MN Interactive

8 Hot YouTube Tips For Business Owners

Video marketing is one of the largest growing advertising vehicles there is today, especially as more and more companies jump onto the online bandwagon. And YouTube is nothing less than a marketing phenomena. Anyone drafting an online marketing plan needs to consider integrating YouTube into it. Founded just five years ago, the company has grown into a billion dollar industry, and while they’re still cagey about releasing facts and figures, there’s no doubt it’s way ahead of its competitors in online video streaming.

Let’s look at some simple facts:

• 90% of Internet users between 18-29 years use video-sharing sites
• 46% of adult Internet browsers use YouTube
• Google spent $1.65 billion in 2006 to acquire YouTube
• In one month alone, YouTube has seen figures as high as 13.1 billion with regards to videos being viewed
• According to a survey done by Bloomberg, YouTube has seen a 10% increase in web advertisers
• Video ad spend growth is around 40%.
• 35% of web users say they’ve viewed online video content

With figures like the above, can your business really afford to avoid a crowd puller like YouTube? Add to this the fact that unlike a lot of video marketing tools, YouTube is free to use and easy to upload and share, and there’s simply no reason not to experiment with it.

But like any tool, free or otherwise, YouTube has to be used correctly to guarantee maximum benefit. How do you ensure your brand stands out when competing with 65,000 videos which get uploaded daily, and what will your share of the 100 million views per day be? Top video marketers will agree that for any brand to be noticed, your video has to be different. Here are some ways to do this.

1. Focus on your USP. In the past, USP’s or Unique Selling Points were the highlight of most marketing campaigns. Companies bewildered by the lack of success in their video marketing campaigns, should check to see if they’ve targeted the right audience, with the right message. What makes you differ from your competitor? Ensure the point you need to get across is clear and upfront.

2. Be true. The promise or offer made, if any, needs to be real. Backing out of a deal, fudging an offer, or enticing an audience with false claims are serious offenses, and most clients will not fall for them twice.

3. Keep it short. I clicked on a video of an offer I thought I might be interested in. I had 10 minutes to spare to view and analyze it. The video continued to run to over 20 minutes. By then, I had minimized the screen and started to work on something else. In the end, even though I was interested, I signed out with the promise to view it again when I have more time. That was five days ago, and I haven’t returned. Most people don’t have the time to view long winded accounts of anything, so keep your videos short and to the point.

4. Don’t stop with one. If your first video is a hit, expect your audience to come back for more. And don’t disappoint them when they do.

5. Use the inbuilt features to enhance your videos. YouTube’s content is organized by tag words or categories, so take some time to select the right ones for you. You may need to experiment with a few tags before you get to the correct ones. But remember, unless you’re a popular user, the only way visitors will get to your videos is through a search using keywords. In addition to categories, look at the other options YouTube provides. For example, as of March 2010, YouTube now allows audio captioning for the hearing impaired. You can also set up an option to moderate comments and delete spammy ones, or ones that have offensive language in them, before they get posted. And you can use YouTube tutorials to edit your videos for a more professional look. These are only some of the many features YouTube offers for free. Use them wisely to increase your target audience.

6. Don’t abuse the system. Over the top comments for example, are distracting and even annoying, so leave them out unless they really add value to your video. The same holds true with fake headlines. Sooner or later your audience is going to get fed up and leave.

7. Make it as interactive as possible. Get viewers to participate in a contest, send in their comments, or even help them develop their own videos; anything to create a two-way flow.

8. Build and promote. It’s hard to capture an initial audience without any promotion, so every time you post a video, share the news through emails, your blog, tweets, Facebook updates or any other social networking sites you use. You can automate your twitter and Facebook posts on YouTube, which leaves you more time to promote your videos via other means. Don’t forget to comment on other sites. If your comments are thoughtful and valid, you’ll get more people interested in what you have to say, and the videos you have to say it in.

And finally, remember to stay focused. The problem with selecting too many online marketing options is that in the end, some of them suffer neglect. Usually, it’s the easiest to let the video marketing option drop off, since it’s more time-consuming to develop a good video than it is to post blog content. Of the millions of videos uploaded daily, a large percentage fall by the wayside. Make sure if you are using YouTube as a marketing choice, to stay on top of things, even if you feel it’s not bringing in immediate results. As with all marketing plans, it takes time and effort to see figures.