YouTube Channel Management

Covers & Profile Photos:

• Profile images on all social Bayer Communications channels should be the Bayer logo and any changes should be driven by the Channels & Amplification Team.

• Social Cover photos should follow brand guidelines and feature exceptional imagery, highlight diversity, and be globally or regionally appropriate (based on channel). 

• Cover photos can be changed up to once per quarter but should not exceed that unless there is a compelling business reason.

• Alterations involving logos need approval by the Corporate Brand Management team.

• When naming business partners on the channel, use the "|" or "pipe" to separate Bayer from the business partner name.
  For example: Bayer | Pharmaceuticals
  For further information please see: https://idnet.bayer.com/en/company-and-divisions

About Section:

Ensure your about section is up-to-date and consistent with the current Bayer messaging strategy. Because this may change periodically, refer to the Global Bayer YouTube page for the current messaging. 
 

When a user subscribes or likes content from another user, they're showing support for that user/company and that they want to see content from it. Users are able to see users subscribed to you, but are unable to see who you subscribe to. ​

Bayer “Following” Guidance: Follow pages of companies we have ongoing partnerships with (publications, affiliated Bayer pages, partner NGOs, etc.) so we can show collaborative support and easily share content we are tagged in. Ensure you are liking a given page through the company page, not your personal account. Review your “liked pages” every 6 months to ensure your follower list is up-to-date and reflects current partnerships. 

Bayer “Liking” Guidance:  The recommendation is to not "like" videos from other accounts.​

It is important to ensure you are not interacting on Bayer content/pages through your personal page to avoid confusion.

• The Channels & Amplification team is responsible for maintaining our ‘likes’ and ‘follow’ protocol on the Bayer global page. 

• Each country and business partner page owner is responsible for maintaining our ‘likes’ and ‘follow’ protocol.

 

What is Community Engagement?​

The process of community building with our target audiences across owned and opportunistic, external channels that enhances the experience of our audiences. It also improves societal perceptions and positions Bayer as an industry leader through reputation building.  ​

Bayer Community: ​A group of people that share an active interest in Bayer and related topics. The Community Engagement Virtual Team builds and fosters communities. They identify, engage in and moderate discussions that relate to our brand and the fields we are operating in to build trust and provide a positive brand experience.​ They also take an active role in editorial planning and bring in content creation and publishing experience.​

YouTube Engagement Best Practices: ​Community engagement resources must be available to ensure proper management of comment sections. Sprinklr may be able to help mitigate some of the heavy lifting that would have to be conducted natively. ​

Pharmacovigilance and litigation reporting sensitivities need to be taken into account when developing a community engagement strategy for this channel. If resources don’t allow for regular management of this channel, comments ​can be turned off.

Your Channel Search Optimization is important to your channel health because it makes it easier for users and potential subscribers to find your content. Your views, subscribers, audience retention, engagement, video quality, channel authority and relevance all help determine your videos’ SEO ranking. Below are helpful tips to consider when creating your content and publishing on YouTube. ​

When Creating a Post 

• Add keywords to the title, description and tags​.

• Add 10–15 relevant tags to your video​.

• Add closed captions to your video​.

Improving Audience Retention​

• YouTube prioritizes content that has high audience retention because this means the content is interesting and informative enough ​to keep people watching. ​

• There is no ideal length for a video to rank. The best way to encourage engagement is to generate value for your viewers. 

• When checking your YouTube audience retention report, pay attention to where viewers drop off to find areas of improvement. ​

Improving Engagement​

• When users interact with your videos via thumbs up, thumbs down, commenting and subscribing, it sends a signal to YouTube that your audience is enjoying your content and therefore, ranks you higher. ​To encourage this: 
  
  Add end cards to your video to encourage viewers to subscribe, engage or continue watching more content from your channel. ​
  
  Be active in your comments to show appreciation and transparency with viewers.​

At any given time, at least one billion people—15% of the world’s population—have some form of documented disability. Additionally, 100% of us are temporarily-abled; as we age, every person will experience variations in the way they can access digital experiences. In line with the COM mission to engage for trust, Bayer must lead the way in creating accessible and inclusive experiences in our digital landscape.

How to Make the YouTube Channel More Accessible

• Add a video description and tag descriptors to give the community context to the visual itself. When writing, keep the following in mind:
  — Avoid jargon and abstract concepts — be direct and use an active voice
  — Provide trigger warnings — to avoid exposing people to potentially emotionally harmful content. ​
• ​When creating your video, think about creating videos with voice over to give auditory context to your community. Don’t just rely on the visuals, colors and animations to support your message. ​
• Add Closed Captioning to videos: Upload your own .SRT closed captioning file, auto-sync your captions, or type captions in manually with YouTube creator studio. 

For more accessibility suggestions and practices across all channels, visit the Accessibility Guide.

Title: Add a clear and concise title to describe your video

• Capitalize each word for consistency.

• Include relevant keywords in your title to help with SEO rank.

• Keep titles concise (60 characters) with the most important information up front.

Description: Describe your video in a couple sentences. Tell viewers the main takeaway they will get after watching. 

• Add some relevant #hashtags to the description: unlike keywords in titles, hashtags can be broad match keywords and general associations.

• Always provide a hyperlink to a relevant webpage.

Keyword Search Tool: Use the YouTube search suggestion feature to type a keyword and find related search results that auto-populate.

Thumbnail: YouTube auto-generates 3 options for thumbnails. Select a cover image that helps to communicate what your video entails or is a bright and colorful visual. You also have the ability to upload your own thumbnail if the 3 options are not suitable. It is important to have a good thumbnail as it will appear in the playlist and video tabs. It will also appear as the preview if you post your video link on social media. 

Playlist: Click on the drop down menu to find a topical or series playlist your video fits into. If it does not fit into one specific playlist, you can opt to add it into multiple playlists. 

Audiences: If your video compiles with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, select that your video is made for kids. Most of our videos are, but check the criteria if you are unsure. 

Tags: Tags are descriptive keywords you can add to your video to help viewers find your content. 

• Use some broad keywords that describe the overarching topic your video falls under as other tags.

• Use some specific keywords that describe the topics you covered in your video as other tags.