Social media has become a driving force in marketing today. What is better than having the ability to directly communicate with your customers and get instant feedback? Well in marketing not much. That is why more and more companies are using social media. The main question is what social media to use for your company; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pintrest, Instagram, or any other. It all comes down to what is your target audience. Each social media mainly attracts different types of audiences with some overlap. Facebook is if you want to reach mainly middle class mid 20s-40s. Twitter is a mix of a millennials, corporations, and people in corporate world. Linkedin is all business all the time.
YouTube is kind of considered a social media platform. I would more call it a video search engine. For a whole generation it is the go to place to find anything they need to. People search anything from general questions about their industry, topics about services or products in their industry, or how to videos. There is also another part to YouTube. That is where people watch videos weekly or daily to be entertained. This is where people think most about YouTube. Yes it is Where all the kids today including yours are watching endless hours of vlogs and gameplays. This is not only what is on the platform though. In this article we will go over why you should use YouTube in your marketing for your business.
Using YouTube for content marketing
No one will argue that YouTube has become one of the biggest platforms on the current state of the internet. Also no one will argue that content marketing has become more popular with business of all sizes. The thing a lot of people still do not know is that more and more people are watching videos. Yes a lot of those people are millennials. This is not a bad thing The thing is the audience who is watching videos is aging up and doing it fast. This means you should always keep video in mind when you are doing content marketing.
There are a few ways you can use video and YouTube in your content marketing strategy. All of the ideas you can think of should get grouped into two major groupings; education and branding. This may seem weird but these are the two things people will watch on YouTube.
Education videos for YouTube
When thinking about education style videos this does not mean having someone sit there and talk people to death. This is the old way to make educational videos. The new way of doing this will take more time but will be worth it in the end. You need to find a way to educate your audience but also make it fun. This can be done in many ways and the best way to find out how is try different ways and see what your audience reacts to.
Some ideas to think of using for education videos for YouTube:
- Education about process or products or services in your industry
- Talk about leading trends in your industry
- If possible do any tutorial videos
Building a brand on YouTube
Building a brand today is one of the hardest and most time consuming tasks. The thing is that building a brand is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner. YouTube can do this better than any other platform on the market today. Not only is video a strong tool for brand building it is also a great way for people to connect with your brand. This is a great place for your personality and the personality of your employees to shine. Here you do not have to have polished and perfectly clean content. The viewers on YouTube will accept content that is not completely polished and perfect. This means you do not need worry about lighting or using the best camera when starting off.
Some ideas to think of using for branding videos for YouTube:
- Question and Answer shows
- Vlog style videos
- Vision videos
- Corporate videos
Adapt Vlogs for Business
You can not deny vlogs have become more popular style of video on YouTube. This is not just a style of video where millennials show them during their day doing stupid stuff. IT can also be sued for businesses. You need to break this style of video down to its basics. The basics of a vlog style video is handheld video footage, point of view, and tells a story. When you break it down to this basic this makes it a lot easier to figure out how to take the formula and apply it to your business.
I can hear you now, why should I do something that only millennials are going to watch they are not my target audience. The thing is if you stop thinking of this as a video format that only young kids watch and more think of it as a business journal or documentary it may finally click with you. You need to show what goes on day to day in your business (i.e. meetings, services, working with customers, creating your products or services). This will break down the walls between you and your customers. It will help build stronger customer relationships.
To make this work the best there are few best practices you should follow when making a business vlog for YouTube. Each video should have its own story. This is really important for vlog style video. Now the story does not need to be something in depth and should not be over thought about. It can be something as simple as a day full of meetings, products Being made or shipped out, or following the daily routine of one of your employees.
A vlog needs to have a good cast. This may seem like a weird one to add on this list. Think of it this way that your employees are like cast members and can add there own personality and experience to your audience.
Question and Answer Videos
When it comes to giving value there is no better way to do it than answering people’s questions. This where using YouTube to do this can be the most engaging way of answering your customers questions. This is not only a great way to answer your customers but you can also answer your employee’s questions.
There are many ways you can set up and do a Q and A show. The most popular way today to do a show like this is by gathering questions from social media or other crowd sourcing options.This will allow you to pick and choose which questions are the best to answer, set a theme for an episode, or choose questions that are not the best to answer. The other most popular way to do a Q and A show on YouTube is to do a call in show. This format may seem like a riskier option than the other style. The thing is it can be but it also can be the best option to get user feedback and make more personal connections.
Vision and Corporate Videos
When it comes to using video marketing and YouTube as a whole most companies will only use vision videos and corporate videos to try and grow an audience or a channel. The thing to take into account as important as these videos might be for your company and selling a service or a product, they are not the best community building tools. This does not mean you need to stay away from them. It just means you might have to take a different approach for them on YouTube. The thing to keep in mind with these style of videos is you are going to need make a personal connection with your audience. You are not going to get anywhere on YouTube by trying to use vision and corporate videos that are only to grow your brand or company. You need to show what your company is all about and how it can connect with your audience.
