Video content is taking over social media. In fact, Wyzowl’s recent survey found that over 91% of businesses use videos in their marketing strategies, with YouTube being the most used platform for video marketing. So, if you want to grow your brand and improve your social media presence in 2024, it’s essential to learn how to schedule YouTube videos.
In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about scheduling YouTube videos and offer tips to help you maximize its benefits.
Let’s dive right in!
How to Schedule YouTube Videos via YouTube [Desktop]
The simplest way to schedule YouTube videos is via their website.
Here’s how you can do this on your desktop:
#1. Open YouTube
Unlike Instagram, where you need a business profile to schedule posts, all you really need to schedule videos on YouTube is an active and verified channel. If you don’t have one yet, you can check out our simple guide on how to create a YouTube channel. Once that’s established, you can proceed to the next step.
#2. Upload Your Video
To upload your video, tap the camera icon in the upper right corner of the page and choose Upload video.
Wait for your video to process, then add a title and description. Descriptions aren’t required, but they provide context for your video and help YouTube understand what your content is about. This is also a great opportunity to add relevant hashtags to help your video rank better.
Then, you can choose a thumbnail from the different frames in your video or upload a custom image.
Keep in mind that YouTube will automatically categorize videos under one minute as Shorts. This content type follows a different algorithm and is published in a completely different section than the standard videos.
#3. Adjust Settings
Next, you can adjust your video’s audience restrictions and settings. When you click Show More, you can access even more video settings, including:
- Paid promotions
- Chapters
- Tags and category
- Comments and likes
- Remixing options
- Captions
- Language
Once all the information is complete, click Next to add important video elements, such as:
- Subtitles. Adding subtitles to your videos improves their accessibility. While YouTube can automatically generate captions, these aren’t always accurate and can detract from the viewing experience.
- Cards. You can add cards that link to a topic you want to promote or have already covered at any point during the video. When users click on these, they’ll be redirected to that link.
- End screen. An end screen is similar to a card, the only difference being that it appears at the end of the video. Like cards, this allows you to promote relevant videos, playlists, or other channels. If you’re in the YouTube Partner Program, you can also promote external links.
#4. Schedule Your YouTube Video
When that’s done, click Next and wait for YouTube to finish their copyright check. If there are no issues, click Next and choose your video’s visibility. After setting your visibility to Public, you have the option to use YouTube Premiere (we’ll explain more about this later).
Check the preview on the right to ensure that your video plays properly and that the caption and audio are in sync. When everything’s good, select the time and date for your video and tap Schedule.
How to Schedule YouTube Videos via YouTube [Mobile]
You can also schedule YouTube videos on your phone via the YouTube app.
Here’s how:
Open the YouTube app and tap the Plus icon at the bottom of the screen.
The app selects Shorts by default. If you want to upload a long-form video, select Video on the left and upload your media.
Then, add the necessary details and adjust your settings. You can also click on the icon in the upper right corner of your preview to change the thumbnail.
When all the details are complete, click Visibility and choose Public. Then, tap Schedule and choose the schedule for your YouTube video. Remember, videos will be scheduled in your local time zone, so if you’re targeting a global audience, make sure to adjust for the time difference.
How To Schedule YouTube Videos With Publer
Native scheduling can be convenient, but if you want to level up your video marketing strategy, simply scheduling your YouTube videos isn’t going to cut it.
What you need is a complete social media management tool like Publer, which is expertly designed to do so much more for your content, such as cross-posting on other platforms and improving YouTube SEO.
Let’s go over the steps for scheduling YouTube videos with Publer.
#1. Sign up on Publer for Free
The first step is to sign up on Publer using an email address. You can also choose to sign up with an existing Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profile, or with your Google account or Apple ID.
Next, you’ll have to provide some details to optimize your experience, such as your current role and how you plan to use Publer. After that, you can create a workspace where you can manage all your social media accounts.
On the next page, you can connect your social profiles. Tap YouTube and sign in to add your account to the platform.
#2. Upload Your Video
After finishing the account setup, you can start scheduling your YouTube videos. Go to the Create tab and select your YouTube account from your social profiles. Upload your chosen video and add the required details.
You can also choose a different thumbnail from Publer’s suggestions and check your video’s preview on the right to find the best one.
At the top of the page, you’ll see an option to add labels. This neat feature makes it easier to arrange YouTube videos by category on Publer so you can have an overview of how much content you’ve made on each specific topic.
#3. Optimize Your YouTube Video
Aside from the actual content, the title and thumbnail are arguably the most important elements of a YouTube video. As the first thing that users see, these help new users decide whether to watch your videos or not. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to optimize these elements with Publer.
Titles are limited to 100 characters, so it’s important to make every character count. If you’re unsure of what to put, you can use our AI Assist tool to generate a catchy and informative title. We also have a hashtag generator to help boost your video’s discoverability on YouTube.
To change your thumbnail, click on the camera icon near the bottom of your post. You can upload a ready-made image or utilize our built-in features.
Creating an engaging custom thumbnail is a breeze with our VistaCreate and Canva integration. You can even access select Pro features on Vista Create with your Publer account, with no separate subscription required.
#4. Set the Schedule for Your YouTube Video
You have two options for scheduling YouTube videos on Publer: manual and automatic scheduling.
With manual scheduling, you can choose the exact time and date for your scheduled video. Meanwhile, automatic scheduling utilizes the time slots you create on Publer, which can come in handy when bulk-scheduling YouTube videos.
How to Delete a Scheduled YouTube Video
If you want to delete a scheduled YouTube video, you can do so on YouTube Studio.
Here’s a quick overview of the steps involved:
- Open the YouTube Studio and log in.
- Click Content on the left sidebar and go to Videos.
- Hover over the video you want to delete to access the editing options.
- Click on the three dots and choose Delete forever.
- Then, a pop-up will appear asking you to confirm. Check the box confirming that you understand what the action entails and click Delete Forever.
Scheduling YouTube Videos via Publer vs. Scheduling Natively
Finding the right tool is crucial if you want to automate your YouTube channel posting schedule. While both Publer and native scheduling have their pros and cons, Publer comes out as the clear winner.
For one, it comes with a variety of features that go beyond simple scheduling.
Aside from AI tools to streamline content creation, Publer also has a large media library. Here, you can store all your files and media, so you can quickly access them for different videos instead of having to search manually every time.
Our unified content calendar also makes it much easier to stay organized. You can see all scheduled posts for all your accounts on the platform in one place, helping you plan and strategize content better.
While YouTube allows you to add specific elements, such as cards and subtitles, during scheduling, you can also add these to already-published videos. These don’t really affect initial impressions or views, so if you schedule your YouTube video with Publer, you can simply edit it once it’s published.
Among the advantages that Publer has are its extensive in-platform editing tools.
Native scheduling only offers basic editing capabilities, such as trimming files or adding music. Publer scheduling, on the other hand, allows you to use Canva and Vista Create to boost your video’s visual appeal, and when you’re done, the edited media is automatically loaded on the platform for easy scheduling.
3+ Top Benefits of Scheduling YouTube Videos With Publer
Now that you know Publer is the superior scheduling tool, let’s review the benefits of scheduling YouTube videos in the first place.
#1. Save Time
Creating video content can take a lot of time and effort, from researching trending topics and writing the script to actually shooting and editing the video. Once all the hard work is done, you’ll still have to post each one manually to keep your channel active.
Although 91% of businesses already use videos in their marketing efforts, other brands can’t follow suit because of the elaborate process involved. In fact, lack of time is the most common reason why other marketers can’t adopt the same strategy. Fortunately, this is possible with Publer scheduling.
When you schedule YouTube videos, you can actually save time by organizing content better and allocating time more efficiently across different tasks. There is also no pressure to publish content immediately, as you’ll always have a queue of posts ready to go live. Because of this, you can focus on creating better-quality content.
#2. Enhance YouTube Search Rankings
Views and engagement are important factors for the YouTube algorithm. The better your video’s performance on these metrics, the better its ranking will be on the platform. But how does scheduling YouTube videos affect this?
By establishing a posting schedule, you are telling viewers that they can expect new content to be released at a set time, be it weekly or bi-monthly. This will help build anticipation among your audience and ensure that they are tuned in for your new video, which leads to increased views and ranking.
#3. Create Content in Batches
When you schedule YouTube videos, you can start creating content in batches. This not only helps you post more consistently but also improves content creation efficiency over time.
You can create multiple videos at once, schedule them to go live throughout the month, and then focus on other tasks like replying to comments, brainstorming new video ideas, or optimizing previously published videos.
#4. Post at Peak Hours
Posting time is another important consideration for the algorithm, as it can affect how many initial views and engagement your videos get. Scheduling YouTube videos allows you to experiment with the best times to post on YouTube and determine what works best for your target audience.
3+ Handy Tips for Scheduling YouTube Videos
To maximize the benefits we previously discussed, here are some handy tips to keep in mind when scheduling YouTube videos.
#1. Promote Your Videos on Other Platforms
One of the best benefits of scheduling YouTube videos with Publer is that you can easily promote them on your other social media platforms. After scheduling your video, you can create posts to announce it and build interest so you can get great views and engagement when the video is published.
Our tool’s built-in features also make it easy to create posts with the same aesthetic as your videos, allowing you to maintain consistent branding throughout.
#2. Post in a Consistent Manner
As we discussed earlier, a posting schedule will help your audience anticipate when your content will be published. But, aside from that, consistency will also show the algorithm that your channel is active, which can help improve your videos’ ranking on the feed.
This doesn’t mean that you should post a video every day, though, as quality is still important. We find that scheduling a YouTube video at least once a week is a great way to maintain relevance and an active feed.
#3. Premiere Your Video
When scheduling natively, you have the option to use YouTube Premiere. This feature essentially turns your scheduled YouTube video into a live stream, allowing your audience to experience the video together in real time.
YouTube Premieres are great when launching new products or sharing important brand announcements, as these often generate significant interest. The feature’s live chat can encourage audience engagement, and you can gain valuable insight into your content strategy’s effectiveness by observing peak viewers and general audience retention.
#4. Add Chapters
Video chapters are a feature on YouTube that allows you to categorize your video into different parts.
Suppose you are discussing your new product in a video. Adding chapters will help you highlight each feature and let the audience know what time frame they can skip to if they only want to learn about a specific feature. This will improve audience retention, as people already know that your content is relevant to their query.
Chapters can also help your video show up in search results, especially when they are properly optimized, which will boost your overall views and engagement.
Start scheduling your YouTube videos with Publer to take advantage of our tool’s comprehensive features.
Key Takeaways
- You can schedule YouTube videos natively on mobile or desktop as long as you have an active channel.
- Schedule YouTube videos on Publer for free and utilize our platform’s extensive features to optimize your content.
- You can delete scheduled YouTube videos in the YouTube Studio.
- Publer comes with a variety of features that make it the ideal scheduling tool for YouTube videos.
- Scheduling YouTube videos helps you save time, create content in bulk, and target peak audience hours to improve search rankings.
- When scheduling YouTube videos, consider promoting them on other platforms, utilizing YouTube Premiere, and adding video chapters to boost visibility and engagement.
How to Schedule YouTube Videos FAQ
Does scheduling YouTube videos affect views?
No, scheduling your YouTube videos will not directly affect views. However, by scheduling your posts, you can target peak audience hours and maintain a consistent posting schedule, which can improve their views and engagements.
How far ahead can you schedule YouTube videos?
You can schedule YouTube videos until the last day of the current month, up to two years in advance. So, if you are creating a video on April 12, 2024, you can schedule for it to go live on April 30, 2026, at the latest. But we don’t recommend doing so, as trends and the platform’s features can change significantly within that time.
How many YouTube videos can I schedule in advance?
There’s no limit to the number of YouTube videos you can schedule in advance. If you’re planning to bulk-create and schedule videos, though, consider using Publer to utilize our advanced content creation and scheduling features.
Why can’t I schedule a YouTube video?
If you can’t schedule a specific YouTube video, it’s likely because it’s too long. YouTube allows all channels to schedule videos, but if you want to schedule one that’s longer than 15 minutes, you need a verified account.
Ervin Kalemi
