What is YouTube?
YouTube is an online public communications site. The site allows for
registered users to upload and have available for the public their
videos for viewing.
The company, owned by Google, is based in San Bruno, California, and
uses Adobe Flash Video technology to display a wide variety of
user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and
music videos, as well as video blogging and short original videos.
Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals,
although media corporations including CBS, the BBC, UMG, and other
organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of
the YouTube partnership program.
Unregistered users can watch the videos, while registered users are
permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Accounts of
registered users are called "channels".
You can put just about anything you want on the YouTube site. You
can also watch just about anything on YouTube. There are some great
videos out there on YouTube that are very interesting and
entertaining and will never be seen anywhere else.
Why Use YouTube in Your Marketing?
There are many reasons why you should consider using YouTube along
with other social networks in your marketing strategy. For one,
YouTube now has a larger audience base than network television - and
you can create a video and post it for a fraction of the cost!
● Search engines love videos - YouTube videos are incredibly
popular and so search engines believe that searchers would
probably choose videos in the search results.
● Since Google owns YouTube - your video on YouTube is likely to
get indexed quickly.
● You can provide links to your other sites and other videos -
create your own network.
● Videos go viral - people pass on interesting videos.
● You can create/become part of a community at YouTube - people
can subscribe or become fans of your videos - every time you
upload a new video they will be informed - free automated
marketing!!
● Videos provide a richer experience, allowing you to make your
point with greater impact.
● Videos inspire trust (assuming that you are on-screen or
talking for at least part of the time).
● You can include YouTube videos in your own Web pages without
incurring massive bandwidth costs.
All organizations should be using YouTube for marketing. It
enables organizations to communicate their message through
the powerful medium of video and the use of social
networking tools, organizations can exponentially increase
their audience. Using YouTube for marketing will also
improve organic search engine rankings since search engines,
and particularly Google, the owner of YouTube, like video
content.
How to do it. . .
Many people have asked how to use video to drive traffic
to their site. A lot of people try to make it sound
more difficult than it really is. I'm not sure
why...maybe to sound smart. The truth is that it's as
easy as checking your email or reading this newsletter.
It takes the same amount of effort. Here are some basic
tips to get started with video and to use video as a way
to drive traffic. Think as if your site is a physical
location. Like the local businesses in your town..only
your online business is local to the entire world.
Think of your videos as commercials for your
business/site, just like regular commercials you see on
TV...only FREE! But here is the MAJOR difference between
using regular commercials and online video for your
business. Don't make your online videos sound too much
like a sales pitch or a commercial. People on the
internet don't want to hear that gargage. Instead of an
"old school" commercial type video, provide helpful
information to your audience..for FREE. You can plug
your business or site in the beginning and end of the
video so they know where to go to find more information.
Uploading a commercial won't fly on YouTube. You have to
be subtle, but if you are creative and not too heavy
handed and not so obviously schilling your product, you
might be able to score lots of free marketing online.
Producing an engaging video for YouTube is just the
first step in launching a successful marketing campaign
on YouTube. With 20 million viewers a month and
literally millions of videos to choose from, it's easy
to get lost in the crowd.
More to come.
