How To Make The Most Of YouTube For Marketing Your Business

If you ask me, YouTube is one of the most neglected platforms for online marketing by far. What many business owners and webmasters don’t realize is that YouTube is actually the second largest search engine right behind Google.

In other words, if you’re looking for a tutorial and Google doesn’t have the answer you were looking for, it’s likely that YouTube will be your next port of call. Every month 1 billion unique users visit YouTube and collectively watch 6 billion hours of video. If that doesn’t convince you that you need to be on YouTube, then here are some more impressive stats.

So, now you know that YouTube is popular. But on top of that, it’s also highly engaging and it’s possible to make a much bigger impact on someone through a video than it is through content or through social media. You can use music, animation and narration to really sell your value proposition in a much more convincing and memorable way. For some inspiration, just take a look at these 100 brands effectively using YouTube right now.

The only downside? It takes a little bit of work and it takes some know-how!

Content

As with marketing your blog, the most important thing to consider at all times should be your content. In short, if your content isn’t up to scratch and doesn’t deliver value then people aren’t going to want to watch it and they aren’t going to subscribe to more of your videos. They certainly won’t want to buy your product. Make sure that you have the following factors covered then:

• Angle – You need a good idea in order to make an interesting video. If you have nothing to say, then your video will be bland or feel like a waste of time for the viewers.
• Video Quality – A good video camera is crucial. A HD recording will give your videos a professional sheen and anything less will undermine your message and your authority.
• Sound Quality – Good sound quality is just as important and this means using a separate microphone. Even the best camcorder in the world is going to pick up muffled sound if you’re recording from the other side of the room.
• Editing – A lot of the professionalism of your video will come in editing. That means how you splice your video together and how you add things like music and video openers.

Here’s a WikiHow on making professional quality YouTube videos that goes into fuller details.

Going Viral

The word ‘viral’ is one that gets thrown around a lot among marketers and it’s easy to see why. Just one viral video could make your career as a blogger and bring millions of new potential customers to your business. Thus many YouTubers will work hard at dissecting the rules of viral videos (humor, brevity and uniqueness are all up there). Be careful though, if you worry too much about trying to go viral, you’ll end up alienating your viewers and sacrificing the quality of your content. Ultimately, viral videos have an ‘x factor’ that can’t be quantified. If it will happen, it will happen. Just focus on making great content.

Marketing Your Videos

That’s not to say you can’t work to market your videos. Integrating your YouTube efforts with a strong push on social media – especially Vine – can help to bring more visitors to your channel and give them the means to easily share your content.

Meanwhile, teaming up with other YouTube accounts is a great way to share your viewers with one another. YouTube’s own advertising options are also useful. Finally, don’t forget that YouTube is essentially a search engine and some of the principles of SEO still apply. Do your keyword research, see what people are looking for and create videos to meet that need!