Should accountants use YouTube? Yes, if you want one good answer to keep working all year

The short answer

Yes, if you want searchable explainers that keep answering client questions for months. A clear video on a question business owners type into search can keep bringing people to your firm long after you film it. YouTube suits almost nobody as a first channel, though, if most of your work comes from referrals, LinkedIn and your local reputation.

If you go ahead, keep it modest: one solid video a month, each answering one real question, filmed by a real person in your real office, with no client details anywhere. If you decide against it, that is a sound decision. Most small firms will get more from the same hours on LinkedIn.

Which firms YouTube suits

YouTube is worth trying when your clients look for answers before they look for an accountant. The test is simple: do clients keep asking you the same questions, and would they search for those questions first? If yes, a video that answers them well can do that work for you all year.

• Firms that answer the same questions every week."Do I need to register as self-employed?" "Should I become a limited company?" If the same question lands in your inbox every few days, one good video can answer it for everyone, and you can send the link.
• Firms with a niche. A practice that works with landlords, contractors, dentists or online sellers can build a small library of explainers for that group. The niche makes every title obvious and every viewer relevant.
• Firms that already have useful content. If you run webinars, client seminars or write a regular guide on your website, the ideas are already there. Turning them into short explainers is less work than starting from nothing.
• Firms with someone happy to present. A partner or manager who explains things clearly and does not mind the camera is the biggest single reason a channel works.

When to skip YouTube

Skip YouTube, at least for now, if any of these describes your firm. The hours will do more elsewhere.

• Your work comes from referrals and established companies. Company directors and the solicitors and bankers who refer work are far more likely to see you on LinkedIn than to search YouTube.
• Your basics are not in order yet. If the website is out of date and the LinkedIn page is quiet, fix those first. A YouTube channel does little if the people it sends find a neglected website.
• Nobody will film once a month. A channel with three videos from two years ago looks like a firm that gave up. No channel is better than a dead one.
• You want quick results. Videos found through search tend to build slowly. If you need enquiries this quarter, put the time into channels where you already have an audience.

If your clients are younger owners who discover firms through short clips rather than search, read our guide on whether accountants should use TikTok. If they are local and you want something lighter than video every month, our guide on whether accountants should use Instagram covers carousels and reels for a small firm.

What works on YouTube for accountants

The videos that work answer one question clearly, in plain English, with a person the viewer could imagine phoning. They do not need to be polished. They need to be useful and easy to find.

One question per video

Each video should answer one question a client actually asked. Say the question in the first few seconds, give the answer, explain who it applies to, and finish with one next step. A viewer who searched for that question should feel it was made for them.

Titles written the way people search

Write the title the way a business owner would type it, not the way an accountant would file it. "Do I need to do a tax return if I sell on eBay?" will be found. "Trading income considerations for online sellers" will not. Put the plain question in the title and the description, and say it out loud early in the video.

Deadline explainers in plain language

A short "what this deadline is, who it affects, what to do now" video works well before the dates your clients worry about. Check every date and figure against GOV.UK on the day you film, and avoid saying the year out loud if you want the video to stay useful.

A real face in a real office

Film a person talking in your own office, not stock footage over a voiceover. People are deciding whether they would like to deal with you, and a real face does that better than any graphic. Our guide on whether accountants should make videos for social media covers the phone, the light, the sound and what to film first.

Chapters for anything longer

If a video covers a few steps, add chapters so viewers can jump to the part they need. YouTube's help page on video chapters explains that you add them by listing timestamps and titles in the description. The first timestamp must start at 00:00, you need at least three in ascending order, and each chapter must be at least 10 seconds long.

That outline is ours, written to show the shape: a searchable title, who it is for, the answer, one next step. Fill in the rules and thresholds from GOV.UK yourself, because they change.

What does not work

Firms that give up on YouTube usually made one of the same few mistakes.

• Reading slides aloud. A webinar recording with a voice over a slide deck is hard to watch. Pull out the one useful answer and film it again, to camera.
• Jargon."Making Tax Digital for Income Tax" means little to a landlord who has never heard of it. Say what changes for them, in the words they would use.
• Bursts then silence. Eight videos in a month, then nothing for a year, leaves a channel that looks abandoned and dates quickly.
• Chasing subscribers. A subscriber count tells you little about whether the channel brings work. Enquiries and the questions people ask you are what matter.
• Titles that only make sense to accountants. If a business owner would never type the title into search, nobody will find the video.

How much time it takes

Be honest about the time before you start. As a rough guide, one solid explainer takes half a day once you have a routine: an hour to plan what to say and check the facts, an hour or so to film, and a couple of hours to trim, add captions, write the title and description and upload it. Expect the first few to take longer.

One solid video a month is a sustainable rhythm for a small firm, and it beats a burst of uploads followed by silence. Over a year that is twelve explainers answering twelve real questions, each one still working long after you filmed it.

Get more from each video by cutting it into shorter clips. YouTube's help page on three-minute Shorts says square or vertical videos up to three minutes long count as Shorts, so the best minute of each explainer can go out as a Short, and the same clip can run on Instagram or LinkedIn.

Keep the rest of your posting on its own track so YouTube does not swallow it. Pillr does not post to YouTube, but it does draft a month of LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram posts from your firm's website in one sitting, and schedules them only once a partner has approved each one. That leaves your YouTube time for filming, and you can add a short post pointing to each new video to the month's batch.

What never goes on YouTube

A YouTube video can stay public for years, so mistakes last. Agree a short list of what never appears, and check every video against it before it goes up, including what is in the background.

• Anything that identifies a client, including names, faces, premises, logos or a story they would recognise, unless they have agreed in writing to that specific use.
• Client figures, even rounded or "anonymised". A worked example should use made-up numbers and say so.
• HMRC correspondence, even blurred or partly covered.
• Screens, files and whiteboards behind whoever is presenting.
• Claims you cannot back up, such as "the leading tax advisers in Yorkshire", and comparisons with other firms.

Who may film and post as the firm, and who signs off each video, belongs in your wider rules. Our guide on whether accountants should have a social media policy covers both. YouTube comments can be blunt and they stay under the video, so read how accountants handle negative comments before your first upload.

How to tell if it is working

Judge YouTube by whether the right people act, not by subscribers. A channel with a few hundred subscribers can bring in good clients, and one with thousands can bring none. Check these every month or two instead.

• Enquiries.Ask every new client how they found you, and write the answer down. "I watched your video on..." is the result you want.
• How long people watch. YouTube Studio shows watch time for each video, and its audience retention reportshows where viewers stop watching. YouTube's help page says a low share still watching after the first 30 seconds can mean the opening does not match the title and thumbnail.
• Comments asking real questions. A viewer asking about their own situation is a sign you reached the right person, and each question is an idea for the next video.
• Clients who mention it.Existing clients saying "I sent your video to my brother" is worth more than any view count.

Give it about six months of one video a month before you decide. If it has brought no enquiries and no useful questions by then, stop, keep the videos up if they are still accurate, and put the time into LinkedIn or Instagram. To see a month of written posts drafted for your own firm, paste your website address on the home page.

Questions accountants ask about YouTube