Using YouTube for business: an introduction
YouTube,
the world's biggest video sharing site, doesn't always strike
small business owners and self-employed people as the first port of
call when they're looking at getting on to social media. But it can
really help you gain exposure online, because it's easier to rank
highly on Google (ie. appear higher up on search results) with a
YouTube video than just a normal website. YouTube is also full of
useful research videos, and can provide a great opportunity to
increase customer loyalty.
What YouTube is and does
YouTube is a bit like a Google of video - and is, in fact, owned
by Google. Anyone can upload a video (once they've registered on
site - free and quick), and anyone can watch one of the millions
upon millions on the site (20 hours of video are uploaded every
minute).
You can browse videos by name, type, keywords, and creator,
among other things. There are also channels - a series of videos
created by one user, often with a theme (subject matter,
promotional, political), that can be subscribed to. Viewers can
(and do) leave comments under videos and can embed them into their
own sites and send them on to friends. Part of the reason video has
become so popular online is people embedding YouTube videos into
emails and sending them to their friends, which can see a video
spread exponentially - virally.
- Users: 100 million video views per day - more or
less everyone in the Western world uses it
- Age and industry: All
- Business example: Go Ape used YouTube to great effect to really
show potential customers what its experience days on ziplines in
forests could be like, handily creating a nice little viral in the
process
Why would I want that?
- Watching what other businesses are doing.
- Watching advice videos for your sector.
- Find good video resources to embed onto your website and share
with customers to increase loyalty.
- Positioning your business as expert and creating advice videos
for your customers, to build loyalty.
- Creating a public following from audiences you may not have
been able to reach otherwise (as anyone can search for and find you
and it's normally easier to rank high on Google with a youTube
video than just a normal website).
- Giving your brand a facelift and creating a buzz around
it.
- Fully showcasing your products and demonstrating how they can
be used - but it needs to be done carefully.
- Large-scale viral marketing (if you can get it right).
What's the catch?
- Creating video takes commitment, time and planning to come up
with something that'll appeal to users. You also need a video
camera - though you can buy a Flip for
around £200.
- It can be impersonal than other social media sites. You can't
build rapport with consumers and contacts - you can build affinity,
but there's less opportunity for dialogue as with other social
media.
- There are so many videos on there that if you're creating
content you'll need to go niche and do your research to find out
how to get spotted. You'll also need to wade through some pretty
average viewing until you find valuable videos from other
people.
- Not much room for profiling you or your business - descriptions
are given limited space, though you can of course link to your own
site.
Going to get on it? Here's some social media expert
advice:
It's not as straight-forward or in most cases as cheap to
promote yourself on YouTube as with other types of social media -
but, done right, it can have great effect. But you need the time
and dedication to plan out a campaign before diving straight in
there.
Firstly, bear in mind YouTube analytical tools are pretty
limited. "So we suggest hosting a video on your own site if you're
looking to target a specific demographic," says Alex Sass, head of
digital media at Renegade, which handles social media campaigns
for the likes of Mini Cabrio, and Mazda in China.
"The first thing you should look at is why you're doing it," he
says. "Is there going to be a direct ROI?" If you're only looking
to share info that could essentially be bullet-pointed, consider
using a site such as Slideshare instead - an easier and quicker
option.
YouTube works best if you're trying to create either a
viral video, or a series of educational videos via a channel that
are likely to be picked up by a large number of people interested
in your industry.
Creating business advice/educational videos on
YouTube
Avoid showcasing your business' work - provide something your
audience will want and that teaches them something new. Set up a
branded channel, fill it with keywords (more on those below), and
start seeding it around (more on that below too). As always with
social media, provide links back to your own site and a clear
description of what your business does.
Make your videos professional, not overly friendly (this can
look fake) - but, as always on camera, plenty of relaxed smiles go
down well. Make sure the information you're giving is real insider
knowledge, not the kind of thing anyone interested in your industry
can just pull up off a website.
Use the same person or people to talk to camera in each video
for consistency, and change the scenery or do different things in
the videos to keep them varied and interesting. Try giving
demonstrations to show how things can be used - a young lady called
Lauren Luke did this to great effect with a series
of makeup tutorials that became so popular she ended up
launching her own makeup range: (a great example of how to strike
the tone). Make sure you always give viewers a little teaser of
what's going to be in the next vid at the end of each, to keep them
coming back for more.
Sass points out YouTube audiences are very aware of 'cloaking' -
where businesses pose as home-made videos showing something funny
or crude, trying to subtly weave in a soft sell. Instead, be
transparent you're a business, but leave your logo and info until
the last shot so you engage with audiences first. Be aware YouTube
takes the first shot of a video as the still image representing
it.
Generally, aim for either low resolution of high resolution
videos - which sounds strange, but users tend to respond better to
low resolution than middle, which can be confusing. At least with
low they know what they're getting. Shooting vids using a Flip or a
camera phone can work for a quick-shot or on-the-road series, but
if you're planning on giving long, detailed information then high
resolution is going to keep people's attentions better (without
straining their eyes too much). A few simple power point slides to
break up just straight-to-camera talking for ten minutes can also
work wonders.
Creating viral marketing videos on YouTube
Get an advertising agency on board - prices start from around
£5,000. You're unlikely to manage the complex thinking behind
virals yourself without former experience.
To get people watching your video, start by researching the
keywords that will draw people to it. Sass recommends searching for
competitors' videos, taking the url they're using then searching
for backlinks using Google Analytics (free) to see who found their
video and where the interest group came from. You can then spread
the word about your own video to the same websites.
When you're putting together your keywords, use Google Analytics
to work out what's popular. But don't just choose the most obvious
phrases - 'you'll get swamped', says Sass. "Unless the budget is
huge, go for more obscure or more human phrasing." He recommends
using an agency to help you research this aspect thoroughly.
Getting your YouTube video ranked highly
The rank of your video on YouTube is heavily influenced by the
number of views you get in the first few days of it going live, so
get your database excited about it and ready to click before
putting it up. Exclusives and previews can help generate a bit of
PR around it beforehand. Sass also suggests using a specialist
agency to help you seed your video, which takes a lot of effort if
you want success. A good agency can get you tens of thousands of
views per day - but again keep an eye on your ROI.
You should also post your videos as 'response' videos to
relevant videos by other users on site - this will hopefully get
some of your shared target audience checking out your channel
too.
Key YouTube functions and how to use them
Channel: Create by one user (or business) and
showcasing a series of video they have made (see above).
Response video: When a user posts a video that they
think viewers of this video would be interested in (see above).
Privacy
Share all your videos with everyone to create the largest
possible catchment of an audience.
Resources
SocialMediaToday.com has lots of thoughts from
industry leaders on social media strategy.
We really like these advice articles from the brilliant social
media advice site Mashable:
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