Have you considered using YouTube for business? Great idea! YouTube is a great way to spread your brand message and engage your customers. But before you jump in, it’s wise to figure out the best way to use YouTube for your business – as in what to do and what not to do. Don’t worry – it’s not difficult, and we’re here to help guide you in the right direction. So, let’s dig in and soon you’ll be ready to use YouTube to grow your business!
If you’re unfamiliar with this social media platform, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered. We’ve researched some of the biggest names on YouTube to find out their tips, so we can share them with you. The following tips will show you how to best utilize YouTube for business. All tips come from YouTube creators, developers, influencers, and others. Let’s get started!
Tip #1: Distribute Content
“YouTube is a platform, a distribution vehicle.” – Steve Chen
Who is Steve Chen? “He is one of the co-founders and previous chief technology officer of the video-sharing website YouTube.” (source)
Steve Chen defines YouTube as distribution vehicle – a way for people to get information to other people. YouTube is a tool, and businesses of all kinds can learn how to use it effectively.
How to Distribute Content
YouTube is made for people to share videos with each other. Just like Facebook, YouTube allows anyone (businesses included) to upload videos to its platform.
As a distribution platform, you can use YouTube to get your brand in front of your target audience.
To do this, you’ll need a collection of videos to upload to YouTube. You’ll also want to ensure your videos are optimized for the search engines.
Tip #2: Optimize Videos
“YouTube is, at the end of the day, a search engine… that’s why Google bought it.” – Jake Paul
Jake Paul is an American vlogger born in Westlake, Ohio. As of fall 2018, he has over 16 million subscribers.
Jake Paul knows that, like Google, YouTube is a search engine. Anyone can go to YouTube and search for a topic. The videos that are most relevant to the search – and also the most popular – are displayed to the user.
For example, if you sell drones, your product video has potential to appear when a person searches for drones. In this way, businesses can use YouTube to reach their audience when they actively search for services or products.
How to Optimize Videos
To utilize YouTube as a search engine, be sure to optimize your business videos. Search engine optimizations makes it easier for YouTube to understand what your video is about, so it can index it and list it in the search results.
Tip #3: Inform & Educate
“YouTube is becoming much more than an entertainment destination.” – Chad Hurley
As one of YouTube’s co-founders (along with Steve Chen), Chad Hurley knows a thing or two about this social media giant. His quote about YouTube being more than entertainment refers to the plethora of “political, news and instructional videos” uploaded to YouTube – and that was in 2007. (YouTube Founders Unfazed by Challenges by The Associated Press)
How to Inform & Educate
Over a decade later, YouTube has become a hub for information, education, and exposé. It is standard to find business videos on YouTube – and your business should take advantage of this.
Use videos to inform your audience about what you do and why you do it. Do you run a martial arts studio? Tell your audience all about it – they want to know why your business is different and better than others in your space.
UpLevel Martial Arts takes advantage of the platform’s versatility by posting videos that inform and educate his audience.
YouTube is an excellent way to answer questions, acquaint people with your brand, and help them to understand the reason behind your business.
Tip #4: Find a Bigger Audience
“With YouTube streaming and Twitch and all that, you can just hop on on any given night and play videogames and have people come watch you. And even if you’ve only got 400 people watching your stream, that’s more people than would see my comedy if I went to UCB.” – Thomas Middleditch
Thomas Middleditch is an entertainer who makes an astute observation: YouTube has a massive audience, and if you do it right, your video could be watched by hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people.
How to Find a Bigger Audience
Want a larger target audience to market to? Then it’s time for your business to join YouTube.
As a business you need to know how massively popular YouTube is. Take advantage of the popularity of YouTube; use the platform to get in front of more people – and more qualified leads.
Want to tap into the large audience on YouTube? It’s as simple as creating a business channel and posting videos.
Tip #5: Increase Trust
“The thing that has made YouTube so successful is that you can relate to the people you’re watching to a much higher degree than to the people you see on TV.” – PewDiePie
PewDiePie is YouTube’s biggest creator with over 50 million subscribers.
The authenticity of YouTube creators is the thing that propelled the platform to popularity in the first place. Viewers feel they can trust YouTube creators more than TV.
How to Increase Trust in Your Business
If your business uses YouTube to connect with viewers, keep it real. Avoid heavy advertising or marketing speak. Show “behind the scenes” footage to increase transparency and boost trust.
- Post a variety of videos on your channel.
- Listen to feedback from your audience.
- Forget about memorizing lines and have a conversation instead.
Tip #6: Feel the Freedom
“The great thing about YouTube is there are no gatekeepers. No one is waiting to tell you if you’re good enough. It’s just your audience.” – Lindsey Stirling
Lindsey Stirling is an “acclaimed violinist… with almost 10 million YouTube subscribers, over 1.9 billion views on her YouTube channel…” (source)
Lindsey Stirling expresses one of the most appealing elements of YouTube for creators – the freedom to create. Currently, YouTube can be used by anyone or any brand to distribute videos about virtually anything.
How to Feel the Freedom
Approach YouTube with a feeling of relief – this platform allows your business to post videos about virtually any topic you want.
Tip #7: Get Creative
“The joy of YouTube is that you can create content about anything you feel passionate about, however silly the subject matter.” – Zoe Sugg
Zoe Sugg, known best as Zoella, is an English fashion and beauty YouTube creator “As of May 2018, Sugg’s main YouTube channel has over 12 million subscribers and over 1 billion video views, and is the 147th most subscribed channel on the website.” (source) Her popularity on YouTube has helped her publish a novel and launch a line of beauty products.
How to Get Creative
Check out competitors’ channels that target the same audience as your business targets. Instead of posting similar videos, try a different format or topic. This will help your business stand out.
Tip #8: Make Money
“As my YouTube following grew, I was soon earning as much from advertising revenue as from waiting tables, so I quit my job. My boss thought I was crazy, which just made me more determined. In 2012, four years and 200 videos later, my channel was so successful that Google offered me $1 million to create 20 hours of content.” – Michelle Phan
Phan is a YouTube legend who abruptly stopped uploading videos in 2017, due to legal battles and depression. Her last video was posted June 1, 2017. As of September 2018, she has not released another video on her channel. (The Rebirth of YouTube Beauty Pioneer Michelle Phan by Racked)
How to Make Money
YouTube can help your business make profit by getting you in front of the right audience and driving traffic to your website.
- Identify your target audience.
- Include links to your website in your video descriptions.
- Optimize for search engines with keywords.
- Post engaging videos that are interesting to your audience.
- Actively encourage your YouTube viewers to visit your website.
- Create a seamless experience between your website and YouTube video.
Tip #9: Avoid Taking It Personally
“If I have one technology tip of the day, it’s this: No matter how good the video on YouTube is, don’t read the comments, just don’t, because it will make you hate all humans.” – Matt Groening
Hate comments are a real challenge on YouTube. In some cases, creators have removed hateful comments or have not allowed comments on their videos. Others have gone so far as to remove their entire accounts.
How to Avoid Taking It Personally
Knowing the truth about YouTube comments (some are simply destructive), be sure to not take any comments personally. Or turn off the comments, if you must.
If a comment is a criticism that’s justified and made in a respectful manner, reply with respect and honesty. If your business is in the wrong, admit it. But don’t let the comment eat away at your feelings of self worth. It’s just a YouTube video, after all.
Digital Marketing Stories
Use YouTube for YOUR business to increase traffic, leads, and sales. Check out some of our digital marketing stories:
RV Wholesale Superstore
“We’ve definitely seen an increase [in sales numbers]. We’ve seen about a 14 to 17 per cent increase over the same period [in comparison to an industry average of only 8 per cent.”
William, Operations
RVWSS is an enthusiastic supporter of Artonic’s integrated marketing campaigns and user-friendly website design. Listen to William’s story of RV Wholesale Superstore’s website design plus marketing and AdWords campaigns.
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