Messages that traveled through books and newspapers, then went on to radio and television, not to mention other formats that existed in between, and finally reached the Internet.
Today, the Internet seems to be able to act as the press, radio and, above all, television. This is because it has begun to produce and disseminate informative, educational and entertainment content, capable of attracting different types of audiences.
In addition to this, the Internet has the intention of adapting to man’s need to build communities, even if they are digital. Hence, social networks emerge.
Among these networks we find Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , YouTube. Each of them appears at a specific moment in the communication revolution and has a characteristic capable of acting as traditional means of communication. With the advantage that they expand in greater quantities and at a faster rate.
For this occasion, we will learn more about one of these networks: YouTube.
About YouTube
YouTube is here to compete with television, which seemed to be the queen and pioneer of communication with moving images. The incomparable one, the one with the highest numbers, the one with the perfect campaigns.
Today, new consumers are being educated by moving images rather than text or other information resources. They are also looking for media and platforms that allow interaction and two-way communication, where they can not only express their opinions, but also produce and receive comments.
So, if you are interested in knowing how to become part of a new generation of consumers, continue reading this article in which we will talk about YouTube and marketing.
What is YouTube
YouTube has a short definition:
It is a website that acts as a platform where users have the possibility to upload and share videos.
It has a wide variety of topics and formats of such videos, ranging from movie clips, TV shows, vlogs, music videos, among many others.
Once upon a time
It was created on February 15, 2005 in California, by designer Steven Chen and engineers Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, three former Paypal employees.
Motivated by the desire to present a simple story that could sell itself in the market, the members established that the idea of the platform arose from the difficulties they experienced when trying to share videos taken during a party in San Francisco.
Beyond the veracity of the story, it eventually made sense.
The site was activated on that date, but it was not until April 23, 2005 that it was launched with the first video uploaded: Me at the Zoo.
It didn’t take long for the creators to realize that users were uploading all kinds of videos there, even beyond personal experiences.
After the story, the reality
Soon, traffic skyrocketed as YouTube links began to be shared on users’ MySpace pages. This development, and many others, gave YouTube the impetus to continue growing.
In October of the same year, YouTube faced a new challenge involving brands , as Nike decided to publish an advertising spot starring Ronaldinho there. From this moment on, large companies began to feel attracted to this platform.
By May 2006, YouTube was already reaching 2 billion views per day, and by mid-August it was beginning to hit 7 billion.
It had become the tenth most visited site in the United States, even despite the legal problems it was already facing over intellectual property issues since its early appearance.
Because of this problem and others, it was thought that only a fool would think of buying YouTube. I would say that rather, a fool without vision or strategy would not dare to buy it. In October 2006, it was acquired by none other than Google Inc.
YouTube, the communication platform
Television has been, for the end of the last century and for a large part of this one, the preferred medium for information and communication. Its potential was due to the great distances it was able to cover and the faith that people placed in it regarding the veracity of what it imparted.
However, television today is an unaffordable medium; only large companies are able to meet the costs required for communication through this medium.
Fortunately, the Internet has brought the possibility of communication to levels perhaps greater than television, with costs cut by half, by a third, by a fifth, sometimes by zero.
What did you achieve with this?
Let people take the voice of information. Now it is the user who has the power.
Nowadays, with technology becoming more and more accessible, people have the ability to overwhelm the entire world with what they have to say, regardless of the format, because nothing is a limit anymore.
Therefore, YouTube was originally conceived as a space that would allow people to create their own content. Its popularity and attraction were such that brands soon became willing to be part of it.
Communication platform for brands
In 2007, advertising videos began to abound on the platform. Videos lasting 15 to 30 seconds and others in pop-up style for companies that requested them.
That’s right, YouTube has managed to transcend from publishing videos without any apparent promotion, to being a totally necessary platform for commercial communication.
A special place for artists, politicians and businesses.
It is the platform that promotes the most innovative and viral campaigns, thanks to the touch of history and/or story that is implanted in the videos.
We cannot forget that consumers today are attracted by brands and communications that seek to involve them and give them experiences and positive impacts on their satisfaction not only in terms of consumption but also information.
There is another reason why YouTube is so popular with consumers and successful in communication: it is available for mobile playback.
Image and interactivity are essential for establishing links. YouTube is a great social network that achieves the essential interaction between image, creativity, storytelling and quality to achieve virality and participation.
Now we’re also moving from calling it a video platform to a video marketing platform.
Example of brands on YouTube
Video marketing is a crucial tool for marketing strategies in companies.
People access all kinds of information, and when it comes to videos, they only establish the preferred content to be consumed by the new generations.
Below, check out a couple of brands that have embraced YouTube communication.
Red Bull
An energy drink company that associates its products with the agility and energy of both athletes and sportspeople.
The brand develops marketing strategies on YouTube, repeatedly showing what the lifestyle that the brand manages is like.
His channel has more than 4 million followers and has reached one billion views in the 6 years it has been on the platform.
Their videos have content well-targeted for sports lovers and are full of athletes, adventurers and other practitioners of extreme physical activity.
PlayStation
PlayStation is the leading video game console in the world market and its YouTube channel is considered one of the best.
That’s why it’s a good place to learn how to do YouTube marketing. It has over 3,000 videos available and around 4 million followers eager for the game tips, reviews, and other fair information that the public wants to receive.
Just because they are big companies with huge budgets doesn’t mean that we, with our businesses still afloat, can’t do something like this. On the contrary! What really costs and counts is creativity.
Ah! That’s right, creativity with functionality for my audience, my brand and my market category.
Youtube and marketing
Why use YouTube in your marketing plan?
In some ways this question has been gradually resolved in the previous points, however, it is totally valid to return to it!
Get ready because video will dominate by 2017, according to Business Times . In the next year, there will be 3 trillion minutes of video on the internet. It will be the first time in history that video will be the number one source of online traffic.
According to figures from YouTube itself, 2 billion videos are played in a single day, so marketing on this platform is not only an excellent idea but also a great opportunity for the promotion of any company.
And even more incredible, being a member of YouTube improves your brand’s positioning in Google searches. Do you remember that Google had acquired it years ago? Well, thanks to this, YouTube is currently the second most used search engine on the Internet.
Videos have become a very effective resource in the online environment, so essential are they now that they contribute to optimal SEO positioning . What this means:
- Greater chances of appearing among the first results.
- Greater ease for your content to be shared.
- Lower content abandonment rate = longer viewing time
- Generate engagement
- Also remembrance
- Major traffic sources
- Greater possibilities of linking to direct sales of products
Besides
With interesting videos on YouTube, you can attract the attention of your target audience. You can use them:
- Practical tips
- Conferences
- Talks
- Creative videos that fulfill an explanatory function
It has been proven that having a YouTube marketing strategy brings large amounts of leads to your business .
On the other hand, videos are more dynamic content than a blog or even other social networks. And, by providing higher levels of satisfaction in users, the result will translate into a positive feeling towards the brand and, ultimately, into economic benefits for the company.
Marketing on YouTube is probably the best way to differentiate yourself from your competition today . You can receive free visits from the second largest search engine and also take advantage of the relationship between YouTube and Google to be able to appear in excellent positions with your videos in the results of Google itself.
Before you jump in
It is certainly tempting to use YouTube, but before that, let’s get down to earth!
Like any strategy, it requires prior questions and detailed planning. As a first step, we must clarify our ideas and be clear about the objectives we would like to achieve with an audiovisual campaign.
It is important to note that not all businesses get the same results when uploading a video to the platform. The first thing to do is to analyze whether the company’s activity can be shown through images. Well, it is not always possible.
Then, you have to think about the following points:
How to know if I need a YouTube account
As mentioned, the answer depends on the type of business we have, the content we want to build, our objectives and our audience. Not to mention budgets, future plans, time capacity, among others.
It should also be noted that people come to YouTube to watch the videos they like. In other words, they are not looking for advertising or commercial information .
This means that in order to be successful on the platform with our brands, we must follow the audience’s behaviour patterns. Only content that offers the right dose of information and entertainment will allow us to increase our reputation.
However, if the content we want to disseminate is very specific, it is better to choose not to have a presence on YouTube, since we will not achieve a large number of followers.
So, let’s ask ourselves, would people watch videos related to our industry? Does my business have ways to educate and entertain my user through videos? If so, we should definitely be part of the platform.
Budget and video equipment
This point is one of the biggest concerns when deciding to join a video platform like YouTube. It is worrying because we think about how much money we will need to invest to have good equipment.
Previously, it was complicated and very expensive to launch a marketing strategy with videos.
Good news though! There is no need for huge budgets, as technological advances have made production costs much cheaper.
Video cameras are inexpensive and if you carry a high-end smartphone, you can probably produce HD videos with your phone!
As you can see, there is no need to complicate things if you do not yet have enough money to generate a whole video team; however, it is essential to have a clear, original and interesting message to transmit . You also need to know how to promote it to reach good audience numbers.
My audience’s needs
This is perhaps one of the most important points. Who is the person you would target with the video?
Do your research on your audience. Would they be willing to invest their time in watching your videos?
What type of audience is it? Sending a message to new customers is not the same as sending a message to regular users of the brand.
Define objectives to be carried out with respect to this.
So… It’s time to create an account!
Once you’ve gotten past the affirmations filter, it’s time to create an account!
Sign up
To register on the website: www.youtube.com I recommend you have a Gmail email account . With this email, you will shorten the creation steps.
Login
Once you have your Gmail email, go to Login and enter your email and password.
Create a channel
Go to the top left corner and expand the options. Select My Channel.
Since the channel will appear with your personal name, change your name to that of your business or brand in the boxes.
And that’s it! You’ve created your YouTube channel.
Now what can you do?
Customize the channel
Just as you take care of the appearance of your office or your premises, or even that of your other social networks , if you have them, you must also personalize and take care of the appearance and configuration of your channel.
The channel’s aesthetics should match the visual line you use in the rest of your communication: business cards, brochures, stationery, website, among others.
- Give the channel a description:
Tell your audience who you are, what kind of videos and content they will find there. Highlight the most important things and be concise.
- Links:
Add links to the websites and networks you have a presence on. This will help people who visit your channel to contact you directly.
- Icon and logo:
Choose an image that meets what your brand needs to communicate.
- Cover image:
Just like on Facebook , having a header image is important for communicating with the user.
- Upload a video!
You can start by making a welcome video for your users. You can even set the video to be shown only to those who have not subscribed to your channel so they can learn about who you are, what you do, and what you have in store for them.
Remember: be yourself!
Planning the video
Of course, just as we have been talking about YouTube as a strategy, your videos must be created with the same thought: as strategies. Therefore, they require step-by-step planning before being published, and more importantly, before being created.
What will they contain?
How will they be carried out?
Start by creating a shooting plan, write down the topics you will cover in them, even plan an editorial calendar for the videos and you will see how production becomes easier.
Video formats
One thing to keep in mind when creating videos is the format. Below you will find out which ones YouTube accepts:
.AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)
.3GP (Cell phones)
.MOV (Mac)
.MP4 (iPod/PSP)
.MPEG or .MPG (Motion Pictures Experts Group)
.FLV (Adobe Flash)
.SWF (Shockwave Flash)
.M4V (h.264)
.WMV (Windows Media Video)
Once you know what to post and have your video ready, upload it!
Upload a video:
From the top right, you can upload a video in a simple and intuitive way.
You can, in this option, upload a recording directly from your computer’s camera.
Choose the video you want to upload by browsing through the window that is created when you click.
Once your video is online, include:
- Select keywords
- Give your video a title
- Write a description for him
- Call to action annotations for users to comment
- Create labels
- Give your video a category
- Choose the thumbnail image that will represent your video
And… let’s get to work!
Communicate your video
There’s no point in creating a great video if you don’t promote it, so:
- Put your social networks to use
- Add the video to related lists so more people can see it.
- Get likes
- Always participate and respond to comments
- Promote your videos on your website or in email campaigns
YouTube also has a tool: Fan Finder or follower search engine so you can advertise your channel.
Posting hours
Research the best times to post your videos, based on your audience’s interest. The impact of your content will not be the same if you post it when most of your followers are online or not.
Tools like SocialBro can help you figure out the best time for you.
Also learn about posting times on other social networks .
In short, planning, creating and recording the video is only the first part of the task, but for it to become an effective communication tool and for it to reach people, you must take care of all the aspects that encompass the public appearance of your video.
Show the search engines, YouTube and Google, that you are willing to play by their terms and make your video content exceptional.
What matters is the content
It is necessary to publish videos on YouTube that people really want to watch. It is necessary to repeat this idea over and over again, because ultimately that is where the success of any action lies, especially when it comes to digital marketing .
A good way to get people to follow you and be interested in watching your content is to adapt the following existing video formats to your way of communicating:
Tutorials
“How to do…”
We are living in the era of: Do it yourself; that doesn’t mean that many people don’t like to follow instructions. On the contrary, take advantage of the space in your video to teach step by step something related to your business category.
Advertisements
You can even resort to paying to have your spain mobile database video featured in the platform’s advertising. This will increase your overall view count and will position your channel higher in terms of traffic.
But that’s not the only option. You can start sharing the video yourself on your social networks, in the comments on other related videos, on your website, and more.
Stories
Create creative stories related to your brand.
Learn more about how to create stories about your brand that interest your audience at this link: Storytelling .
Creativity without borders
There are as many ways to make videos as there are ways to make content . It’s just a matter of using your ideas to your advantage.
You can make videos that talk about:
- Tips
- Anecdotes
- Ways to consume what you offer
- Advantages and disadvantages
- About updates
- Other sites and references of interest to your audience
- Demonstratives
- Testimonials
- Among many others.
Always keeping in mind that the video you make is appropriate for each case in your communication stage.
Check out this link to learn how to awaken your creativity when communicating with your audience: What is creativity .
Improve the relevance of your channel
One of the most important aspects of the by offering a diwali-themed reward you visibility of your videos is the relevance of your channel. The more relevant it is, the better the positioning.
These are the aspects to take into account that improve the relevance of your channel:
- Number of videos published.
- Number of subscribers.
- Total number of plays.
- Total minutes of video played: Try to keep them short and keep the viewer’s attention for the entire duration of the video.
- Number of likes on your videos: Engage with viewers and use annotations to make calls to action, inviting viewers to like, comment or share the video if they enjoyed it.
- Frequency of new videos published.
- Age of the canal.
- External links to your channel from social networks, blogs, other websites, etc.
That’s right! Never let quantity compromise your quality.
Don’t let the situation where you try to do too much, but do too little happen to you.
He who receives advice grows old
- Plan: clarify your ideas and objectives
- Monitor your goals
- Be consistent
- Quality will lead users to believe in you
- Interact
- Don’t stop spreading the word
To action
YouTube is not a new channel, nor a current phenomenon; what is different about the platform is the inclination and preference of the users who browse there. Consumers are increasingly demanding and are prepared for any stimulus, thanks to the fact that just as you produce for them, they can produce for you.
The impact of YouTube is strong and for brands it is beginning to become a reality in their business model.
YouTube, as a platform that hosts betting email list videos, ends up being a channel where emotions flow, fuel for virality, the future of a new press, radio and television, and high levels of added value for businesses, something that should not be wasted.
Start telling your story on YouTube!
Have you ever thought about doing this? Do you have a YouTube channel that you would like to share with us here?
