7 Things Business Owners Need to Know About YouTube
When I tell my clients they should consider putting their web videos on YouTube, I often get some mixed reactions. After all, how can something famous for “cat playing piano” videos be taken seriously as a marketing device?
Well, surprise! YouTube is much more than just a video player where you can catch up on the latest Super Bowl commercials or Korean dance craze. Here are 7 things business owners need to know about YouTube before they dismiss it as a part of their marketing strategy:
1) YouTube is a Powerful Search Engine
YouTube is not – repeat NOT – merely a video player (although it often gets treated like one). Fact is, it is much more than that. It is a search engine. A powerful one. In fact, it’s the second-most powerful search engine out there… second only to Google. Seriously.
So if you upload a video to YouTube for business, take advantage of the options it gives you so that you can optimize your video: make use of tags words, descriptions, carefully-worded titles and a category. Filling out all this pertinent information will help your video show up in searches and get watched and noticed!
2) Content is King
You may be thinking (and rightfully so) “there are SO many videos on YouTube, how on Earth is mine going to get noticed?” In fact, according to YouTube.com, 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube EVERY MINUTE. That’s insane, right?
Lucky for you, most of those videos are either superfluous or badly-produced. If you want to stand out, produce great content. An “about us” type of video is a great way to get your personal brand out there and familiarize your potential client with your product, service and yourself. But if you really want to make a splash, consider offering something more. If you, as an expert in your industry, offer valuable advice that will appeals to the right following, you’ve just made yourself desirable to an audience of potential clients.
3) YouTube is Social
As in social media. Produce enough video content on a regular basis and you can build a following; great, consistent content will encourage people to subscribe to your YouTube Channel. Once they subscribe, they will receive a notification whenever you upload a new video. You can essentially have your own “web series” and over time, grow a faithful audience. Furthermore, your audience can leave comments on your videos and you can answer them back and develop relationships. Comments, conversation, and links back to your YouTube video will help it gain popularity and show up more in searches.
4) YouTube is Part of Your Branding
By all means, pretty up your channel. Customize the colours and background imagery. Choose a display name that represents your brand properly. Use a professional headshot or logo for your avatar because this will be seen everywhere.
5) Production Counts
Use non-copyrighted music, video footage, and images or you run the risk of getting your video yanked down. Remember you have to stand out from all those other wanna-be video personalities, so you want to make sure you look and sound your best. Yes, your content is most important but if you deliver your superior content in a manner that looks sloppy, you run the risk of getting dismissed. A professionally produced video will help you get taken seriously.
6) When NOT to Use YouTube
As awesome and amazing YouTube is, there is a time and place. You will notice that at the end of a video, YouTube will suggest “similar” videos that you, the viewer might be interested in. That’s great except, if you have a YouTube video on your website, you run the risk of losing a viewer as they might be distracted by one of these suggested videos. That’s bad! So how do we keep the viewer planted on your site? Host the video on your site without a third party like YouTube.
7) The Stats
Still not convinced YouTube is for your business? Consider these numbers:
- YouTube is available on 350 million devices
- 100 million people take a social action on YouTube (likes, shares, comments, etc) every week
- Millions of videos are favorited every day