Did you know that the video-sharing site YouTube is now the world’s second-largest search engine? That could be hard to believe about a site many people might associate mainly with amusing footage of cats, but there’s plenty of promotional potential waiting to be mined from YouTube.
Right now, a large proportion of businesses using YouTube are big brands – so, if you are an SME, simply getting onto YouTube can give you a valuable head-start on many of your rivals.
It’s easy to extend your familiar branding
It all starts with your YouTube account, which you can register for free. Before uploading videos to your YouTube channel, though, make sure you extensively customise it – and with the design language you already use for other publicity channels, most obviously your website.
With your YouTube profile complete, including with a name and description of your company and artwork for the profile’s icon and banner, viewers can quickly recognise your brand on YouTube.
You can insert useful keywords, too
Titles and descriptions you attach to your YouTube videos are convenient places to insert keywords carefully chosen to attract your target customers. When coming up with keywords, ask yourself what words and phrases people might use when searching for products or services you offer.
Remember that YouTube videos can feature in Google’s own search listings, too – and that an SEO marketing package from our team could help you to determine SEO-friendly keywords if you’re stuck.
There’s a lot of scope for fresh, experimental content
Given how easily a search for content on YouTube can bring up videos posted several years ago, it’s tempting to treat YouTube as a repository of archive video material rather than, say a “vlog” to be regularly updated. However, you would succumb to that temptation at your own peril.
As well as regularly posting new content in the same way as YouTube’s best performers, you should sample various formats – such as case studies, how-tos and interviews – for your videos.
YouTube gives new videos a promotional helping hand
As soon as a new video of yours hits YouTube, you should be quick to promote that content through various channels – including the rest of the social platforms your brand uses. That’s because, in the first few weeks of its publication, the video will be given a little promotional push by YouTube itself.
That’s the YouTube algorithm at play – and it’s why, if you have a new product launch or sale lined up, heralding it with a YouTube video can be a very good idea.
Engagement can be a two-way street
It’s easy to think that YouTube is just a place where you utter your own thoughts without the viewers being able to contribute their input. However, you would be overlooking a little thing there: the comments section that can be underneath each YouTube video.
We say “can be” because it’s possible to disable comments, but we advise that you instead foster engagement by responding professionally to feedback posted below your video.
