With connection at the crux of consumer expectations on social, many brands are looking for ways to enhance their social strategy to not only reach more customers but to relate to them on a deeper level. To do so, more and more companies are relying on the power of video.

Over 58% of consumers told us that they prefer video or any visual-first content on social –and that’s because most people prefer to watch something than read something. But video actually has the potential to impact your bottom line. Research suggests that social video generates 12 times the shares than text and images combined. By investing in social video, brands have an opportunity to establish stronger connections with their audiences, and therefore, significantly increase their conversion rates and grow their business.

At Sprout, we believe in the power of social video which is why we are excited to welcome our newest partner: Youtube. Now, you can streamline your video publishing strategy and deepen connections with your audience on Youtube directly from Sprout.

Video strategy built for YouTube

An impactful social video strategy starts with showcasing the brand and people behind it. To build brand awareness, a local agency might consider a video series interviewing members of their design team to discuss the ideation process they go through when bringing on new clients. 83% of consumers prefer YouTube to watch video content, so a video series on Youtube has the potential to perform a lot better than on any other network.

Since YouTube is a preferred channel for longer-format videos, you may also find value in using YouTube to educate your customers on new products or services. Try repurposing branded how-to videos by cross-promoting bite-sized versions on Twitter or Facebook for more visibility and then drive your audiences to the longer formats on YouTube to watch in its entirety.

While developing your long-term strategy, you can also think about how to best leverage multimedia content for maximum impact. Did you know that YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine? Take advantage of the unique opportunities YouTube offers to extend the reach of your branded content. YouTube search is built on relevancy, meaning that your published content has a longer shelf-life, providing more outlets for consumers to find your brand. Create and maintain new and existing content on your YouTube channels regularly to optimize your search value.

Go deeper with tools to extend the life of video content

When partnered with the right social media management tools, a solid video strategy in Sprout can extend the lifecycle of your video content on social, provide key insights to optimize performance and create ongoing engagement opportunities.

When preparing your post, utilize the Asset Library to access brand-aligned videos and frequently-used hashtags for a streamlined publishing workflow. Prior to publishing, you can preview your post on both desktop and mobile using the Network Preview in Compose. As a final step, make sure to use Optimal Send Times to generate the most impressions and engagement upon initial posting, in order to maximize the ROI of video content.

After publishing content, the Post Performance Report can help you identify well-performing content and concepts to leverage for new campaigns or social initiatives. If Paid Social is a part of your social strategy, you can easily cross-post and promote your highest performing content on Facebook, all from within Sprout.

Centralize your video publishing strategy

As you expand your social strategy to focus on video, you’ll likely need a central hub to manage all the moving parts. With Sprout, you can deliver a seamless video strategy across every major social network – LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and now, Youtube – to ultimately save you time and deepen connections with your audience.

Stay tuned for more updates! As always, let us know your feedback in the comments below or hit us up @SproutSocial on Twitter.