YouTube

Note: Please submit video upload requests to the Social Media Request Form. Unless you have dedicated staff to produce substantial amounts of branch-specific videos, do not create new YouTube accounts. Videos will show up in a relevant playlist on OPL’s official YouTube channel.

Video Title & Description 

• Title of the video should be straightforward and concise.  

• Description of the video should use clear language and a friendly tone.  

Video Length 

• Your video should ideally be short (under 3 minutes), unless it is a training or programming recording.  

• Produce videos that are best suited for your audiences considering the appropriate length, visual quality, and content that is the most engaging.  

• Simple, easy-to-follow narratives are understood and more likely to be shared.  

• If your video is longer than 3 minutes, you may want to consider applying timestamps which can be placed using Youtube’s guide. (This does not apply to Youtube Shorts.) These helps patrons to navigate videos easily and can appeal to audiences with shorter attention spans or who need to get to specific information quickly. 

Using Available Tools 

• Showcase OPL services, events, and collections using info cards which you can make appear at specific moments during a video. 

• Add tags to describe your video in the same manner as hashtags are used for optimal exposure. 

• Make sure tags are both relevant and specific enough to warrant its use. Do not use random tags to boost discoverability.  

• When appropriate, share on other OPL social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to increase the video’s visibility. Make sure to share the YouTube link (unless you are using Instagram) to share the video, do not directly upload video to Twitter or Facebook. 

Shorts 

Shorts are most similar to TikTok videos. If you have a video that is 60 seconds or shorter. You may consider uploading it as a Short.  

Closed Captioning 

Youtube auto-generates captions for all videos uploaded to its platform. Patrons can change the language setting of these captions as well. Be sure to test that closed captioning is functioning for your video. If not, you can edit CC after publishing the video.