How to create a YouTube channel in 2024

YouTube accounts are connected to your Google account (Google is YouTube’s parent company). If you don’t already have a Google account, it’s time to make one. Don’t worry; it’ll just take a couple of minutes.

If you already have a Google account, skip to Step 2.

Go to http://accounts.google.com/ and tap Create account.

Pop in your details and preferred new email address. Done!

Head to YouTube.com and tap Sign In in the top right corner.

Select your Google account and enter your password.

Tap your profile icon in the top right corner and select Create Channel.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how much it costs to start a YouTube channel? It’s totally free!

Creating a separate YouTube channel for a business or brand allows you to have more than one manager or owner. Here’s how to do that:

That’s it!

Quick note: The new business channel will be associated with the Gmail address you used to sign in to Google.

After you’ve created a separate YouTube channel for a business or brand, you can add additional managers. These users will be able to upload video content, manage comments, and more. Here’s how to do that:

This will open a pop-up window. In the top right corner, click the grey people icon in the top right corner.

You can add new users by name or email address and choose a role (owner or manager). To transfer ownership of the account, select Owner. To add a new account manager, select Manager.

Now that your new YouTube channel exists, it’s time to personalize it!

Adding channel art helps with brand recognition. For best results, follow these guidelines:

Your profile picture will appear where your channel is presented on YouTube, next to your videos and comments.

Next, add a channel description. The description isn’t just for basic info — it’s a great opportunity to add some keywords and hashtags that will help your target audience find your channel.

It may be short, but it’s a powerful tool for communication and discovery, so you’ll want to get it right.

You can customize your channel URL, add external links to your business website or social accounts, and add contact info for business inquiries. Note: This email address will be visible, so create a new address for this purpose if you don’t want viewers to see your personal email address!

You can also add video watermarks to your content to add additional branding or to prevent people from using your videos without your consent.

To add new sections to your channel page, click Home tab, then + Add section. Note: If this tab is greyed out, move the Home tab slider to the right to proceed.

You can add lots of different sections to your channel as it grows:

This is where you can select a channel trailer and pick a spotlight video for returning subscribers. If you’re starting a new channel, keep reading, then come back to this section after you’ve uploaded a few videos.

Hopefully, you’ve got a video to actually put on this YouTube channel, but if you need a minute to whip something up… we’ll wait.

Here are a few basic video creation tips to get you started:

The video customization window will open automatically as your video is uploading. This is where you can edit the details of your video:

At the bottom of the Details tab, you’ll be asked to answer a couple of questions about your audience to make sure that your content complies with certain laws and regulations. Review these two questions carefully before moving on to the next tab.

The Video elements tab allows you to add things like auto-generated subtitles, an end screen, and cards that appear throughout your video to promote related content.

Note: If your video has no dialogue, the Add subtitles option will be greyed out.

YouTube will automatically scan your video for issues that may restrict its visibility.

The Copyright check searches for copyrighted content in your video. If any issues are found, you can remove the claimed content from your video or choose to dispute a claim.

If you’re in the YouTube Partner Program, the Ad suitability check will verify whether your video follows YouTube’s ad-friendly content guidelines. Don’t worry — if any issues are found, you can request a human review if you think that the systems made a mistake.

If you’re ready to launch your video, set the visibility to Public. If you want your video to go live at a certain time, you can also schedule a date on this tab.

Ready to post your video? Click Publish in the bottom right corner and that’s it – your video will appear on your YouTube channel!

Hootsuite is your hub for all things YouTube. Beyond uploading videos, you can access analytics, schedule video premieres in advance, moderate comments, and use insights to brainstorm future content.

Connect your YouTube channel to Hootsuite easily in a few clicks:

• In a separate browser tab or window, log out of YouTube.
• In Hootsuite, go to Account, and then select Social accounts and teams.
  • Professional plans: Select + Private account.
  • Team, Business, and Enterprise plans: Select Manage beside your organization name, and then select Add a social network.
• Select YouTube.
• Sign in to the Google account that owns the YouTube channel. Enter the Google account credentials (email and password) and then select the Google account that owns the YouTube channel.
• Select Allow.

That’s it! Now you’re ready to start scheduling and publishing your videos.

Go to Create, and then select YouTube video.

Select the YouTube channel you want to publish to and enter a title for your video.

Drag a video into the upload area or select choose a file to upload to YouTube. Note: Videos less than 60 seconds long will be published as YouTube Shorts.

• Optional: Enter a video description and tags, and select a category for the video. Tags are not displayed publicly, but they can help make your video easier to discover.

Select a privacy setting. You can schedule Unlisted or Private videos to go public at a later date and time. Turn on Schedule to go Public, and then select a date and time.

Select Done or Schedule in the top right to publish or schedule your video. You’ll also get an embed code that you can insert into a website and the YouTube video URL that you can share to other social accounts.

Creating a YouTube channel is one thing. Creating a successful YouTube channel is another. It’s not easy to stand out from the crowd or reach an audience.

If you’re new to the YouTube game, check out this Reddit thread where users have shared their top piece of advice to grow your channel. You might find a great nugget of wisdom in this thread!