4 Reasons to Add YouTube Marketing to Your Online Strategy

Here is a hint: The first reason is cats…

The internet is a place full of people looking to have their attention caught by something… anything… anything they feel is worth their time; for entertainment value, instruction, or news.

I feel like before I get into the big 4 YouTube advantages I need to debunk a big myth about YouTube videos and business. So here it is…

You don’t need to make a viral video to be successful with YouTube marketing. No babies who talk like adults. No sham-wow spoofs. No celebrity actors promoting your products in an unorthodox way… you don’t need that stuff to make YouTube a valuable tool for your business. So yeah… no cats either. I lied.

One big thing that people often forget is that YouTube is now owned by Google. Because of this YouTube is constantly improving their algorithms to put the content in front of you that you are looking for, or that you didn’t even know that you were looking for… but you were, weren’t you… *twilight zone music plays*

The point is that Google, and therefore YouTube, is getting better at guessing what you want to see based on your immediate query, your past queries, your browsing history, your shoe size, and your blood type. In fact… I bet the Google machine is watching what you are doing right now… don’t get creeped out. Or maybe get creeped out. You decide.

Right now you are probably asking yourself: “Where is he going with all this?” and “Why shouldn’t I try and make my company’s videos go viral?” and “Weren’t there 4 reasons why I should be using YouTube?” Well these are questions that I am going to do my best to answer. But if at any point during my explanation you have any questions that I don’t have an answer to, please let us know and we’ll be happy to answer any other soul searching questions you’d like!

The secret to YouTube success lies here. In no particular order of importance, but all very good reasons you should be using Google’s video-daycare:

The 4 reasons you should be using YouTube to expose your business!

1. Just look at their statistics: https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html.

With 300 hours of video being uploaded each minute, you need to be a part of this. More importantly there are 1 billion users consuming information on YouTube, and the average time each person spends watching those videos increases by 50% each year! Your audience is there. You just have to find them.

2. You will improve your visibility chances by using every platform Google offers.

Ask online marketers the number one entity where your efforts are best spent online, and unanimously they will tell you to give your efforts to Google. This means all of Google. If you look at the SERP today (Search Engine Results Page) after you Google something you will notice that it is not just all organic results with a couple ads at the top anymore. It has ads, news, instant answer cards, videos, local listings, blog posts, and several other new items taking up space. You are lucky if you see 4 or 5 traditional organic results on the first page… Unsurprisingly, you will notice that often times up to half of the results might be relevant items on Google’s many platforms.

Google+ posts or profiles, Google AdWords ads are a given, but also Google Maps items, Google Instant Answers, Google Now News Cards, and you guessed it, YouTube Video Results. The more Google platforms you use, the better your chances of showing up for a related search.

3. You will improve your quantity and quality of usable rich content.

Lets get personal here. Your site could use more engagement factors, your bounce rate is off the charts, your content is boring, your conversion rates suck. Chances are a YouTube video from your very own YouTube channel embedded here and there on your site will significantly improve bounce rates and general engagement. But tests and studies have shown that embedding a YouTube video on a lead generating landing page is almost guaranteed to increase conversion rate.

Based on a study by eyeviewdigital.com, using video on landing pages can increase conversion by up to 80%! Look around for more studies on the subject if you don’t believe me.

4. Making videos isn’t hard.

If this guy can do it, then so can you!

Viral? No. 44k views? Not too shabby, even over the course of a few years like this one. That is traffic you are missing, especially if you have real solutions to real problems that people in your demographic are looking for. Do the reasearch, find the pain points, and teach the internet a thing or two. With smartphone cameras improving their video quality all the time you really have no excuse to avoid recording something real and useful. For the love of Pete, don’t just try to force-sell them your stuff. Let them make connections to your quality products and services in a natural way.

If there is an overarching goal you are trying to reach to make your YouTube efforts effective, it is to become a non-pushy authority in your field that is generous with your abundant knowledge. If you must, add any business information or special offers in the description section when you post your video.

This brings me to my final tips and a conclusion.

Though it is easy enough to create, post, embed, and share YouTube videos, there IS a way you can do it wrong!

• Make sure you have built an organized YouTube profile, with well thought out descriptions of your business and some semblance of effort put into your profile picture/logo, header image, channels and presentation:

• Always create real text descriptions of what is in the videos when you upload them, because the title is not the only place Google looks to find the relevant video topic to offer searchers.
• Don’t be shy about sharing particularly helpful videos with online social communities, especially if they are already showing a high number of views over a short period of time.

Conclusion

If you don’t think Google plays favorites in the search results with its proprietary platforms like YouTube and Google+… then well… I don’t know what else to tell you. But chances are that putting some more of your beans in the Google basket is not going to hurt you. So use the YouTube… and use your talented employees to start making some sweet tutorials and stuff! Get em up for the world to see. Make them natural. Maybe even forget about using a script. Don’t spend thousands on third party companies to make your videos for you. Just put an every-day Joe in the frame and have him show you something neat that has made someone’s life easier. The interwebs will love you for it.