YouTube is the fastest growing social media platform, with over a billion unique visitors each month (Nielsen, 2014). Because of its reach, YouTube is fast becoming the preferred channel for businesses to engage with consumers.
However, it’s not just about video marketing anymore: YouTube has become an indispensable tool for brand building and online product marketing.
If you want your brand to stand out in today’s crowded marketplace, then YouTube is one of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal. Why? The answer boils down to 4 Cs: content, connecting, community and commerce.
Here are 8 reasons why brands should use YouTube for product marketing (and how you can make 4x more money!)
1. Create Awesome Content to Engage Your Audience and Tell a Compelling Story
The most compelling brands have built their reputations on strong content, whether that’s an awesome product or service, a staff member who is intriguing or entertaining in some way (like Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman), or a freaky one-of-a-kind location (think the Museum of Ice Cream).
If you want your brand to stand out from the crowd and be remembered by consumers, it needs to produce awesome content. The great thing about YouTube is that it provides all the tools you need for creating amazing visual storytelling.
Best of all, it doesn’t have to be expensive! With a little bit of creativity and elbow grease, any brand can go far.
2. Use YouTube to Connect with Consumers on a Deeper Level
Why do some brands engender loyalty and love from their customers? It’s because they’ve made the transition from product provider to service owner—they’ve gone beyond offering products and now provide an experience that consumers enjoy.
Think of Apple, Virgin Airlines, or Trader Joe’s –their clients become fans who connect with them on a personal level. And the best way to build a close relationship with your audience is through honest, authentic content.
3. Make Your Brand Accessible for Consumers in Real-Time Anywhere & At Anytime
Today’s consumer has more access to information than ever before, so businesses have learned that they need to be as accessible as possible.
That means that they need to provide consumers with instant information and experiences. Fortunately, YouTube offers many tools for doing this: live-streaming capabilities, video updates, contextual links within videos, comment functionality, and more.
Not only can you connect with your customers in real-time on YouTube, but the platform also gives you access to valuable consumer data through Google Analytics (more on that below).
4. Use Content Strategy to Reach the Right People at the Right Time
Content strategy is a marketing concept that involves creating content –both multimedia and text –that’s catered specifically to different groups of consumers depending on their preferences.
It allows brands to speak directly to specific audiences based on their needs. Because YouTube is one of the most used channels for authentic communications with consumers, it’s a great place to put the content strategy into play.
5. Enable Your Best Employees to Become YouTube Stars
YouTube is the new stomping ground for talent. Some of the most highly sought-after candidates for job opportunities are YouTubers (think: The Slow Mo Guys). Why?
Because they have huge followings that broadcast their favorite brands, they can make companies more money through brand promotion and product sales than traditional celebrities can.
And while many companies want to work with such influential individuals, they’re often taken aback at how expensive it is! So why not benefit from these popular creators without breaking the bank?
Start this process by encouraging your best employees to develop a following and give them all the support they need.
6. Create an Educational Channel that Provide Value to Potential Customers & Boosts Your SEO
Google has made it clear: Web optimization is a crucial factor in how brands rank on Google searches. And because of this, businesses are scrambling over themselves to figure out how to get their content as high up on search result pages as possible. One of the simplest ways to do this? YouTube videos!
The channel lends itself pretty well for providing valuable educational information about your products or services, which can then be shared with customers via links from other social networking channels like Facebook and Twitter (which can provide more traffic).
As a bonus, you also get additional backlinks embedded on your YouTube channel page, which also boosts SEO!
7. Use Effective Annotations to Maximize the Reach of your Video Content
Annotations are a great way to get more views on your videos –they serve as complementary content meant to encourage viewers to engage with your video in different ways.
The annotations can be clickable links that will lead YouTube users directly to other parts of your website or even landing pages you’ve created specifically for social media campaigns.
They’re also interactive and autoplay when someone is watching the video, so they’re perfect for encouraging people who wouldn’t otherwise mindlessly skip ads.
8. Use Data Analytics from Google Search Console to Perfect Future Marketing Campaigns
When it comes down to it, data is what winning marketers thrive on. It’s the fuel that fires their creativity and makes them want to succeed.
It allows them to understand better how best to reach customers and engage with them when it matters most: during key marketing moments like product launches, product/service announcements, major industry events, or even natural disasters.
And Google Search Console –formerly known as Webmaster Tools –has a ton of data about lots of these things.
You just have to ask for it! This tool will allow you access to basically any piece of information you need…as long as you can identify what it is that you want to know.
The Advantages of YouTube Can Be Yours
YouTube has become a crucial part of the modern digital marketing experience. It’s a platform that makes it easy for brands to get their message out there, and its user base is expanding every day.
It’s also (relatively) cheap to use, so you can make sure your budget doesn’t take an unnecessary beating. And if you’re not getting the return on investment that you want, it’s because you’ve been doing things wrong.
Just look at some of these tips and tricks we’ve shared today: they’ll help any business reap the rewards that come from working with this powerful social media channel!
