Being the second most frequented search engine in the world and boasting 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube is a powerful marketing channel. YouTube is a unique platform in that is a search engine and a social network – and with so many pairs of eyes watching some 1 billion hours of content per day, it’s hard to overlook the channel in a content marketing strategy.
YouTube is far more than a video platform for entertainment value; increasingly the site has become a primary destination for users of all ages to find out more about particular products and services, to learn, to feel inspired and to discover new things.
With YouTube’s immense reach and traffic, it may surprise you to learn that some 45% of marketers still discount YouTube in an omnichannel marketing strategy. Not sure if YouTube can help grow your business and brand exposure? This blog is here to help you decide!
Is YouTube marketing right for my business?
While it’s possible to get YouTube ad space via the Google Display Network, it’s not quite the same as going all in and using the channel as an owned content marketing vehicle for your business. Of course, like making all marketing decisions for your business, it’s important to look at the data of your target audience and assess if YouTube is right for you. Does your target audience frequent the channel? Are they avid consumers of content? Are they eager to convert and take action after watching a video?
If the answers to the above are a resounding ‘yes’, then the next step is to look at your resourcing. Creating video content needn’t be all-consuming, but if you want quality content that converts you’ll need to put in the time and effort. This is where outsourcing production of content and putting together a respective marketing strategy might be the most time-saving and cost-effective option to get the results you want.
Want some help with video content and strategy? Get in touch for a free consultation!
The best part about outsourcing video production is that you can use all that video content in various ways, whether you choose to embed the content on your site, or edit it down into bite-size chunks to share on other social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This should further bolster your marketing performance as video consumption continues to grow – so much so that, according to research from Cisco, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022.
YouTube versus Vimeo
When looking for a platform to house your video content it’s likely that you’ll face the ‘YouTube vs Vimeo’ debate. While both platforms have their merits (Hubspot sums them up nicely), we recommend YouTube over Vimeo if content marketing is the aim of the game. YouTube is a part of the Google family, and as such videos on the platform tend to rank better on search results pages. YouTube is a crowded market so it’s understandable that brand visibility may be a concern, but for SEO it definitely leads the pack. That said, many business also opt for a Vimeo channel too so that they have a better chance of getting eyes on their brand in a less competitive content space.
Explore the playing field
As with any other content or marketing play, a good tactic is to look at what your competitors are doing. Learn from their content and find ways to build on it to stand out and grow your audience share. Are there any audience questions that still haven’t been answered yet? Identify content gaps and brainstorm engaging ways that you can share that messaging with your audience.
Optimise your YouTube content
Remember, YouTube is a search engine, so optimisation is imperative if you want your content to be discovered by your audience. The YouTube recommendation algorithm determines 70% of what people watch on the platform.
Here’s an optimisation checklist for your YouTube content:
- Create a concise eye-catching title (without sounding like clickbait, otherwise your audience will just click away!)
- Create a captivating custom thumbnail – include some text with the video’s title or subject matter so your audience can determine what your video is about in the shortest amount of time possible.
- Ensure your video includes subtitles and closed captions as it will include keywords and will also make your video as accessible as possible.
- Make sure your video description includes keywords. While the character limit has a 1,000 character limit, don’t feel like you need to use all that space. If anything, try and keep all your information to one or two sentences so that key information is visible without users clicking ‘Show more’.
- Use tags to let viewers – and YouTube! – know what your video is about. Make sure you choose tags relevant to your video rather than tags you think are going to drum up more views.
- Choose a category for your video when you upload it (you can find categories under “Advance settings”), so that your video will appear with similar content and has a better chance of being watched by the most relevant audience.
While the effort in creating YouTube content seems like a lot, the payoff really is worth it. If you need help working out how your business could benefit from the platform or you need a team to create some content, get in touch!
