organizations that are religious or political in nature. One really helpful insight they gave though is about how to make your videos, and thus your ministry, more visible on YouTube, as well as in Google search returns.
Something as simple as strategically thinking through the title of your videos, and which tags to use, can make a huge impact in helping them go viral. By using words and phrases related to terms that people are already searching for, your videos have a better chance at appearing at the top of their search results. Tying in keywords from a popular current event, or popularly searched topics can also help your videos gain more organic traffic.
Another feature you can take advantage of to encourage a deeper level of viewer engagement and participation is embedded annotations.
With embedded annotations, you can insert buttons that overlay your video. These buttons are really just links to your other YouTube videos. With a little creativity, you can make your own “Choose Your Own Adventure” video series. Here’s a great example
How is your ministry using Youtube? Let us know.
