This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about using social media to market your website. My previous post here offered some excellent tips on how you can start getting more traffic from social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest. Today however, I want to focus on a completely new (yet still extremely popular) network – YouTube.
That red play button has become iconic over the past decade. Artists, comedians, celebrities, and just about everyone in between has either watched or uploaded a video on the website at one time or another. Some people (like Justin Bieber) even launched their career using the popular video network. From a business perspective, it can be hard to deny the effectiveness of video marketing at this day in age. Businesses of all sizes can adopt either simple or complex video marketing strategies to get more traffic and sales. In fact, there are several data-backed benefits that come with video marketing. Listed below are three benefits your company can gain by marketing on YouTube.
Capture Attention – Almost everyone uses YouTube these days so no matter who your audience is, they are likely using the website. According to Alexa, YouTube is actually the second most visited site on the internet. That means your potential for lots of exposure is extraordinary. Sure, you’ll be facing lots of competition, but by doing things such as generating video likes and comments you can quickly move ahead of other videos in your niche. You should also focus on creating a captivating video that will stand out from your competitors. Research their strategy and identify new opportunities they’re overlooking.
Experiment With Viral Marketing – When people hear “viral” they often associate with a massive burst in popularity surrounding a piece of content. Whether it be sneezing baby pandas or moms wearing a Chewbacca mask, there’s no doubt in the potential of viral content on YouTube. If the world were perfect you’d be able to publish a video that would be seen by millions of potential customers and create hundreds of new sales in no time. But, viral marketing is about more than just racking up millions of views. Viral marketing is the actual strategy you should build around how your audience can spread new information about your products or services. Thankfully, with YouTube you can do this yourself by embedding your videos into blog posts or sharing them in a LinkedIn discussion. This type of stuff can spark shares, likes, comments, and views to your videos quickly.
Boost Search Engine Rankings – Google acquired YouTube in 2006 and they dominate the world of search engines. With that in mind, YouTube videos often rank extremely high in Google and if optimized properly, they won’t just generate additional traffic from search engines, but will also help your website rank higher as well. By developing a YouTube channel you will also further establish your credibility in your industry and also expand brand awareness. A proper strategy can drive lots of traffic to your videos or channel which in turn will send more traffic to your website. Treat your YouTube videos like blog content. Start by conducting some keyword research before optimizing your content using keywords in the title, description and tags.
Adding new videos to YouTube is easier than you think, and the growth your company and website could potentially get from it are well worth it. Try setting up your own channel and doing some keyword research before you publish a video. Then, add a few videos and put them into blog posts. You’ll see views start to move upwards in no time!
