To say that YouTube is popular is a bit of an understatment. With around 233 million visitors each month, it’s no wonder that some businesses have added the site to its Internet marketing campaign. However, in order to be successful, you need to know the best ways to use site. Btobonline.com offers some advice.
The first step is to learn the basics of how to use YouTube and creating videos. Google’s PDF guide, “YouTube: Best Practices for the B2B Marketer” contains information on how to create compelling content, how to add tags and links, and how to use YouTube Insight, which is a video analytics tool. Once you’ve learned the basics, its time to use more advanced strategies.
- Create microchannels to boost brand awareness. This is where you create a YouTube channel that focuses on one product. Help promote your videos and draw awareness to those channels by posting links to those videos on your business’s website. Also, make sure to tag each video for search engine optimization. That way people can find the video by searching on a traditional search engine, not just YouTube.
- Be open to participation. By allowing video comments, you are creating a two-way communication. Worried that someone will post spam or some obscene comment to your video? You can select a setting that allows you to review comments and approve them before they are posted. However, some negative comments may be worth replying to, as an intelligent response can help build credibility.
- Give videos a “face.” Featuring the same person in all of your videos creates a friendly and familiar person associated with your brand. A great example is Flo from Progressive. When you see her, you know you’re watching a Progressive commercial before you even see or hear the company’s name.
- Be funny. If a video is funny people will be more inclined to watch it, however, don’t make it funny at the company’s expense. Make sure the only humor in the video is intentional, and doesn’t reflect poorly on the company in any way.
- Use social marketing to get the word out. Whenever you post a new video, make sure you promote it via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Digg. Keep in mind, the more plays your video gets, the higher it will place in YouTube search rankings.
- Don’t forget the call to action. Every video post should have a link where viewers can take the next step (place an order, sign up for a newsletter, etc).
- Tap other video content. Keep an eye on your industry, watching and commenting on informational videos (just not those of a competitor!) and retweeting links to those videos. However, make sure to turn off the “related video” option for the videos you post, or YouTube will suggest related videos after yours is done playing – and a competitor’s video just might come up.
If you have the time and manpower to keep up with everything mentioned above, YouTube can become an important part of your Internet marketing campaign. And if you need further advice, Search Circus is here for you!
