YouTube for Small Business: Reaching a Wider Audience
If you’re like most small businesses, Youtube probably seems like the untouchable media platform. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram? Easy. Video? Not so much. However, YouTube is one of the most underutilized platforms to promote your business and interact with customers. If you want some tips for creating video content on a budget, check out this article! This post will focus on how YouTube fits into your online presence strategy, and how you can use the data effectively.
First, let’s talk about the opportunity. Only 9% of small businesses utilize YouTube! Compared to Instagram and Facebook, that’s nothing. On other social media platforms, especially locally, you’re competing with dozens of businesses. If you can develop a strong YouTube strategy, your competition steadily decreases. Also consider the recent changes in video marketing. Although television advertisements are still popular, it’s expensive to air a local commercial. YouTube, on the other hand, is free! If your budget for marketing is small, YouTube is the way to go.
YouTube is incredibly popular as well. Over 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day. Don’t think of it as you’ll get a slice of the pie, however. Think of it as a putting your business in front of the people. You want to be where you’ll be seen, and YouTube is a great place to gather attention.
Here are a few ideas for content and tips for running a successful YouTube Account.
Content
Indirect Association
Your video content doesn’t have to relate directly with your product or service. One great example is BlendTec. There isn’t a whole lot of exciting association with a blender. However, they have a clever series called, “Will it Blend?” Yes, the videos contain their blenders, but the real draw is seeing random things getting shredded in a kitchen appliance. In this case, it highlights the blenders capability to handle anything. Notice that their videos aren’t professionally produced, either. It’s clear they made this on a budget, but it still works great! So what if you’re a plumber, or an attorney? What if you own a small rv park? Don’t make videos telling us about your product; make videos that make us respect, enjoy, laugh at, or sympathize with your business. Make a video about law jokes. Show us at home plumbing tips. Take us on a tour of your rv park and highlight the quirks. If it’s engaging, funny, or different, users will love it.
Feature Your Customers
Video testimonials are great. They show real people enjoying your real service or product. From a customer’s perspective, it’s great to see someone who is happily associating with your business. This is one of the strengths of small business. They know the community and the community knows them. Don’t hesitate to ask your favorite customers to appear on screen. Most people eat up the chance to get in front of the camera. You may also get some great photos at the same time for your Instagram feed.
Management
Keep on top of Comments
Just like reviews, interacting with your customers comments will show that you are a proactive company. One way to gather comments is to ask people to comment in the video. If you’re sharing a top 10, ideas, experiences, ask your audience to comment their opinion or experiences.
Ask People to Subscribe
Just as you can ask people to comment, including a hyperlink box in your video promoting a subscription will help increase your following. One practice most big brands use is a little segment after the video asking people to subscribe. Jimmy Kimmel is a great example. Every video includes a little segment at the end where he asks, “Want to see more video’s like this? Subscribe to our channel!” The screen also displays a link to another one of his videos. You only need to film this once. After that, you can add it to the end of every video.
Promote on Your Social Media Platforms
Video will enhance your other social media platforms. A video is a fresh breath of air, especially after a long streak of Facebook posts and Instagram photos. Facebook will let you share a full video. Instagram only allows for a minute max. In both instances, only share a snippet of the video, and include a link to your YouTube Channel where they can watch the whole thing.
Use Your Data
Like other social media platforms, YouTube collects informative data about your channel. Data about view count over time, location of your audience, and engagement in likes and comments creates a story about your YouTube success. You can use this data to inform your decisions. Data will tell you how often to post a video, how to promote them, who is watching and where, what kind of response you receive, and your return on investment in making video content.
To learn more about our software integration with YouTube, click here.
JJUMPP is the leading innovator in Online Presence Management. Our goal is to empower small business owners and enterprises with compelling and legible data, online consistency, and positive customer interaction all from one centralized place.
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