Anyone trying to market a business has heard about doing YouTube videos somewhere or some time. Typically, the instructions are just “go make YouTube videos!”
That leaves the busy business owner or marketing manager with a disgruntled feeling, because it isn’t as easy as just pressing upload on YouTube or recording a video straight into YouTube.
HOWEVER, I am here to tell you to go make YouTube videos! Let me explain myself and give you a short roadmap that will get you up and running while understanding why you are doing it!
Why YouTube Marketing Matters
As a marketer, I know the value and impact YouTube videos have. I know the statistics, why YouTube is so special, and how to manipulate YouTube quite well. I must be honest and tell you, I still didn’t do a lot of YouTube videos until 2017.
I could tell you all the reasons to do it, but I dropped the ball on our marketing. I was a busy business owner taking care of my clients, and I really let it fall to the wayside.
Earlier this year, our team decided YouTube videos were an important part of our Social Media and SEO Strategies. Yes, we would like a daily video, but if we can turn out 4-8 videos a month, we believed we would see results.
So we did, and we saw the results quickly.
YouTube Helps SEO
We are a full-service marketing firm that specializes in web marketing. This means we build websites, and we would like to rank for the term Houston web design. We decided to focus a few videos on website design or website redesign planning (which leads into a website redesign).
We created a series of videos that discussed redesigning a website and the elements you should review and plan for before you begin the process. We created a downloadable kit that we shared in the videos.
Here is where the cool part comes in. I just Googled website redesign planning kit, and we have two links on the first page. It may not be the same for you, because Google localizes results, but I’m happy with the progress.
Then, we ran a rank tracking report on our target keywords. We went from Page 4 to Page 1 for Houston Web Design in only 2 months!
The real result that you should be concerned with: the videos started showing up in the search results and quickly.
Google Owns YouTube
I think most people know this by now, but I take that for granted sometimes. Google owns YouTube, and it is the #2 search engine behind Google. In fact, there are more than 3 billion searches a month done on YouTube according to Mushroom Networks.
Google has never completely admitted that they like people that play across their networks, but let’s put this all together.
They have Google+ and rank people better that use it.
They have Google AdWords, and rank people better that use it.
They have Google Local Guides, and respond quicker to Local Guides who request changes.
It’s not necessary pay-to-play, but they love it when you contribute to their networks and assets. So why not play by their rules? We want to rank on their assets (the Google search pages) right? Posting YouTube videos can help you rank on Google.
What Does YouTube Marketing Mean?
When people say YouTube marketing, it probably has no real meaning to you right?
I hear buzz words thrown around all the time for different things, especially in marketing, and this is just another one of those terms. I’m not sure people really know what it means when they say it, but I am going to give you some background.
MY DEFINITION: Frequently and consistently posting videos on YouTube that are useful to your clients and include a concise, keyword-rich description and title on a branded channel.
This is very broad. Clients can be kids who watch surprise egg videos or business owners looking to by a $1,000 software. Frequently can mean monthly or daily. Consistency is about the only part that has no wiggle room. Whatever your posting rate is, do it consistently!
What Does This Mean to You?
To do YouTube Marketing, there are really a few steps to follow to be effective and see results.
Will you be an expert? Not at first.
Will you make a bunch of money after putting up 2 videos? No.
Will this start to build and increase traffic, prospects, and business over time? Definitely!
How Do You Get Started with YouTube Marketing?
Adspresso has created a great overview of YouTube Marketing for Beginners here. I won’t try to reproduce this guide here, but I will give you a summary of their steps:
- Create and Optimize a YouTube Account for Your Business
- Create branded channel art
- Add links and contact info to your profile
- Add a channel description
- Create/Add a featured video
- Start Making Videos
- Make videos and upload them to YouTube
- Use the Creator’s Studio / Editor to make changes to your video
- Follow SEO best practices to increase visibility for the video
- Organize and Promote Your Videos for Conversion
- Create Call-To-Actions at the end
- Create videos that answer a problem
- Create playlists
- Monetize Your Channel
- Decide if you want to show ads on your videos (maybe not good if you are business… if you are playing with my Little Pony Toys)
- Consider Advertising on YouTube
- Create videos for your ads
- Determine the Call-To-Action for your videos
- Set your budget
- Set your targeting options (MOST IMPORTANT!)
YouTube Marketing is awesome. It really can be a secret weapon for your marketing strategy, especially if you post frequently (1-2 videos / week… or more!). The more you post videos that set you up as the expert, one of the only providers of a solution, or just the best option to your local market, the more you will be found.
Statistics show people love videos. Search engine users click videos. If Google can link your video to a search term, it will show it.
We have talked about a lot of things in social media and how there is really no “free” social media marketing out there. I have to bite my tongue just a bit here, because YouTube is the closest thing to free social media marketing.
Put some time into making videos, do it frequently, and you will see an impact!
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