How to Share Videos on YouTube

Send your videos to family and friends or the world

By

Gretchen Siegchrist

Updated on July 23, 2022

Reviewed by

Jon Fisher

This article explains how to share YouTube videos with others.

Users can navigate YouTube in more than 80 languages, covering more than 95 percent of the world's population.

Define Your YouTube Goals

Why do you want to be on YouTube? The first thing you'll need to decide is what you hope to accomplish by uploading videos to YouTube. Do you have a business you'd like to promote? Do you want to share videos of your child's soccer team with other families? Did you take a hilarious video that you're eager to share with the world?

Whether you want to be a consistent content provider or want to share videos with family and friends, when you clearly define your YouTube goals, it's easier to move forward and create engaging content.

If you want to promote a business, stay on-topic with your videos. For example, if you have a gardening business, regularly post videos with gardening tips and tricks.

Create a YouTube Channel

If you have a Google account, you're able to watch YouTube videos and subscribe to other people's YouTube channels. However, to upload videos, you'll need to create a YouTube channel. Use an existing Google account if you'll be using your channel for personal purposes, or create a new YouTube Channel for a business or organization. Here's how:

Sign in to YouTube on a computer or mobile device.
In the upper-right corner, select your profile picture icon.
Select Create a channel.
Name your channel, upload a picture, and select Create Channel.
Select Customize Channel.
You'll be taken to YouTube Studio. Select Continue to start customizing your channel.
On the Layout tab, customize how your channel looks, including adding featured sections and a video highlight.
On the Branding tab, add or edit your profile picture, create a banner image, or add a video watermark.
On the Basic Info tab, add or edit your channel name and description, and add links, contact info, additional languages, and more.
Use the left pane to select various tools and resources, including your channel dashboard, analytics, playlist, monetization options, and more.
Select Customization anytime you want to access your Layout, Branding, and Customization options.

Upload a Video to Your YouTube Channel

If you've made YouTube videos to post, you're now ready to upload those videos to your YouTube channel. If not, you'll need to make some YouTube videos. Here's how to upload a video.

Sign in to YouTube Studio to arrive at your Channel Dashboard. Or, from YouTube, select your profile picture, then select your channel.
Select Upload Videos, or choose Create > Upload videos.
Drag a video into the box, or choose Select Files to navigate to a video.

You can upload up to 15 videos at a time.
Add your video's details, including a title, description, and thumbnail image.
Add your video to a playlist (optional), indicate if your video is made for kids, and add any age restrictions.
Select Show More to bring up additional settings.
Indicate if the video has paid promotions, add tags, choose how to show comments, and more. Select Next.
Add video elements, such as subtitles, cards, and end screens, and then select Next.

Your video has to be at least 25 seconds long to have an end screen.
YouTube Studio will automatically check your video for copyright issues. If everything is OK, you'll see No issues found. Select Next.
Select Save or Publish and choose your visibility settings: Private, Public, or Unlisted. Select Save.

Unlisted means anyone with the link can view the video.
Or, select Schedule to schedule the video's availability. Choose a day and time and select Schedule at the bottom right.

Create Playlists

Playlists help subscribers sort easily through your content. Even if you only have a few videos posted, group those videos into playlists, and then choose names for your playlists.

Playlists help people find your videos. Once they engage with one video, they see other videos you created and are more likely to watch those videos.

YouTube lets you feature playlists on your YouTube channel page.

Promote Your Videos

Whether you're trying to grow a business or want people to see your videos, use your social media accounts to spread the word about your YouTube content.

Don't forget to engage with your audience. Respond to questions and comments, and take viewer feedback into consideration. Your attentiveness to your YouTube channel will help build a loyal and committed following.

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