Can I make my own playlist?

Playlists on YouTube are an underutilized yet potentially powerful tool for video creators. Creating a playlist is a simple way to get more eyes on your videos — and keep people watching — with minimal effort on your part. Here’s how to make a YouTube playlist (and some awesome reasons why you should.)

What Are YouTube Playlists?

YouTube playlists are collections of videos that automatically play in order. Playlists are typically composed of similar or related videos on a particular subject, like this collection of puppy videos, or this one on easy-to-learn rock guitar riffs.

You can create playlists of your own videos, curate other people’s videos, or a combination of both.

Why YouTube Playlists Are Useful

As a viewer on YouTube, playlists are a good way to organize your favorite videos for yourself or to share with others. For example, you could create a playlist of your favorite songs or your go-to yoga lessons. For video creators, playlists are a way to engage viewers for longer and to improve the odds of your videos being discovered in the first place.

Longer watch times

How long viewers watch your videos is one of the factors in YouTube’s algorithm that determines where your videos rank in search results.

Since playlists make it easy for people to kick back and watch multiple videos in a row, you may see a boost in your watch time and search rankings as a result.

Improved discoverability

Playlists appear separately in search results from individual videos in both YouTube and Google results. They also appear in the suggested video section and on your channel page.

By creating playlists, your content can appear multiple times in search results, both for the playlist and the individual video.

Because playlists appear in search results separately, you can target new keywords by creating a playlist from your existing videos. Say, for example, you have a YouTube cooking channel. You’ve got a video on how to make ratatouille and one on how to make crêpes suzette.

By creating a playlist for French cooking recipes you can target that keyword, without actually creating a new video on that topic. Less work for you, more chances to rank!

How to Create a YouTube Playlist

If you’re ready to start making YouTube playlists, there are a few ways to go about it. The first way is to go to your YouTube profile and click on Video Manager.

Under Video Manager, click on Playlists, then select New Playlist. Give your playlist a name and hit Create. You can change the visibility settings for your playlist here as well.

You can also create playlists on the fly as you’re navigating YouTube. When you find a video you want to add to a playlist, click on the plus icon to either add it to an existing playlist, or create a new one.

Just like with your YouTube videos, if you want to experience the benefits of YouTube playlists, you need to optimize each playlist. Here are a few things to look at.

Tell a story

Each video should link to the next and be related to a particular topic or theme. People will probably binge watch your videos like an episodic TV series, so consider the order in which they play.

You can easily change the order of the videos in your playlist by navigating to it in your Video Manager and dragging each video into the perfect position.

Or you can opt to order your videos by popularity or date added by clicking on your playlist settings.

Optimizing a playlist is much easier than optimizing your video for search because there’s less to do. Head over to your playlist page and edit the title and description for your playlist. Choose a unique, descriptive title, and a compelling description that includes the keywords you want to target.

While you’re at it, choose an eye-catching thumbnail that’ll stand out in search results and entice viewers to watch.

While it’s not necessary for every playlist, sometimes an intro to your playlist can be a good idea. In this popular Yoga Challenge playlist, the instructor welcomes viewers and offers some tips.

Just like with individual YouTube videos, you have the option to set your playlists as either public, private, or unlisted. You can edit your privacy settings when you create your playlist or at any time afterward.

• Public playlists can be seen and shared by anyone.
• Private playlists can only be seen by you and any users you choose to invite.
• Unlisted playlists can be seen and shared by anyone who has a link. They won’t turn up in search results or suggestions, on your subscribers’ feeds, or on your channel.

You should also check your general account settings by clicking on your profile icon and clicking on the gear icon. If you want your activity feed to display when you add or update a playlist, you can check that setting here.

And that’s everything you need to know about making YouTube playlists! If you need some videos to add to your playlists, give Biteable a try today!

Last updated on 27th January 2022

If you’re not familiar with YouTube playlists, it’s time to get on the internet’s most entertaining bandwagon.

Why?

Well, if you’re interested in something, there’s a YouTube playlist for it.

Want to listen to the best new house music of 2022?

There’s a playlist for that.

Want to watch every Game of Thrones scene featuring Daenerys Targaryen?

There’s a playlist for that.

Want to maximise your video SEO on YouTube?

You guessed it – there’s a playlist for that.

In the information age, YouTube has put everything from trending tunes to industry-leading thought leaders right at your fingertips.

But as a marketer and brand builder, did you know you can use YouTube playlists as a customer engagement tool?

In this blog, we’re going to explain how you can create, edit, and maximise YouTube playlists to grow your brand in 2022 and enhance your video marketing strategy.

What is a YouTube playlist?

A YouTube playlist is a collection of videos that play in order, one after another, automatically. Think of it as a music playlist you might create on Spotify or Apple Music, but for videos.

When one video finishes, the next one in the queue comes on screen without the user taking action. And just like music playlists, you can shuffle YouTube playlists to keep things fresh.

YouTube playlists come in all shapes and sizes. For example, if you wanted to waste some time today, you could search for “best Vine playlists” and find gems like these to add a laugh to your midday break.

After you’ve finished all 108 Vines in that playlist, you could watch a playlist on the internet’s most popular animal: cats.

When you’re ready to get back to work, you could watch this creative agency experience playlist from our Managing Director, Matt Byrom, that covers everything from how to supercharge team performance to how to increase organic search traffic.

As you can see, there are endless ways to use YouTube playlists as a consumer – but the possibilities for brands and marketers are also endless. Before we dive into how to make a playlist on YouTube, let’s talk about why you should create one first.

Why create a YouTube playlist?

YouTube playlists can be a fun tool for curating content to enhance your daily life. For example, you might want to create a playlist of your favourite music videos to have on in the background during a party. Or you could compile your favourite at-home workout videos into a playlist for a custom fitness routine you can do in your living room.

But when it comes to brands, YouTube playlists are the ultimate content curation tool for marketers. Instead of engaging your customers with just a single video, you could captivate them with multiple videos that come together to tell a bigger story.

This also enhances the customer experience because they don’t have to search around for content – you’ve already created the perfect playlist of videos that addresses their every need.

For example, you could create a YouTube playlist that walks your clients through your product features, and highlights a different feature in each video.

You could create a playlist of video testimonials to send to potential new customers.

Or you could create an FAQ playlist to share with new users that onboards them onto your product and addresses common customer service inquiries.

As you can see, the possibilities for YouTube playlists are endless, and so is their ability to enhance your customer experience.

So without further ado, let’s get to it. Here’s how to create a playlist on YouTube in just a few simple steps.

How to create a playlist on YouTube

The first step to making a playlist on YouTube is simple. You need to decide where you want to host the playlist. YouTube playlists are automatically hosted in the channel you make them in, so you want to be sure you’re logged into the right channel before you get started.

It’s possible you have access to multiple channels. YouTube automatically creates a personal channel associated with your account, but you could also have access to a business or brand channel that you manage.

To navigate to the appropriate channel, select your avatar in the top right corner of the screen, and when the dropdown appears, select “Switch account” and then select the channel you want to add a playlist to.

Next, select your avatar once again – which should now show the image of the channel you want to add a playlist to – and select “Your Channel” from the dropdown.

Doing this will take you to your YouTube channel – basically the central hub where your brand stores and manages all of your YouTube content.

Select the “Customise Channel” button to access YouTube’s video manager and start creating your playlist.

From this screen, you’ll be able to edit your entire YouTube channel, including your about information, videos, channels you follow, and more. To create a playlist, select “Playlists” on the left-hand side menu.

From there, you’ll see all your existing playlists, and most importantly, a button labeled “New playlist” in the top right. Click that button to start the playlist creation process.

Upon clicking “New playlist,” YouTube will ask you to title your playlist. Enter your playlist title, and click “Create.” You can always edit this later if you change your mind. You can also select whether to make your playlist public, private, or unlisted.

Voila, you’ve created your Youtube playlist! But we’re not quite done yet. Next you need to add videos to your playlist. Click on your playlist, then click on the three dot menu to open a dropdown menu. The first option is “Add Videos”:

When you click on this a pop up will appear that allows you to search for, and add, videos to your playlist. When you’re happy with your list of videos click “Add Videos”.

And that’s it! You have your playlist. Click on the “Share” button to copy your playlist URL, email the playlist to someone, or embed the playlist on your website.

How to edit a playlist on YouTube

Now that you’ve created your playlist, you may want to edit it from time to time. Luckily, YouTube makes that easy. First, navigate back to the playlists tab. Then click on the pencil icon to make your edits:

From this screen, you can edit the title and description of your playlist:

And also add more videos, delete your playlist, and update your playlist settings:

The settings pop up gives you the opportunity to make decisions about your new playlist:

You can also sort the videos in your playlist by most popular, date added, or date published.

Finally, if you want to delete a video from your playlist, simply select the 3 dot menu on the right hand side and then click “Remove from [name] playlist”.

That’s it! If you can do those basic functions, you’ve just earned your black belt in YouTube playlist editing.

Final thoughts

Now that you’ve made your first playlist, there are plenty of other things you can do to amplify your reach and maximise your impact on the second-most popular search engine in the world.

First check out our guide on how to earn a YouTube verification to add legitimacy and credibility to your account.

Then take a look at how to optimise your YouTube SEO to show up in more search results, reach your target audience, and ultimately meet your video marketing goals.

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