There has been an increase in the usage of social media all over the world in past few years. Each of these social media has their own advantages and therefore none can be ignored, be it Facebook, Twitter, interest, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram, Stumbleupon or Quora; the list goes on. One important name we missed out in the above list is that of YouTube, in fact, many people overlook YouTube, when it comes to capturing their intended audience. In fact, YouTube provides the best platform for uploading and sharing videos, whether personal or professional.
How to Get Started
One needs to setup his YouTube channel to start with. You will also require a good camera for the purpose. Videos shot by mobile phones may be good for sharing on whatsapp, but when it comes to your brand identity, always use a professional camera. Your product deserves to be displayed in high quality video and not as a mobile footage.
What to Post on YouTube?
One can use YouTube to the maximum advantage. For E.g., if you want to advertise your restaurant, you could make videos of the restaurant’s ambience, food preparation, guests being served, as well as customer reviews. The kinds of videos differ according to the kind of business you are into.
Ways to Engage Your Audience
Now that you have shot a video and want to upload it in your channel, let’s talk about its promotion. How do we draw more people to your YouTube channel. There are a lot of methods in which you can attract an online viewership or subscribers.
Create a Buzz on Company’s Social media pages: You can create a buzz of the upcoming video on social media - prior to uploading it online. Create banners or teasers about it, and post them on social media to generate curiosity. Ask questions!
Getting the Audience Feedback: Then, once the buzz is created, post the video. Ask the audience for a feedback on the social media as well as YouTube Page. Follow it up by acknowledging their replies and keep the conversation going on continuously.
Find out who is your top referrer on YouTube channel: Use the ‘referral header’ tool from YouTube to see which website gives you most data, plan your marketing strategy accordingly (for future advertising on these websites). Also analyze the kind of videos also that referrer likes. One website may give referrals to certain types of video only. Don't assume that the top referrer of one particular clip will refer all other clips, it is not so.
Promote your YouTube videos: Ask viewers to subscribe to your channel. It may appear foolish to do so; however it works! Also ask for comments on your video.
Stationary and Branding: Do a bit of branding to prep up your product. Add the YouTube channel link to all your stationary like business card, letterhead, email signatures, business collaterals like brouchures. Add the YouTube link to your website and social media pages like Facebook, Twitter,etc.
Give Away Gifts: You could try this to kickstart your campaign. Ask a weekly question about your product on your YouTube channel. Give away gifts for the first ten correct answers. The gifts don’t have to be costly, they could be stationary items with your company’s branding.
Use SEO Techniques: One cannot to lose out on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Login to YouTube; use its tools and to provide the relevant title, description and tags to the video. According to your budget, you can even hire a SEO expert to do it for you.
Register in Search Engines: Register your Youtube channel with major search engines like Yahoo, Bing & Google. This again helps in SEO.
Ask Friends and Relatives to Share your video: You can ask your friends and relatives to like and share the videos in their social media circles.
Team up with YouTube partners: You can get more people to visit the your page by partnering with other YouTube partners.
Paid Advertising: Consider Paid advertising on Facebook or Google Ad Sense, this will bring a lot more traffic to your page.
Conventional Advertising: To go hand in hand with online promotions, you may advertise your company and it’s related social media in the old fashioned way. You can place an advertisement in the daily newspaper, issue press releases, talk to friends in the media about getting published. You can also have pamphlets printed and have them distributed as newspaper inserts.
Think Out of the Box: Your company or product videos don’t necessarily have to be boring. Your product videos can also be funny, you can plan your video content in such a way that it goes viral.
A successful and frequently visited YouTube channel can definitely turn around a company’s fortune, it all depends on your creativity and how you promote your channel.
