How YouTube Can Serve As a Marketing Platform For Small Businesses

As businesses look for new ways to market their products, many are looking to video on the internet as a way to display their services. While TikTok and Facebook are each valid options, and each is being used on a more frequent basis, YouTube is still a preferred choice when it comes to incorporating video into a marketing campaign. It can be confusing trying to figure out the best methods to use video as a marketing device whether you are well-established or just starting out. However, adding a video campaign to other existing channels is a relatively easy process.

Why YouTube?

To start understanding marketing on YouTube, it helps to know why it has become a popular option for businesses to use. For starters, YouTube has become the internet’s second-largest search engine, with only Google ahead of them. A look at the numbers reflect the increased popularity of the site in recent years:

• 81% of Americans used YouTube in 2021
• More than 1 billion unique visitors to the site each month
• 6 billion hours of video are watched every month

Benefits of YouTube Marketing

Video marketing has become a necessary part of the digital marketing landscape. In a recent survey, 59% of executives said that they preferred watching a video in comparison to reading blocks of text. This has led to companies incorporating more video into their web presence as well as marketing strategies. The benefits of using YouTube are plentiful for businesses of all sizes. Some of these include:

• Additional presence on Google. With Google’s Universal Search, videos appear alongside traditional and paid search results, which adds increased visibility. With higher-quality content on a company’s website as well as complimentary videos, a business listing can be seen by more people.
• Re-purpose owned content. With video as an option, written content that was previously created by a business owner can be repackaged into a variety of formats, all using video. From a full video shoot to a slide-based presentation that can be converted, there are numerous opportunities to transform items that have already been built and update them for a newer audience.
• Increased audience promotion. Researchers indicate that having a video that speaks to an offered product or service listed on a landing page can increase traffic leads. In addition, satisfied customers can link directly to the video when describing an experience with a company, further increasing ad visibility.

Incorporating SEO in Youtube Video

As with any marketing platform, operating with YouTube comes with its share of best practices to increase ad visibility. From an SEO standpoint, the site makes it easy to optimize content for the most optimal results. Starting with a title and the description, adding relevant keywords within each allows for specific items that a company most wants to have searched to be displayed prominently. Links to services that are mentioned in the video can also be added to the description.

From there, a video can be tagged by highlighting the main keywords. Using tags also allows your video to be associated with similar clips, which can further increase views. You can also select a category that will group your video with other related content. Other options for SEO usage include additions of subtitles and closed captions as well as end screens.

Types of Videos to Create

One of the main perks of enabling video with advertising is that there is no limit to the type of content that can be created. Depending on what you want to highlight, a video can be customized to meet different tones, focus on specific elements of your business, and much more. Some of the more popular video types include:

• Customer Testimonials, which are usually short-form interviews with users satisfied with a business.
• Tutorials, where a product or service is explained in detail. These types of videos also work well when introducing a new product.
• Live Broadcasts, which allow for a business to do a presentation live and in real-time. By going live, a video maker can also do direct feedback or answer questions from viewers.
• Leader Interviews, where someone talks to a known leader in a specific industry, can add credibility in that field.

Conclusion

Adding YouTube, or any other video presence, to an advertiser’s marketing campaign can lead to an increase in visibility, search traffic, and when done right, profitability. Knowing the correct steps and the best practices to use when creating a video serves as the perfect complement to traditional methods such as search engine optimization. They also have the ability to increase engagement with subscribers and viewers, adding even more opportunities for enhanced visibility.