If you haven’t jumped on the YouTube train yet, don’t worry – this peculiar online marketing channel isn’t going to lose its importance any time soon – not with the continuing growth trends in online video consumption and YouTube’s share in this feast. Given its massive market share, which stands at 20x its closest competitor, there’s really no alternative at the moment that would give you as much advantages in video-related marketing efforts as YouTube.
This guide will help you realize the sheer power of the most popular digital video service in the world and provide some reasons why it makes sense to put YouTube on your online marketing activities. If done correctly, they can create a flow of consistent traffic to other areas of your business like your website, blog, and social media profiles.
Tap into YouTube’s Massive Traffic
The amount of traffic that is sloshing around on YouTube on a daily basis is nothing short of astounding; increasingly more and more people are starting to use YouTube as a legitimate search engine (i.e. an alternative rather than a complement to Google, Yahoo and Bing). They are looking for entertaining or useful content, answers to specific questions or solutions to their problems – and YouTube is one of the fastest ways to get much of that information in the most digestible way possible.
The reason why videos are so attractive to a large part of the internet population is because they take way less effort to comprehend than a written article or even a static image – in other words, people are getting more and more efficient (or lazy, depending on the perspective) in their quest for information.
The volume of traffic that is on YouTube at any given moment is so large that almost any marketer can take a very modest piece of the pie and end up with a sizeable increase in their audience (especially since many competing marketers haven’t even started using it yet). The quality of traffic is another thing worth mentioning – what good is any amount if it doesn’t convert? In this respect, YouTube produces some of the most laser-targeted audience groups compared to many other marketing techniques, since people that land on YouTube videos are generally coming from a specific term they entered in the YouTube or Google search bar.
Think of the last time you visited YouTube (most likely today or this week) and what you searched for: even if you just looked up a music video, a food recipe, an exercise routine, or a product review, think of the hundreds of millions of people around the world who are doing the same thing. Every. Single. Day. Let that sink in for a moment (during which dozens of new YouTube videos will have been uploaded and watched).
Get Higher Search Rankings for Less Effort
Google owning YouTube after a 2006 acquisition is an important reason why you see YouTube videos often outperform traditional text-and-image based websites in Google’s search results. It’s hard to find a lot of search terms for which the first page of results will not contain at least a single YouTube video.
You can use this trend to your advantage: videos have the potential to rank much quicker than text, and often show up much higher given the same page-specific SEO metrics like the number of backlinks. The good news is that it only takes minutes to make a decent-quality video nowadays by using your smartphone or a simple screencast.
Given YouTube’s powerful position, it still is important to use proper SEO techniques in order to ensure the highest possible search engine rankings for your video content. In most cases it makes more sense to target long-tail type keyphrases that are 3-5 words long, since the competition will be significantly lower. However, do not expect every single video to be a winner – stay persistent and simply keep producing high-quality content for the best possible chances of getting that sweet search engine traffic.
Become Someone to Follow
The wonderful thing about YouTube is that you do not have to be a pop star to become a leader and gain a loyal following – all you need to do is create valuable content.
There’s something about sharing your message through video where people can physically see you or hear your voice that builds a heck of a lot of trust, which results in more engagement, more traffic and ultimately more conversions. This eventually then leads to you gaining more momentum until you become a leader and expert in your niche. Now this is a powerful place to be because people start listening and are very receptive to your content.
One problem is that many people are too shy or scared to create YouTube videos for the world to see (and/or hear, if we’re speaking about a voice-over). One way to get over this fear is to break that barrier and upload your first video. The other solution is to hire someone to do the talking for you – it’s quite easy to find willing speakers and/or actors on gig platforms like Fiverr.
The upside of this is that the moment you decide to start a YouTube channel and actually get some material up for people to see, you are immediately ahead of 95% of your competitors. It’s worth keeping in mind that YouTube is only part of the mix here to brand yourself as a thought leader – it’s important that you give attention to other channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs.
Increased Exposure for Your Website
Directing your YouTube traffic to your existing online assets such as your primary website is an obvious yet still a worthwhile topic to bring up. The best part is that it’s as simple as leaving a link to your website in your YouTube video description for people to click on.
It also helps to inform your viewers in the actual video, encouraging them to check out your website; an effective strategy here is not giving away everything you have to say on your chosen topic: leave some tasty bit out and mention that more information can be found using the link below the video (or insert a linked frame right inside the video). The time your viewers spend on your website after watching your YouTube video is typically much higher since you’ve now built both a certain level of trust as well as intrigue.
Share Your Thoughts!
It’s time to start seriously considering YouTube as one of your marketing strategies going forward. The amount of high-quality traffic that is available can really help you grow your online presence.
Still having reservations about making your own videos? Already tried creating some and have an experience to share? Let’s discuss in the comments section below:
