How to Best Use the Platform of YouTube as a Social Media Marketing Tool

With around 2 billion users watching 1 billion hours of video every day, one cannot overlook YouTube as an effective social media marketing tool. The compelling nature of video marketing has helped thousands of marketers to generate leads globally.

If you haven’t already discovered the potential of YouTube to help you achieve your business goals and targets, here are some of the reasons why you should start leveraging the power of YouTube today.

Wide Audience Reach

YouTube is localized in over 70 countries and is available in 76 languages. With a large surge in the number of viewers over the years, YouTube today has a greater reach than television. 

Hence it can give your company a good exposure and help you procure audiences around the world. Not just customers, it will also help you reach out to future employees and possible clients which will ultimately lead to your growth.

Search Engine Optimization Capabilities

YouTube is, in fact, the second largest search engine on the internet today with search volume larger than that of Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and ask.com combined. With the right keywords and tags, you can attract your target audience and generate some organic traffic for your website.

Cost-Effective

You can make videos on YouTube at a fraction of a cost required for advertising on platforms such as billboards, print ads, or television commercials. You not only get to reach a wider audience but also save huge bucks for your company.

Results are Immediate and Measurable

A simple visit to your channel will reveal the performance of your channels and videos. You can also use YouTube analytics tools to gauge the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.

Youtube is Embraced Equally by B2B and B2C Marketers

Youtube is the only major social media channel that has nearly even a mix of participation. Recent research from Forbes shows that 52% of senior business executives watch videos for work purposes at least once a week.

How to Leverage YouTube to Reach Your Target Audience?

Just like with written content, video content has to be relevant to your target audience. For that, you’ll need to have an understanding of your audience. Find out what content they want, where are they based and when are they most active and strategize your content accordingly.

As you create and brand your YouTube channel, make sure to pick a name that is consistent with the name of your business. Also, don’t forget to upload the channel art that aligns with your brand’s visual identity.

The next step is to create engaging content. The success of your marketing efforts is determined by the number of viewers you attract. Below are some popular video types that will help you better in YouTube marketing.

Trailer Videos

When targeting new customers, it’s essential to introduce yourself and your business. This role is played by the trailer video. Your trailer video should be crisp and consist of three parts: Introduction, what you do, and call to action. Know more about trailer videos.

A well-crafted introduction will instil confidence in your audience about your ability to conduct your business. But it is equally important to direct your audience towards your desired action through a compelling call-to-action. 

Include details about where to subscribe in your call to action. You can also use it to redirect your audience to your blog or website.

Stats Videos

Sharing numbers make your business look organized and reliable. Citing relevant market research, or sharing your own research gives your audience the impression that you’re updated with the latest trend. 

Another benefit of using stats video for marketing is its shareability. Higher shareability translates to more traffic and higher conversion for your business. 

Sharing relevant stats in videos is not as difficult as it seems. But make sure to avoid bulky data that are difficult to fathom. Graphics and visual aids combined with a great soundtrack, will bring your data to life and impress your audience.

Testimonials

Nothing can increase the goodwill of the business better than a testimonial. You can capture testimonials yourselves or request your customers to share their experience online. You can then share the link to their videos on your channel and catapult their reach.

A testimonial that showcases your product as ‘the ultimate solution’ to a problem has the most impact on your audience. You can guide your customers to create a great testimonial, including a before and after scenario. Adding a picture of the ‘after’ is even better to establish credibility.

Q&A Video

For the answer-seeking audiences, Q&A video can be a real boon. With helpful answers, you can establish yourself as an authority in your niche. Soon people will start to reach out to you with all their problems.

‘How to’ videos

Though how-to videos are a bit difficult to create their rewatch ability makes them worth the effort. Majority of people go to YouTube to learn how to do things. 

Some Great YouTube Marketing Tools for Business

Audio Library

Every successful YouTube video is backtracked with music and sound effects to evoke the right emotions and keep the audience entertained. The YouTube audio library has a plethora of free audio tracks that you can use to set the right mood for your video content.

Fan Finder

Not everyone is interested in watching your video content. Through Fan Finder, YouTube allows you to submit free Video Ads targeted at people who are more likely to be interested in what you are offering.

Associated Website Annotations

This tool allows you to add a clickable link directly to your videos. For that, you have to verify your account first and create annotations through the creator studio.

Intro Maker

With so much content available online, holding the customer’s attention for a long time can become a challenge in itself. A good youtube intro maker can help you introduce your brand in the best possible manner and create a lasting impression.

Not all the above video styles and tools will suit your YouTube marketing strategy. Find the one that works best for you and gain the upper hand over your competitors!