YouTube has changed the way people consume information, but how can you make it work for your small business?
YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, with over 1 billion hours of content watched on the site every single day. And yet, when it comes to using social media, YouTube is often overlooked in favour of Twitter and Facebook.
But when we think of those staggering viewer numbers, we can’t help but see a business opportunity. And you should too! Subscribe to our top 5 tips and get more from YouTube.
1. Consider your content
So, you’ve decided that you want to use YouTube to market your business? That’s great. But there isn’t much point in churning out videos that no-one wants to see. Think about who you target audience is and create content that they’ll want to watch.
For example, if you’re a cycle repair shop then a how-to tutorial about fixing a puncture will create interest and be helpful to your audience. This means they are more likely to return to your channel if they want any other information, building trust in your brand.
2. Be proactive
The most popular channels on YouTube are those that constantly upload new content. Putting up videos every day, or as often as you can manage, is a great way of keeping your audience engaged while ensuring your business message is current. No-one wants to visit a channel that hasn’t been updated since 2011.
Now, we know that the prospect of creating new content every day can sound daunting but it doesn’t have to be. Longer videos can be broken up into shorter chunks that can be uploaded daily, while you can break up your output with interviews of staff members and clients.
3. Interact with your viewers
One of the best things about YouTube is that it makes it so easy to engage with your audience, with viewers able to leave messages in the comment section. Don’t ignore these comments – they are a great way to connect to new business.
Responding to comments (both positive and negative) helps to keep your audience engaged, and means they feel more involved in your brand. If individual replies aren’t your thing, why not collect together comments and create a new video every week where you answer some of your viewers’ questions?
4. Promote yourself
If you’re putting in effort to create a great series of videos that your target audience are going to want to watch, don’t be afraid to be heavy-handed with the self-promotion. You want everyone who watches that video to remember your name once they’ve clicked away.
Going back to our bike puncture tutorial idea, a great way to add some self-promotion here would be to film the video in the shop. Add some establishing shots of the store’s frontage and be sure to include staff members to further promote your brand.
5. Share and share again
Having a great YouTube channel with popular videos is great, but that doesn’t mean you should stop there. YouTube makes it super easy to share and embed your content across all of your social media platforms, so you’d be wise to make the most of it.
Whenever you create a new YouTube post, make sure you share the video on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. You can even embed it onto your own website, maybe by creating a blog post or page around it. And just because you’ve shared a video once doesn’t mean you can’t share and share again!
