YouTube made waves when it was first launched in 2005, and continues to make waves as the second most visited social media site worldwide. Among social media platforms dedicated to video content, it is number one.
It has long gone from just a platform for viewing content. Whole marketing strategies sometimes revolve primarily, even solely around YouTube marketing. YouTube has caused a revolution of User-Generated Content from vloggers the world over. It leveled the playing field for all types of video content creators. For better or for worse, YouTube has changed the marketing landscape radically, and it will only keep progressing in the years to come.
Marketing through YouTube works for all kinds of brands. There is an increasingly high demand for video content as data exponentially increases on the internet. People just do not have all the time to browse text or image content, so video comes to the rescue. A minute of video content, 60 images were squeezed, and thousands of words were made concise.
Video is highly engaging, and marketers see the impact of video content in marketing campaigns like SEO.
In the first quarter of 2020, YouTube gained $4.04 billion in revenues, with over 100 million active users watching the most popular YouTube channels daily.
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YouTube: A Powerful Marketing Machine
• YouTube is the leading video-content dedicated platform.
90% of daily active users of the internet (16- 64 years old) consume video content every month. YouTube is the leading video streaming platform, even more, popular than broadcast media, which is why TV and radio broadcast stations are echoing their shows online. It is now a staple if you want your shows to get some traffic. The on-demand nature of YouTube and other platforms has revolutionized how and when users consume the news and their favorite shows.
• Brand building on YouTube creates a significant impact.
Brand building on YouTube is more impactful as well. If you hit it big with a viral video, it can do wonders for your brand. Gaining subscribers and viewers also cause brands to earn revenues from their video content. Through the years, we have seen average individuals, unknown creators, in the beginning, become YouTube sensations and making massively for every video content released.
• With YouTube, you reach multitudes in one go.
Through YouTube, you also get to reach so many people, regardless of demographics, every single time. YouTube currently has more than 2 billion users—that’s one-third of the internet. You just do not know how many people’s lives you are touching every time you publish content. Some “YouTubers” are making sure they are accountable content creators, but sadly, others are not.
It is why YouTube recently had some major revamp in its security, content category, and rules. It is important because everyone wants to leverage the power of YouTube, some with good intentions, and some with malicious intent. With a platform as powerful as YouTube, this is not surprising anymore.
• You get better user engagement through YouTube.
With video content, you can connect with your audiences better. You can also connect instantly with your viewers. In fact, live streaming is currently trending, because, amid the pandemic, people still get to connect with others through YouTube live that comes with live comments. The interaction is also not limited to you and your users. Users can also interact amongst themselves through your comments section. It is a great place to get insights from your followers, and bashers too. With this system, you quickly get feedback, which is crucial in honing your content to fit your niche and respond to the demands of users who follow you.
Brand building and marketing strategies are best done if you include video marketing as well, specifically on YouTube.
How to Market Successfully on YouTube
1. Be clear about your niche.
Who are you creating your video content for, and for what purpose? What specific need are you answering? What uniqueness do you bring, and what is your identity as a brand?
These are some of the questions you need to answer, so it helps you discover what your niche or expertise is. If this is not clear to you, your efforts will not be focused on the right audience. You will not be consistent with the kind of material you put out as well. If you are confused, you also cause your audience to be confused, since they do not know what precisely you are saying. They will gravitate towards channels that have clarity in their identity and content, and you would not want to be left behind, don’t you?
Remember that you are not making content for everyone on YouTube, just those people in your niche. Focus on the people in your target niche, and produce relevant, useful, and engaging content for them. Carve out your marketing efforts on your specific niche for greater campaign success.
2. Be memorable.
Choose a channel name that is easy to understand, remember, and find. Provide links to your website and social media platforms you want to share with your subscribers.
Complete your channel information, title, and tags. Put indicators on your channel, maybe through the theme, or through the icons and images you use, so your subscribers know it is you, and the channel is your brand’s official site.
You can add options like opening the comments section, recent activities, or friends and connections. Also, choose in the settings that your most recent videos will be viewed first. This way, visitors will not have a hard time finding your content and browsing through your channel for any missed update.
3. Optimize Keywords in Your YouTube Channel.
You can conduct successful Social Media Optimization on YouTube if you strategically use keywords and key phrases. Like SEO or Social Media Optimization, SMO can use keywords and key phrases to make a video searchable on YouTube and Google’s search engines.
For instance, if your niche is everything about parenting, then you might want to produce instructional videos about search queries that parents in your niche are searching for. You can even choose to target young parents, older parents, single parents, adoptive parents, parents with special needs, and the like. The more aimed you are on your niche, the easier for your keywords to compete on SERP. Instead of battling millions of other video content on a generic niche, you can trim it down with a few hundred on more specific, long-tail keywords.
4. Produce high-quality video content.
Content is still king, whether it is in text, image, or video. You need to commit producing well-thought-of video content that has the pulse of your audience, in high-quality form.
Even if you are simply producing videos about your daily life, it still pays to deliver the best quality of video you can create. Invest in an excellent mobile phone, or even a dedicated camera once you are already earning revenues from your channel. Serving your audiences with the best kind of product and service on YouTube translates to quality videos.
Videos do create more impact, with over 70% of digital marketers saying that content with video generates higher conversions than their traditional content.
In fact, even something as simple as a video resume is in demand these days. In the same way that a compelling video resume increases the chances of an applicant to get hired, the chances of you getting a lot of engagements increases when you add video constant.
Videos can capture and convey so much more, so optimize this medium as much as you can, consistently. Remember that there are 5 billion videos watched on YouTube daily. If your video content is of poor quality, what stops audiences from finding a better one?
Even if it takes you a long while to complete your equipment for video production, video editing software, or also hiring a dedicated social media manager or editor, produce excellent videos every time.
5. Promote, Optimize and Monetize
Give effort in promoting your video content as well. You can optimize the use of other social media platforms aside from your website. You can also promote new content through email marketing.
Other places to promote your content is through selected forums or collaborating with other content creators. The goal is to get people to discover your video.
The more views you get, the more conversions you can gain. Revenues from organic search are still worth aiming for, even if it takes some time because the results are longer-lasting. In the long run, it is more valuable because you get more loyal followers through organic than paid ads.
These followers can turn into brand ambassadors and promoters, even without your prodding. Word of mouth and referrals are powerful forms of marketing. It is a bonus advertisement for your brand at no cost.
If your content is good, followers will not hesitate to click like and share. You do not even have to remind them repeatedly. Just focus on producing quality content.
When you consistently produce quality content that meets people’s search queries, you continue to build your brand and credibility.
Conclusion: YouTube will Continue to Transform Marketing
YouTube gained new users during the global pandemic we all experienced from early this year. Most of the world is under strict social distancing measures.
For life to continue even under a lockdown, most activities are now done online. Marketing through YouTube has never been more relevant and needful than now.
As workers continue working from home, and students do distance learning, between these two markets alone, the need is great for video content has multiplied. Video content is needed to bridge the gap for information, connectivity, entertainment, and support until life goes to that “new normal” we are all heading for.
Even then, YouTube will continue to transform the marketing landscape. We will see more vloggers vlog, more brands visible on the platform, and the like. This variety of content will continue to improve the standard of content the YouTube approves and releases, making YouTube not just a platform to entertain, but a platform to influence and make an impact to its audience’s lives.
AUTHOR’S BIO:
Mayleen Meñez
Mayleen Meñez worked for seven years in TV and Radio production, and also as a Graphic Artist/Editor. Finding her true passion, she devoted 15 years in NGO and community development work, where she experienced being a coordinator and teacher, travelling both in the Philippines and countries in Asia. She homeschools her three kids and reinvents Filipino dishes in her spare time. Writing has always been a hobby and pursuit, and she recently added content writing with Softvire Australia and Softvire New Zealand up her sleeve, while preparing for her next adventure in the nations.
YouTube marketing is a brilliant platform to get your business moving. It is especially good for small businesses. I believe if you have a unique brand and a product to sell, having a creative team to create video content will be of great help. With so many viewers, you can directly reach the target audience.
Thank you for your comment Angela.