A free video content platform that boasts over a billion users: is it really for you?
You Tube is most famous for its’ most successful creators who publish daily content, boast millions of ‘subs” (subscribers) and make a pretty good living for what most people regards as inane, albeit entertainingly and addictively inane, content.
Its’ not rocket science either and nor are its biggest success stories the most creative.
2018’s biggest earner was a 7 year old boy called Ryan who netted a staggering $22 million big ones from reviewing toys.
The chances of your business videos turning you into one of next year’s top earners may be slim, but don’t underestimate the value becoming a “You Tuber” can bring to your business marketing.
Let’s explore what’s in it for you?
Discoverability
Embedding You Tube video on your website helps you get discovered.
A landing page that has video on it, is 57 times more likely to get noticed.
And the stats are similarly strong for every single page you have video on.
The first 4 or 5 results in any Google search is video. (Google of course owns You Tube).
So, making video that matches key words and phrases within your industry or sector increases your chances of ranking higher in Google.
Take advantage of SEO functions such as tags, descriptions, video titles and transcripts rich in keywords and search terms and you’ll find your discoverability improves even more.
And serving up curated stylised (think colour coding and themed thumbnail) playlists packed with video thumbnails and titles that act as click bait (always deliver on your click bait promise in your video mind) will mean users are more likely to watch your content. And stick around.
Let’s say it again: If you get people to stay longer on You Tube by offering them good content and lots of it, You Tube will make more money from ads and will therefore love you.
Whilst Vimeo has more kudos as a business platform it simply doesn’t rate for eyeballs like You Tube does.
Be an expert in your niche
Aside from music, pranks and entertainment, You Tube is also home to millions of hours of educational and how-to content. These videos help audiences do everything from fixing a plug and cracking safes, to homework and study advice through to running businesses and mastering social media.
In fact pretty much anything you want to know about, can be found on You Tube; somewhere.
65% of You Tube visitors need help fixing stuff and 70% use it to solve a problem
Clearly there is demand, so match it.
Educational and How to video represents an opportunity to build your business as a trusted authority within your industry. Think about what you know that an audience might be interested in knowing. What insights, tips or unique learning can you offer that no one else is sharing?
Is there product information that you can share? Assembly directions? After-care tips? Or an ancillary information that supports your products or services?
Record videos for your most popular blogs or if you’re short on ideas, search for commonly searched terms that match your product or service and profile and create content that matches what people are looking for.
See what your competitors are doing and make your videos better. And get some ideas of good how-to content from our portfolio.
Did we mention If you get people to stay longer on You Tube by offering them good content and lots of it, You Tube will make more money from ads and will therefore love you?
Viral
Remember Charlie Bit My Finger and sneezing baby pandas? Great examples of videos that went viral but became popular by luck and had no money-making strategy behind them. (I met the sneezing panda person once and she was not rich by any mean, and a little bitter her footage was not a retirement plan)
Today it’s possible to create a viral strategy around a video.
The Despacito music video generated over five billion views and earned its’ creators a pretty penny particularly being as it was one of the most watched YouTube videos of all time.
Realistically the chances of creating a “viral” without a carefully thought out strategy built for an audience to spread information about your products or services is slim. But if you are brave by all means give it a go.
There are many easier ways to get your YouTube content shared. Embed it within relevant blogs or promo it (but upload natively) in social media.
The most important aspect for creating successful content on YT is to deliver value to your audience.
Value can be information, insights, entertainment or simply a laugh.
If it ticks at least one of these boxes folk are more likely to share it and ultimately you will get more traffic your way.
Like all social platforms – and yes You Tube is the biggest – utilising video enables you to engage with an audience through comments and shares. Be aware of the challenge if this is not monitored or the time-suck this can create, so consider disabling comments.
You Tube Ads
Because it is one of the largest search engines, there are great opportunities to pay to reach targeted audiences through ads.
YouTube’s integration of Google Ads allows you to market through more traditional pay-per-click advertising.
Depending on your product or service or how thirsty you are about targeting or re-marketing your offerings, this is a great opportunity. Although again, prioritise value over the hard sell or you risk alienating audiences fast.
Don’t be afraid of harnessing the power of You Tube to market your business and I’ll leave you with some fairly staggering figures about the platform.
Still don’t believe in You Tube for business?
· 30 million daily users of which 60% are male
· 1 out of every two millennials regularly watch You Tube.
· The fastest growing demographics are the 35 plus and 55 plus age groups.
· Half watch You Tube on mobile
· The average watch session lasts 40 minutes.