With over one billion users visiting YouTube each month, it is safe to say that it is the world’s largest video sharing website. Because YouTube is free to use, an increasing number of businesses are reaping its benefits. All you need is a camera and a healthy dose of creativity.
Create a YouTube Channel
Set up your YouTube channel and name it after your business. Upload all of your videos on that same account and include keywords and back-links to your website. The advantage of uploading video content to YouTube is that customers can see or hear a representative of your business and that helps to build trust. Remember that video content is engaging; many customers may not wish to spend their time reading about products and services and instead would prefer to watch a video of a product in use or hear a company representative describe a service.
Remember to fill out a description for every video you upload as well as posting your website URL into the description section. Your descriptions need to be as long as possible because the more Google can learn about your video, the higher your target keyword will rank.
Tag Keywords
Tagging a video will vastly increase the amount of views it receives so include as many relevant keywords for your business as possible. One of your tags should be your brand name. Your video title must be short and ideally would include one of your keywords, preferably at the beginning of the title.
When you tag a video it becomes connected with other videos that have similar keywords thus is likely to appear as a related video. It is worth searching your keywords into Google first to see if video content appears high on the search ranking. This is because there are certain keywords and phrases that Internet users will use to find articles and certain keywords and phrases they use to find videos. A user typing “Man falling over' would be looking for a video as opposed to an article thus it is important to optimise your content around video keywords.
Engage with potential customers
The reason social media is such an effective tool for businesses is that it breaks the wall between company and customer. YouTube is no different to Twitter or Facebook in that it is a platform in which you can establish communication with your audience. Replying to comments on videos humanises your business and in turn healthy relationships can be built. Just be sure to not spam your videos full of comments and ensure that you always reply to criticism in a polite and rational manner. Encourage conversation and try to keep it flowing.
Remember to ask the users to subscribe to your channel on every video you upload. Just remember to always do this at the end of the video and never at the beginning.
Upload content of a high quality
As they say 'content is king;' so make sure your video is of a good production quality and is useful to the audience. Nobody is expecting the video to look like a Kubrick movie, but shaky camera work and poor lighting are unacceptable. A large number of viewer’s means nothing if they are all clicking the 'thumbs down' button. This will not only reflect poorly upon your product or services but will stop future users from even bothering to watch the video.
It is important to remember that customers will not want to watch something that feels like a commercial. Nearly every YouTube user skips the ads, so why would they want a video that feels like one? Instead focus on injecting humour if necessary and test your products in a creative way. Sometimes you may want to post video replies. Replying to highly viewed videos is a great way of gaining exposure.
Promote
Once your video has been uploaded, it is time to promote it on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and any other social media platform. This doesn't just mean tweeting or sharing the link as a status but also includes posting the link in online groups, forums and communities. Don't just post it anywhere or make a topic for the link, as this is spam, but if someone has asked a question that your video will genuinely answer, then feel free to link the video.
Embed the link onto your company website and find any relevant websites that may be interested. The more views the video receives, the higher it will rank in search engines. It is important to share your content within 24 hours of uploading it. Remember to think of others and not just yourself. If you view another brand's video that you enjoyed, retweet or share it. This establishes you as someone who doesn't just self-promote and as someone who is connected within the industry. It also guarantees that somewhere down the line your own content will be retweeted.
YouTube may seem like a crazy place full of hilarious cat videos and incorrect song lyrics but it is also a powerful social media platform where thousands of channels are making six figures a year.
Make YouTube part of your social media strategy and engage viewers from around the world.
About the author
Kimberley Thompson ia a copywriter at Gloc Media. Kimberley loves to write, travel, sing and spend her hours at the voice over recording studio.
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