How do I publish videos to YouTube?
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You can publish video posts to YouTube using Sprout Social. By investing in social video, brands have an opportunity to establish stronger connections with their audiences, and therefore, significantly impact their conversion rates and increase their bottom line.
No matter where you are in the platform, you can open Compose to draft, schedule, queue or immediately publish videos to YouTube alongside existing publishing capabilities such as tagging or message approval.
Rather watch a video? Check out the tutorial: Publishing to YouTube
Upload Videos to YouTube
- Select your intended YouTube profile in the Compose Window. Note: you are limited to selecting one YouTube profile at a time in the Compose Window
- Select the plus icon or camera icon and navigate to the video file you intend to upload
- Add your post caption
- Enter your YouTube Video Options
- (Required) Video Title
- (Optional) YouTube Video Tags
- Privacy: decide whether you want the video to be Public, Private or Unlisted.
- Category: select a preset categorization available from YouTube
- (Optional) Playlists
- (Required) Audience: flag age restrictions for YouTube
- Advanced Settings:
- License Rights & Ownership
- Allow Embedding
- Publish to subscriptions feed and notify subscribers
Note: If you're unclear about the meaning of any setting, hover over the info icon and a description tooltip will appear.
Uploading YouTube Shorts
You can also upload YouTube Shorts to Sprout following the same workflow. To publish YouTube Shorts in Sprout:
- Ensure that your video is no longer than 3 minutes.
- Record your video with a square or vertical aspect ratio.
- YouTube recommends including the hashtag #shorts in the title or description for better discoverability.
- Custom thumbnails are not supported for YouTube Shorts.
- Follow the YouTube publishing workflow above.
Note: Metrics for Shorts are included in video view counts.
YouTube Publishing FAQ
How do I shorten links in the video description? Add tracking parameters?
After providing your desired description and link within Compose, select Shorten Links to shorten the link and add tracking parameters.
What are the media requirements for video publishing to YouTube from Sprout?
- Max 1 video per post
- Max file size: 3 GB
- Max length: 12 hours (15 minutes for unverified channels)
- Supported formats: MP4, MOV
- Thumbnail size: 2 MB (available only for verified channels)
- Note: to publish a YouTube Short, the video needs to be 3 minutes or less, and it must be vertical or square. Custom thumbnails are not available for Shorts.
Does Optimal Send Times support YouTube Publishing?
Yes.
Does YouTube have an anti-spam policy?
Yes. YouTube does have an anti-spam policy. Please review it and their violation policy here.
Is YouTube Publishing available on mobile?
Yes. It is available on Sprout’s iOS and Android apps.
What happens if a video fails to publish to YouTube?
A video can fail to publish to YouTube for various reasons. If that occurs, YouTube usually sends an email and Sprout will also send an email with more directions on how the error can be fixed.
Why can I see my published videos as a sent post on the Calendar but not in the Post Performance Report?
At the moment, you can only find published YouTube videos on the Calendar. If you would like to see published YouTube videos in the Post Performance Report, please let your Sprout representative know.
Can I select the thumbnail for a video or use a custom one?
Yes, if you're publishing from a verified YouTube account and the video is not a YouTube Short. Underneath the video thumbnail within Compose, please use the arrows to select a frame or select to upload a custom thumbnail.
Will comments on a YouTube video come into the Smart Inbox?
Yes, Sprout supports YouTube comments in the Smart Inbox. To learn more about this feature, read this Help Center guide.
Is targeting available for YouTube Publishing?
No, it’s not. YouTube doesn’t currently support audience targeting so it’s unavailable to apps like Sprout.
What are YouTube’s basic settings?
SYouTube’s basic settings are: title, description, video tags, privacy, category, playlist, audience, and license rights & owenership.
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