YouTube promo guide

In Creator Resources, Platform Integrations by Eboni Bright December 9, 2020

YouTube is a powerful platform for creators to promote your products and connect with fans. Spring offers a powerful YouTube integration that enables you to sell your products directly below your videos, on end cards, in your YouTube shop and more. If you haven’t unlocked the merch shelf yet don’t worry, there are tons of other ways you can promote your products. Check out the video below to learn more. 

Add brand elements

As with all social platforms, it’s important to create a seamless branded consistency between your store and your social platforms. YouTube gives you the option to personalize your profile icon and banner image, allowing fans to quickly recognize you. Your banner and profile icon are the first things they’ll see on your channel, so utilize this space to create a lasting impression. 

Create banner links

When customizing your channel you can choose to overlay up to 5 custom links over your banner, creating easy access to your store. Head to the ‘About’ section of your channel, click ‘Customize channel’ and add your Spring store URL. @SIAMES [450K subscribers] added their store as their featured link, naming it ‘Online Store’.

Spring tip for YouTube: Spring tip: If you’re running a promotion or have mentioned a new product launch in your content, link directly to the listing in your bio, rather than your store URL. It removes one step for the fan, and has been shown to almost double conversion rates, meaning more completed sales (easy win). Switch your ‘Online Store’ banner link temporarily to point to your new launch during your promotion too, naming it ‘New Products’.

Activate merch shelf

Activate the Spring x Youtube merch shelf integration to sell your products directly below your YouTube videos. You’ll need at least 10,000 subscribers to be eligible for this feature, learn more here.  You can visit the Integrations section of your Spring account to complete setup.

Your newest products are displayed on your merch shelf by default (they normally appear within 3 days of launch), but you can also choose specific products to display on your video by pinning them, especially if you’re launching a new product and call it out or are discussing it via livestream. (learn more). Visit your YouTube Studio, click on Monetization and follow the prompts through to Merchandise.

Control your product’s visibility settings too; If you change a listing from private to public it can take up to 24 – 48 hours for the product to appear in your YouTube merch shelf. Also, when you make a listing private it can take up to 10 hours for the product to be removed from YouTube.

Customize your store

Once you’ve activated your merch shelf, you can create a channel store. Go to YouTube Studio, select ‘Monetization’ from the left side menu. Open the Merchandise tab, and within the status section, click ‘Organize’. From there you can choose the products featured in your store and the order they’re displayed in.

These same products will appear under all of your videos, unless you customize the merchandise displayed on the video level. @Aphmau [4.92M subscribers] has her channel store set up so fans are able to find products in a centralized location.

Promotional tips for YouTube 

When you wear your products, it can help increase your sales by 50%. If you feature it in your video content, even better. The top 3 ways creators promote their products on video include:

  • Wearing or using your products while filming video content
  • Mentioning your products within your video content
  • Publishing a dedicated promo video 

@GardenAnswer [684K subscribers] always wears products from her Spring store in her video content. Featuring them without specifically mentioning or calling them out while using the merch shelf means her community easily see where they can buy the same product.

Use your video description

Add links to your products in your video description. You can direct your community to the ‘link below’ to find your store. If your channel is using the merch shelf, link to your store in your video descriptions—this way fans who click the store link will  get a preview of your products on YouTube without having to leave your channel.

Add end screens 

Adding an end screen to the last 15-20 seconds of your YouTube videos is a great way to promote other videos, playlists, and increase channel subscribers. With the merch shelf integration, you’re also able to use end screens to feature a direct link to your store and products.  

Promoting on livestream

Livestreaming is one of the most popular ways for creators to promote their products to their entire community. With the merch shelf, you’ll also have access to live merch alerts during your livestreams. This means a real-time alert will automatically appear in chat when one of your products are purchased. This pop up will display an image of the design and links to the listing.

Also, you can ‘pin’ merch to the top of chat while live streaming. Spring’s integration with Streamlabs also empowers YouTube creators to reward fans with live OBS alerts for every purchase. See below for more livestreaming promo tips.

  • Wear products on stream: Order samples of your products ahead of time and show them off while streaming to get your community excited.
  • Offer limited time promo codes: Another great way to drive sales and engagement while streaming is to offer promo codes that expire in a short amount of time (like after the stream ends). 
  • Announce limited edition products: Make your new listings are only available for a limited amount of time, creating urgency, hype, and exclusivity. If you’re planning a launch, update the listing’s visibility setting to ‘public’ ahead of time so your products will be added to your Merch Shelf product catalogue.  

Utilize your community tab

YouTube’s community tab creates more opportunities for creators to engage with fans. It’s a great space to announce sales, get people to vote on products or design ideas, and share new product releases. You’ll need to acquire 1,000 subscribers to unlock this feature on YouTube.