Youtube: A Looked Over Marketing Tool That Could Boost Results For Your Business
You probably know that social media has exploded over the last decade. From the goliaths like Facebook and Instagram to those that have been eliminated over the years like Vine and Myspace. There’s no denying the impact that social media has had on the world and in the personal lives of millions of people.
These days, there’s a lot of talk about the different platforms. Where they come from, what their purpose is, and most importantly, how to use them. Some say they remain on these platforms to catch up with family or be involved with their community, and while these answers are realistic, they’re not why businesses from all over the world flock to use such tools. And yes, these platforms are just that, tools.
From here, I’m going to dive into one specific platform that is often overlooked by businesses: YouTube.
This Platform Is A Personal Favorite Of Mine.
A video hosting website, YouTube allows users to upload their own personal content with very few restrictions. As a new platform released to the public on February 14th, 2005, YouTube first had very little content on it. More importantly, nothing like it existed.
In the beginning, there were only a few videos, but it soon exploded and opened up an incredible amount of opportunity. Careers were made by simply videoing the daily lives of what we now call ‘influencers.’ Recording yourself playing a game on the computer, filming a makeup tutorial, and even capturing how to make odd things like slime were now actual options for a person to make money.
A quick skip to today, YouTube is a massive platform with a staggering two billion active monthly users.
Read that again: two billion.
Now, this is great and all, but how do you use YouTube to grow your business?
Well, think of it like this: your business grows when people buy your product or service; they only buy into you because they’ve found you SOMEWHERE. So, in the simplest terms, the more places you are, the easier it is to find you and thus, easier to buy into your company.
…But that’s not YouTube specific, that’s just common marketing. YouTube is unique, as are all the other social platforms in the fashion that there is no gatekeeper.
You don’t have to impress anyone to be able to access those two billion active viewers. They’re just there, spending their time viewing content that’s relevant to them.
Now, imagine you create a video showing off your product or service in a fun, creative way. The video gets 100 views from users who are searching for similar products or services. That might seem like a tiny amount of views compared to the accounts that get millions but think of it as 100 people in a room who are actively listening to your pitch on your service or product.
That’s incredibly valuable.
Even if out of 100 people, just one person subscribes to your channel – not only is that a potential customer, but that’s someone who enjoyed your business’ content so much that they want to come back and see what you’ll put out next. Best of all, it cost you nothing but the time required to make the video.
It’s something that works with every single industry as well.
This platform isn’t exclusive. Let me give you some examples:
Barber: Videos of new trends and how to style hair
Clothing Shop: Videos of people trying it clothes on, products in the store, and even out on the street
Consulting Firm: Videos of some of your most asked questions and most common problems
Photographer: Educational videos on how to take photos
Now, this may seem like you’re giving a lot away for free, and in some cases, you are; you’re giving away the answers to FAQs or knowledge on a subject that you usually charge for. BUT you’re proving to your growing audience that you KNOW what you’re talking about, and so they return for the next video you put out and the next.
Growing your audience and their approval for your business for when the time comes that your audience needs your product or service is key to increasing your revenue because they know they can trust you and that you know what you’re doing.
Remember, that’s a lot of value from posting a couple of videos every once in a while, and YouTube makes all of this possible.
Are you ready to take the leap and see what all videos have to offer?