Making the Most of YouTube

by | Jun 15, 2018

By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent

YouTube has become the prime research tool on the web. With a staggering breadth of content and connected communities for almost every niche, it’s definitely earned a place in your marketing efforts. If you don’t have a video program yet, check out articles herehere and here  on how to incorporate video. In the meantime, if video is already a part of your efforts, here are a few simple guidelines to making the most of the content you post:

No Channel is an Island

  • You can’t make your channel a one-sided affair. Make sure you get into as many “networks” as possible by subscribing to other channels, i.e. trade organizations, publications, online reviewers, people already using your products, etc.

Engage Frequently

  • Don’t be a passive subscriber. Like videos and comment, even if it’s just “great video.”  The more you put your channel out there, the more likely people are to find it.

Forget Who You Are

  • When it comes to video tags and descriptions, think like a potential customer, rather than as a salesperson. Don’t use product numbers or use common terms, instead, put yourself in the shoes of someone just starting a search, with no prior brand loyalty or knowledge of the industry, and then tag accordingly.

Missing Links

  • While a few links in your video’s description can be useful (after all, your ultimate goal is to get visitors off of YouTube and onto your website) be careful which ones you use. Link to product pages, not sales pages and use third-party validation by linking to outside reviews and customer testimonials. But above all, make sure you regularly review the links you use to make sure they’re still working.

Invite(ing) Views

  • Now that you’ve posted great content, tagged it for newbies to find and set it up to be relevant for a long time, it’s time to let everyone know about it. Building up views not only makes that counter in the lower right fun to look at; it helps the search results of the video for future views. So try:
    • Including a link in a new product press release.
    • Posting it to your other social media channels. The “ding” you’ll get for not posting it directly on the social media platform, is more than made up for in the increased profile of the YouTube video.
    • Embedding it on your website.
    • Making an e-blast with a video link for your salesteam to share with customers.

Launch a Video Campaign

  • For the last few months targeted advertising has been all the rage. However, with recent events with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, consumers are increasingly leery of advertising they feel is “following” them. So instead try a pilot YouTube ad campaign. Pick one video, run it through their program and take advantage of the excellent metrics YouTube provides for tracking (and proving ROI).

Video gives you a great platform to effectively communicate your products’ or services’ messages. And the YouTube/Google relationship gives you all kinds of advantages for effectively using video. So make a video, develop a plan and engage your customers!

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