YouTube, without a doubt, is one of the most widely used social media platforms. In fact, it has become one of the biggest search engines where people search for videos related to almost every topic. Since its user base is huge, it’s a goldmine for individuals and businesses to have exposure to a large audience. They can create and share videos here in order to market themselves to the target audience.
However, to get the best outcome, you need to have a more in-depth strategy than just sharing videos. YouTube video localization is one such strategy. It involves optimizing videos for a local audience by using different techniques such as video translation and dubbing. In this article, I am going to discuss some best ways to reach a global audience with the help of localized YouTube videos. Let’s start.
What is YouTube Video Localization?
Before I get into discussing the ways to utilize YouTube video localization, let’s understand what it actually is. YouTube video localization means optimizing videos for a local audience of a certain region. You can translate YouTube metadata, dub videos in different languages, and include multilingual subtitles, in order to perform localization.
As I have mentioned before, YouTube is a huge social media platform and more than half of the world’s population has access to it. It means people from different regions and cultures are watching videos here. To have a maximum impact on this diverse audience, channels use the localization strategy. It not only helps get more views and engagement but also brings value to the lives of people.
Best Ways to Reach the Global Audience with YouTube Video Localization:
Now, I am going to shift the discussion towards discussing some of the best ways you can reach out and impact a global audience by localizing videos. Here are the details of these ways:
Translate titles and descriptions:
The first and foremost thing that I am going to discuss here is to translate titles and descriptions of your YouTube videos. The title is probably the first thing a person reads about a video so you need to make sure it’s translated properly. A well-translated title has a larger chance of getting clicks from the local audience. As a result, your video will get more views and get ranked on YouTube.
Descriptions also have a lot to do with this video ranking system. It’s not just a text that explains what your video is about. It also includes relevant keywords that are necessary for “Search Engine Optimization”. So, try adding translated keywords so that whenever a local person searches for a relevant topic, your video pops up in the results.
Use multilingual subtitles and captions:
Now, the next thing you should do is add multilingual subtitles and captions to your videos. Many people prefer watching videos with subtitles in order to understand them well. When a person has the option of viewing subtitles in their local language, their engagement level with the video is improved.
It can also improve the retention rate of your YouTube channel. When the audience knows that your channel provides captions in their local language, they prefer watching your videos more in order to get their required information. Besides that, this technique can help your video get ranked since YouTube indexes video captions as well. So, use YouTube’s automatic translating feature or any other third-party tool and start adding multilingual captions and subtitles to your videos.
Multilingual Dubbing:
If you want to take video localization to a whole other level, try out dubbing videos in multiple languages. Using multilingual subtitles is good but it requires viewers to read along as they watch the video. Dubbing, on the other hand, helps them watch the video in their native language without having to read any subtitles.
High-quality dubbing can help you increase the retention rate of the channel as well. As mentioned earlier, people prefer following a channel that offers them localized content according to their native region. However, you need to make sure that you add dubbing that is of high quality, natural, and does not contain any type of linguistic error.
Create region-specific playlists:
Creating region-specific playlists is one of the most underrated ways of accessing a global audience via YouTube localization. When you organize videos according to specific languages and regions, it makes it easier for viewers to find their required content on their channels. It helps you deliver the content specifically to a well-targetted audience which can have a huge impact on your channel’s engagement level.
It also keeps the channel well-organized making it easier for followers to navigate and find their required videos. Besides that, it can help you get favored by the algorithm as well. When the platform sees you have specific playlists for specific regions and cultures, it starts recommending the channel to that region even more.
Use dedicated thumbnails:
Another unique way of localizing YouTube videos is by using dedicated thumbnails for videos that you create for certain regions. Thumbnails are one of the most important parts of a video and can impact your click rate a lot.
The best way to utilize this feature is to design it for a local audience. For example, if you’re creating a video about something related to Spanish people, adding text in Spanish will make the thumbnail more optimized for a target audience. It is a very decent way to diversify the content of your channel and impact a global audience from different regions.
Conclusion:
To sum it all up, YouTube video localization is one of the best ways to attract and engage with a local audience. It involves optimizing videos in different ways in order to target local audiences of certain regions. YouTubers use multiple ways to localize their videos. Some of the top ways include translating metadata and dubbing videos in different languages. Besides that, creating dedicated playlists and customized thumbnails for a certain region is also a pretty decent way of localization.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
What is YouTube localization?
YouTube localization means optimizing the channel and its videos for an audience from different local regions and cultures. It involves dubbing videos in different languages and using multilingual subtitles as well.
How does localization work?
Localization, in YouTube videos or any other piece of content, invovles creating and optimizing the content for a certain type of local audience. When the content is localized, people understand it well and it results in more content engagement.
How YouTube localization is beneficial?
YouTube localization is beneficial for a number of reasons. It helps deliver information to people from different cultures and languages pretty easily. It also helps improve engagement of the video and get it ranked on YouTube.
What is the best way to localize a YouTube video?
There are several decent ways for this localization. However, using multilingual subtitles and audio dubbing are two of the best ways. They optimize the content for different regions without having to change anything in the actual video.
