At first glance, YouTube might not be the platform that comes to mind when someone mentions using social media as a business tool. But consider this. Every month YouTube hosts over one billion unique users worldwide. Even more impressive? Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube. Videos that can easily be shared via Facebook, Twitter and other media.
Many companies are now using YouTube to reach out to current and potential customers. Which is why I believe that this platform is perfect for businesses. All you need is a video camera and a little creativity to build long-lasting relationships with your clients.
So how do you to reach potential customers among the countless cat videos? I have some suggestions on how to start.
First Impressions Count
Creating a brand channel is an excellent way to build and engage a loyal audience of supporters directly on YouTube. The site can be customized with banners and background images to reflect your company’s look and feel. You can also integrate links to your other social media channels to make the content easier to share.
Keep Content Consistent
Remember, building viewers for your channel takes time. The most popular YouTube channels are those that consistently updated. So if you want to use web videos as a marketing tool, you will need to produce a lot of content. Be sure to upload new videos as often as your schedule and budget allow. Eventually the audiences will follow.
Keep Your Content Interesting
You don’t have to be an award-winning director to produce engaging video content for your videos to work for your business. You can post things such as company webcasts, webinars, Google Hangouts and product demonstrations. You might want to consider sharing a video of your company history. You can even interview the customers or employees.
It’s important to remember that a video doesn’t have go “viral” to be effective. However, there are some common elements that most viral videos share. Try to keep the video relatively short and upbeat. You must keep it timely. And most importantly, it should include some kind of call-to-action.
Consider Linking Your AdWords Account
Are you currently using AdWords as a way to promote your business online? If so, you should definitely use the service to create targeted video ads. Doing so will allow you to reach YouTube’s legion of users while focusing only on specific demographics related to your brand. Plus, you can utilize Google Analytics to track the success of your advertising efforts.
Take Advantage of YouTube’s Tools
YouTube also has some great analytical resources available to track your channel’s overall performance. From monitoring site traffic to breaking down visitor demographics, you can personalize reports to help you tailor your videos to your audience.
KEY TAKEAWAY: With over one billions unique monthly users, YouTube is a great way for businesses to curate video content to reach potential customers. By utilizing tools like AdWords and Google Analytics, anyone with a camera and little creativity can produce a winning video campaign. The most effective videos are engaging, timely and contain a call-to-action.
This is part of the social fundamentals series, enjoy the previous articles in this series below:
The Top Six Fundamentals of Using Twitter
The Five Fundamentals to Using LinkedIn
The Five Keys to Using Instagram for Your Business
The Five Keys to Marketing Your Business on Pinterest
