How to Customize Your YouTube Channel

         In his book Entrepreneur Magazine's Ultimate Guide to YouTube for Business, marketing and public relations consultant Jason Rich show you how to master the secrets of successful "YouTubers" and put your brand, product or service in front of millions of potential viewers. In this edited excerpt, the author shows you how to customize your channel to make it stand out from the crowd.
After setting up your YouTube Channel page, it will look pretty barren when you first access it. It will display your profile photo, name and a few details, like your latest activity, date joined, age and country.
Near the top-left corner of the screen is the "Channel Settings" button. Click on this to begin customizing your YouTube Channel. Here, you can fully customize the visual appearance of your channel's page. By default, the "Appearance" tab (near the top-left corner of the screen) has been selected. Click on the "Accept" button to confirm your selection after you're done making your customizations.
Under the "Background" heading, you can upload a digital photo or a graphic image you create or edit using Adobe Photoshop or another graphics program to serve as your channel page's background wallpaper by clicking on the "Choose File" button. Or simply choose a solid color background by clicking on the "Choose a Color" option, and then clicking on your desired background color.
When selecting a photo to use as a background, be sure you own the rights to the image or photo you'll be using. Otherwise, you could get into trouble for copyright violations.
As you're customizing your own YouTube Channel page, it's a good strategy to visit other popular YouTube channels to see firsthand how they're using wallpaper graphics or photos to enhance their channel's page.
Next, click on the "Info and Settings" tab that's displayed under the "Channel Settings" heading to add a text description of your YouTube Channel in the "Description" field. Your YouTube channel description should be short and to the point. Explain who you are, the channel's purpose, and provide a preview of your videos so that people will want to visit your channel and watch your videos. YouTube, Google, and other search engines will use this information when it comes to your channel's search engine optimization listings.
Below the "Description" field is the "Tags" field. Here, you should enter a series of keywords or phrases that best describe your YouTube Channel, as well as your product, service, company, or event. When someone performs a search on YouTube or Google, their search terms are automatically compared to the description and tags you've created for your YouTube Channel. If Google discovers a match or matches, your channel will be listed in the user's search results. This is a powerful tool for attracting traffic to your channel and increasing your views.
Below the "Tags" field is the "Channel URL" link. This is a unique URL for your YouTube Channel. Right now, the link is fully functional, but it's comprised of a long list of random numbers and letters. Click on the "Edit" button to create a much easier and customized URL for your channel.
Click on the "Create Channel URL" button to establish your custom YouTube Channel URL, which will take on this format: http://www.youtube.com/[your custom channel name]. After confirming your unique, custom URL, an "Overview" screen will be displayed. From here, you can edit your username and password, plus adjust a handful of other account settings, as well as turn on or off the YouTube functionality that allows you to display ads from other companies on your channel page and within your videos so that you can potentially earn revenue.
As you customize your YouTube Channel page, click on the "Tabs" option that's displayed under the "Channel Settings" heading to customize what options will be available to people who visit your channel's page. Click on the "Done Editing" button to continue. Click on the "Account Settings" page to customize the channel title, profile image, channel description, and channel tags so they're associated with your business/organization, not yourself or an individual.
For example, the channel title should include your company's name. You can modify the channel title at any time. The channel's description should include details about your business or organization, and the channel's tags should relate directly to your company or whatever the channel itself is being set up to promote.
You're now ready to start populating your YouTube channel with videos, and then promoting your channel to the public in order to solicit viewers and subscribers.

Promoting Your Business Through Personal Posts

It's a big task getting employees to see that their tweets and Facebook status updates can be marketing tools for their companies. But for the past three years that's the message Jason Seiden, CEO of Chicago branding agency Ajax Workforce Marketing, has been spreading.
Seiden is on a mission to get individuals to leverage social media in a way that's good for business, creating what he calls a "profersonal" (a hybrid of personal and professional) profile. We sat down with him to learn more.
How has social media changed the way employees represent their companies to the outside world?
In the past, an executive would talk formally about company business only after having been media-trained. Today, with social media, every employee is a spokesperson for the company. With that, companies need their employees to be on-message on social media.
Why is this important for each employee?
Individuals have what I call the "Friday-night problem." You go out and someone asks you what you do. You hear yourself answer that question, and you want to cringe as you see that person's eyes glaze over. Social media has made that problem a 24/7 issue. We solve that by providing professionals with storytelling skills that can help them answer that question better and--where it gets good for a company--we help them deliver the message.
How does this work?
Our first step is to help companies translate their brand message to a social-media-ready version. For example, if you worked at Nike, you wouldn't tell your friends to "Just do it," but you're going to have a conversation that gets to those same principles. Through our web app, employees fill out a Mad Libs-like questionnaire that touches on what they do, what their goals are and who they serve in their work, reminding them of why they like working at the company. From there, we help employees create "personal elevator pitches" that combine their professional strengths and their employer's mission. We automatically convert these pitches into optimized LinkedIn profiles and social media identities.
Why is a "profersonal" profile so important?
It doesn't work to separate work and life anymore. We're friends with our co-workers. We go and get our buddy's job once he leaves a company. You can have the same network for all your social media--meeting on LinkedIn to talk business and sharing funny stories on Facebook.
How should entrepreneurs approach social media?
By being genuine. When you talk to your employees, articulate what your company stands for and what you hope customers, clients and stakeholders will get from the company. Then, encourage employees to make that story part of their own.
After all, they're giving you 80 hours a week, so consider this something they can get back.
How useful is LinkedIn for startups?
Encourage your team to look at a client's LinkedIn profile before a meeting, and make it part of the conversation. Be sure everyone's LinkedIn profile is polished and on-message. After all, LinkedIn is a pitch for your company that's open 24/7.