Move the channel into a brand account, which keeps its videos and subscribers, then give each person who needs it their own access as an owner or manager. Nobody should need the owner's personal password.

Where the videos actually live

Most small business channels on YouTube started the same way. Somebody needed a video on the website, opened YouTube, and signed in with the Google account already on their phone.

Usually that was the owner's personal account: the same login that opens their Gmail, their calendar, their photos and the backup of their phone.

Years later the channel holds dozens of videos, several are embedded on the website, and other people in the business would like to upload, edit and answer comments.

Only one person can, and only by signing in as themselves. Which works until the day someone else needs to get in.

What one personal login costs

The last is the one that turns an inconvenience into a real problem.

A channel inside a personal account cannot simply be given to a buyer or a successor, because the account it lives in also holds that person's email, files and photographs.

What a brand account is

A brand account is a Google account that belongs to a name, usually the business name, rather than to a person. Some of YouTube's screens call it a page. People manage it; nobody uses it as their own login.

Each person signs in with their own Google account and switches to the brand account to work on the channel. Nobody shares a password, and nobody can see anyone else's email.

There are two main roles. Owners can add and remove people and make every decision about the account. Managers can upload, edit and reply to comments, but cannot remove anyone or hand the channel away.

Moving the channel across

YouTube's account settings include an option to move a channel to a brand account, though the wording varies. The owner signs in, creates or chooses the brand account, and confirms the move.

The videos go with the channel, along with their views, comments and subscribers. Each video keeps its address, so the ones embedded on the website carry on playing without any change to the site.

Read the confirmation screen before agreeing. It says what moves and what stays, and the channel may take on the brand account's name and picture, so set those up properly first.

Who gets which role

Give the brand account at least two owners. One can be the owner's own Google account. The other should be tied to an address on the business's domain, so the channel never depends on one person being reachable.

A Google account can be set up with any existing email address, including one on the business's own domain, so nobody needs a new Gmail address for this.

Whoever uploads videos and answers comments needs the manager role. An outside video editor working on a single project can be a manager for the job and removed when it ends.

Write down who holds each role and check the list once a year, the same way you would collect keys from someone who leaves.

A worked example

A motorcycle training school teaches beginner courses on a closed parking lot on spring and summer weekends, with classroom evenings through the winter.

Its instructors had filmed short videos of each exercise, from slow tight turns to emergency braking, so students could watch them before their first session. The videos were embedded on the course pages.

The channel had been opened years before from the owner's personal Google account. When a new office manager took over the website last autumn, the only way to upload the winter's videos was to sign in as him.

That login opened his personal email and family photos, and a verification code went to his phone every time she signed in from the office. Questions from prospective students under the videos waited days for an answer.

In one afternoon they created a brand account in the school's name, moved the channel into it, and added the office manager as a manager and a second owner tied to the school's own email address.

The embedded videos kept playing, the comments now get answered from the office, and the owner's password is his alone again.

Keep the originals somewhere else

YouTube is a good place to show a video and a poor place to keep the only copy.

The original files, straight from the camera or the editor, belong in a shared business folder, named so anyone can tell what each shows and when it was filmed.

If a video is ever removed by mistake, or the channel has to be rebuilt, those files are what you upload again. A copy downloaded back from YouTube is not the same quality as what was filmed.

Point the channel at the website

A channel that clearly belongs to the business can say so properly: the business name, a short description of what you do and where, and links to the website in the About section.

Start each video description with a sentence about what it shows and a link to the matching page on your site, such as the course, product or service it explains.

And embed each video where its question comes up on the site, beside the service it explains, rather than on a separate videos page few people open.

The counter-case

A business with three old videos, no plans to film more and nobody else involved has less to gain, and the move can wait until the next video is made.

If the owner will always be the only person touching the channel, the urgent part is smaller: a strong password, two-step verification, and a recovery address the business controls.

For any channel that more than one person will use, or that the business intends to keep, the advice holds: a brand account, separate logins and two owners.

Two owners, separate logins

  1. Check which account owns the channel now.
  2. Create a brand account in the business name.
  3. Move the channel after reading the confirmation screen.
  4. Add a second owner tied to a business address.
  5. Give staff the manager role with their own logins.
  6. Copy the original video files to a business folder.
  7. Update the About links and video descriptions.

Step four is the one that protects the channel from the next change in the business. A channel with two owners survives either of them leaving, falling ill or forgetting a password.

Videos of finished jobs work best on the site as part of the project write-up done the week the job ends.

Frequently asked questions

Why is a personal account a problem?

Anyone who needs access has to use the owner's personal login, which also opens their email and files. The channel cannot be handed over cleanly when the owner steps back.

What is a brand account?

A Google account that belongs to a name, usually the business, rather than a person. Several people manage it, each signing in with their own Google account, so nobody shares a password.

Do the videos survive the move?

Yes. The videos move with the channel, along with their views and subscribers, and each keeps its address, so videos embedded on your website carry on playing.

Who should own the brand account?

At least two owners: the owner's own Google account and a second account tied to an address on the business's domain, so the channel never depends on one person.

What can a manager do?

Upload, edit and reply to comments in the business's name. Managers cannot remove owners or hand the channel away, which suits staff and outside video editors.

Where should the original video files go?

In a shared business folder, named so anyone can tell what each shows. YouTube is for showing videos, and a copy downloaded back is not the original quality.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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