Building Your Brand with YouTube
by Alex Badcock, VP Marketing
You Can Stand Out on YouTube
In 2014, YouTube officially became the Internet’s 2nd largest search engine. With 1 billion users and 300 hours of video uploaded every minute, standing out on YouTube might seem impossible to small and midsize businesses. But YouTube is a powerful search engine and is more and more the first place people go when they want to learn something. We “Google,” and we “YouTube” with staggering frequency. The opportunity, then, is for consistently produced, fresh, quality content. Building your brand with YouTube is a crucial step in social media positioning. With effort, small and mid-sized brands can compete with the big guys.
YouTube for Natural and Organic Skin Care
Search for “natural and organic skin care” on YouTube and you’ll get about 98,400 results. However, only 62 videos were uploaded to the Natural and Organic Skin Care channel yesterday (and just over 4000 in the month of June). Many videos are homemade– people sharing their skin care routines, talking about DIY recipes and the contents of their makeup drawers. These offer varying degrees of production value. You can watch videos from aestheticians, makeup artists, drug companies like Proactive, and plastic surgeons. There’s great content, bad content and viral content. And there’s room for your brand on YouTube.
7 Tips to Creating Fresh Content People Want to See
- Know Whose Watching.
Views, subscribers, vanity numbers, shares, comments, and all the metrics you want to tout mean nothing unless you know you’re reaching viewers who can and should buy your products. For each video, you shoot, make sure you know who you’re creating for and include specific information in your video that person is looking for and will be delighted to find– and share.
- Talk to your Audience.
Have you ever watched a video with the host looking down at their screen and not at the camera? Or talking ‘at’ the camera, not the person he thinks is going to watch the video? To create a video worth watching, look directly at the camera and then look beyond to the person you’re hoping will watch your video. Imagine talking to a person; you’ll relax, appear more confident, have more fun and get better engagement. TIP: Test yourself talking using different techniques to see what gets you the most energized.
- Write a Script. Be authentic.
People can tell when you’re no being yourself. It comes across in a video just as clearly as it does in person. Make sure you’ve got the points you want to cover and then start talking. Be conversational, be engaging.
- Be Consistent.
Consistency is better than perfection. Sure you want to have quality production values, but if logistics get in the way, change tactics. Answering your customers’ frequently asked questions in a video might be as much as you can do! Perfect. Everyone wants to know what’s important to them. Just be consistent and as engaging and authentic as you can be.
- Do your Homework.
Want to rank well in search? Want to be current and trendy? It has a lot more to do with research than it does with the perfect copy. Understand what your customers are reading. See what’s getting top ranking. Then tell your story, your way. And use keywords, tags, and good descriptions. Study the headlines and description sections of your competitors’ videos to see what people are searching for.
- Remember your Call-To-Action.
Have call-to-action that asks for what you want. Do you want sales? Ask your audience to go to your e-commerce store and take advantage of a coupon. Want shares? Ask. What comments? Ask. Want to grow your email list? Ask. You’ll be surprised at people– they’ll often do what you ask.
- Engage.
Keep current with comments and answer questions. If you ask for comments or questions, you’ll want to be sure you’re ready to follow up. Find influencers whose videos you like and comment on their videos when you have something authentic to say.
When you tackle YouTube, remember you’re in it for the long term. Be consistent. Listen to your viewers and have fun. The results will pay off over time.
Do you have a favorite YouTube channel? Check out our Essential Channel and tell us what you think. What would you like to see? What can we do better? And please, share your tips for creating great video content with the community.