I wrote a post a few months back on on how to Build Connections With Online Video.  I highlighted online video as one of the most powerful tools you can use to build connections with your followers or your tribe and cited some statistics on the prevalence of online video.

But what I didn’t address in the post was the importance of branding.  If you’re involved in Online Video and sharing videos through your own YouTube channel, you may be interested in knowing how to brand a YouTube channel.

Why is branding important?  Your brand gives people a way to easily identify you.  So it should be consistent across the different new media channels.  That means your Facebook page, Twitter background, YouTube channel and your blog or website should have a consistent look and feel and similar brand elements.  That way, if I’ve gotten to know you through Facebook and land on your blog, or found you through YouTube — I’ll recognize you because the branding is the same.  I still know I’m with you.

Adding A Custom Background To Your YouTube Channel

Adding a custom background isn’t terribly complicated.  It’s the design process that’s a little more challenging for most people.  But let’s learn how to add the image first.

Log into your YouTube account.  At the top right you’ll see your account name and an inverted triangle.  Click on the triangle to open the drop down menu and select My Channel.

When the channel options expand, click on the Themes and Colors tab.  You can select from several different color options or click on the advanced options link to upload your image.  So click on advanced options.

The window will expand to reveal an area where you can set your own custom colors for fonts, the channel wrapper, etc. as well as upload your own custom background image.  Simply click in the box next to background image to select your image and then click Upload to add your background image to your YouTube channel.

Remember to click save changes and your background image will be applied as the background image for your YouTube channel.

Easy-peasy 🙂

Creating A Custom Background For Your YouTube Channel

As I mentioned earlier, the challenge in customizing your YouTube Channel comes from creating the design itself.  There are quite a few free backgrounds available that can get you started or serve as a template for creating your own custom design.  Remember, you want to ensure you have a unified brand so it’s worth contracting a designer (like yours truly!) to create a unique design for your YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and blog profiles.

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you can use one of the free backgrounds available online as a starting point for your own design.  It will give you an easy guide as to the dimensions for your custom background.

For my own background, I created an image that is 1800 x 1300 pixels but have also seen templates that are 2000 x 2000 pixels.

If you look at your YouTube channel, you’ll notice that there’s an area of about 960 pixels running down the middle of the page that contains your actual channel feed: your videos, your favorites, your subscribers, etc.  You’ll need to make sure that your design leaves space for this feed.

Using my own background image as an example, I filled the center of my template with a red rectangle measuring 960 x 1300.  That left me with two areas of 420 pixels to the left and right of the red rectangle that would hold my design.  Anything in the center of the image would be hidden by the channel feed so your design efforts will focus on the outside edges of your background image.

Once you’ve created your design, simply follow the steps above to load it to your YouTube Channel.

Get Inspired

Here are some screen shots of custom YouTube channel backgrounds to get your creative juices flowing:

iChat: Have You Create A Custom YouTube Background?

  • Do you use YouTube for your business?
  • Have you customized your channel’s background using a free template or created your own?
  • Is there are reason why you haven’t?

Let’s chat by posting a comment below.