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    How to Get Started With YouTube Messages

    by Kristi Hines / June 12, 2018

    social media how toLooking for a new way to connect with people on YouTube?

    Wondering how to engage with your subscribers on a more personal level?

    In this article, you'll learn how to set up and use private YouTube messages on mobile.

    How to Get Started With YouTube Messages by Kristi Hines on Social Media Examiner.
    How to Get Started With YouTube Messages by Kristi Hines on Social Media Examiner.

    #1: Promote New Videos to Specific YouTube Contacts

    One way to use the direct messaging and video sharing features on YouTube is to promote new videos to your YouTube contacts. To do this, once your video has been posted to your channel, tap on the Share button beneath your video.

    Tap the Share button below a video on YouTube mobile app

    Next, select the contact(s) you want to send the video to and enter a message. You can share a video with one or more contacts at once by tapping on them.

    Select contact to share YouTube video with

    Be sure to keep an eye on your YouTube app for any replies to your video share so you can build some engagement with your fans while increasing the visibility for your latest video.

    #2: Provide Customer Support

    Since Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks added direct and private messaging features, businesses have been using them to take certain conversations off of their public channels or pages. A similar approach can work for YouTube, too.

    If your channel subscribers or video viewers start conversations that are better handled via a private message, send your invitation link to them and invite them to continue the conversation in a direct message. This can be a great way to resolve any issues that arise in comments on your Community tab or Discussion tab, and on your videos.

    Examples of customer conversation on the YouTube discussion tab

    The best part? You can share public videos from any channel with your contacts. If there's a video by someone else that will help your customer with a support issue, you can find that video using YouTube search and share it via direct messaging. Your customers will appreciate the thorough service.

    #3: Move Sensitive Conversations to a Private Channel

    Simply put, if the response can't (or shouldn't) be posted publicly on your channel or videos, consider sending an invitation to your contacts list instead. Then connect with the person privately and handle the issue as needed without any additional scrutiny or help from other YouTube community members.

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    How to Set Up Direct Messaging Contacts

    To share videos and direct-message other YouTube users, you must add those users to your YouTube contacts via the YouTube app for Android or iOS. In the app, tap the Activity tab.

    Activity tab in the YouTube mobile app

    Next, tap on the View Contacts link.

    View Contacts link on the Share tab in YouTube mobile app

    On the following screen, you see your current contacts and contact suggestions based on your current contacts. Beneath these, you find two links: Send Invitation Link and Find in Phone Book.

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    YouTube Add Contacts options

    Find in Phone Book allows you to search the contacts on your smartphone to see if anyone is using YouTube so you can invite them. Send Invitation Link will generate a custom link you can use to add people to your contacts.

    YouTube invitation link to share with people to add more contacts

    When you share your invitation link, people who click on it from their mobile device with the YouTube app installed will be added to your contacts list so you can start sharing videos with them.

    For example, you might share your invitation link on Twitter.

    Example of sharing YouTube invitation link on Twitter

    When people click the link, they see a pop-up message that they're about to be added to your contacts for video sharing on YouTube.

    Pop-up message that people see who click a YouTube invitation link

    When the person taps on Accept to opt into your YouTube contacts, they get a confirmation that they've accepted the invitation at the bottom of their screen.

    YouTube invitation link accepted

    They also receive a reminder that they're connected in their message list.

    YouTube invitation link accepted

    Grow Your YouTube Contacts List by Sharing Your Invitation Link

    To grow your contacts list, be sure to share your invitation link in multiple ways. As shown earlier, you can share your invitation link on other social networks like Twitter, as Beatbox Beverages did.

    You can also add your invitation link to your channel's About description so visitors to your channel know there's another way they can get your latest updates.

    YouTube share invitation link on About tab

    Similarly, add your invitation link to your latest YouTube video links to get video viewers on your contacts list. You can even create a video explaining the feature to your subscribers.

    Another way to share your invitation link is to make sure the link is early enough in your featured video description to have it displayed on the Home tab of your channel, much like the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter links are in the featured video below.

    YouTube featured video description

    If you choose to run a social media ad campaign to get more YouTube contacts using your invitation link, be sure to target mobile-only audiences so clicks will take ad audiences directly to the invitation acceptance in the YouTube app.

    Also note that invitation links can expire. If it's been a while since you checked your channel's invitation link, be sure to do so. Expired invitation links won't work, so don't plan on creating one link for all of your marketing like you do with your main channel or other permanent URL.

    YouTube invitation link expired

    Conclusion

    YouTube's direct messaging and video sharing features are great ways for businesses and channel owners to connect directly with their subscribers, video watchers, and fans. Start sharing your invitation link, building your contacts list, and promoting your latest videos.

    What do you think? Have you tried YouTube's Messages feature? How will you use it for your business? Then let us know how you like it in the comments!

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    Tags: YouTube

    About the authorKristi Hines

    Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and copywriter who develops blog content, ebooks, emails, lead magnets, and website copy for marketing agencies, B2B, and SaaS.
    Other posts by Kristi Hines »

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