Social Media Video Launch Checklist

You’ve worked so hard for your videos from ideation, recording to launch, how can you get the most mileage out of your videos. Should you rely on the YouTube algorithm alone? Probably not. Sure, when you have millions of subscribers, each video uploaded can reach a significant number of audiences. However, if you are starting out, or have 10K or fewer subscribers, the initial reach of your video can still be limited. You won’t see a significant increase right away. 

In this checklist, we break down best practices for social media and marketing before launch, day of launch, and months after launch. Let’s go! 



Before launch 

You may not choose to promote every single one of your videos before launch because it can be overwhelming to your audience. But you can reserve a few slots for more significant/major video launches. 

Try this: 
  • Consider premiering your YouTube videos (instruction here)
  • Create social media post announcing video launch including date and time 
  • Create an email newsletter with a link to premiere the video (if you choose to use YouTube’s premiere feature, viewers can choose to “get notifications” when the video goes live 


Day of launch 

You’ve heard this before - consistency is key. Sure, we all go through phases of being very on top of content creation and publishing, and days we are falling behind. That’s natural! Content creation is always work in progress. With that said, on the day of launch is an important time to follow a plan. Be sure to: 

  • Share on the social media channels you have available 
    • Personal profiles? Sure, it can work well sometimes. Your close connections want to know what you’ve been up to. But if you are someone who wants to keep a personal profile strictly personal, I understand that. Keep in mind that personal profiles are often very important to get the word out at the beginning of your YouTube channel. Once your channel begins to take off, personal profiles become less effective. 
    • Your branded channels and professional networks - here I’m referring to Facebook Page, LinkedIn profile and page, Twitter handle, Instagram account, etc. 
    • Your email list - depending on the frequency of your normal email marketing routine, you may choose to email your audience right away, or wait until the next email newsletter (i.e. if you only email your audience once a week or once a month, but you launch your YouTube videos at a higher frequency) 

  • The often overlooked channels and networks that help you reach more people
    • Facebook Groups 
    • LinkedIn Groups 
    • Other community platforms you are involved in 


Days, Weeks or Months After Launch 

  • Remember to share your video more than once! 
    • This is the #1 mistake made by content creators. 
    • For example, you can reshare videos as original videos (not linked to YouTube) on Facebook after 1-2 months when the videos begin to age. Facebook has enabled monetization too. If you begin to see a growing community on your Facebook page, getting ahead of monetization isn’t a bad plan. 
    • Create video variations for different platforms - see Video Repurposing Bible for Social Media 
    • Create a content calendar so you (or your virtual assistants) know what to do Monday through Sunday. 
      • The content calendar doesn’t need to be complicated or unrealistic. Start with a simple template like this can go a long way 
      • As your YouTube channel begins to grow, and your content calendar becomes more sophisticated, it might make sense to pick up a social media management platform such as Buffer, Hootsuite or the alike. 
  • Don’t forget to share your YouTube channel progress! 
    • You don’t have to only share new videos on social media. Other small victories are worth celebrating too! YouTubers who share milestones at first 100, 1000 views have received lot of engagement from their communities on social media