Did you know that YouTube is the largest search engine after Google? Yes, TikTok may be the headline grabber, but good old YouTube has seen off other such contenders to its crown. You don’t have to be Ridley Scott to market your business on YouTube, either, because fun videos that demonstrate what you do from the grassroots up and that are not too polished can also work to excite customers about your brand.
Lots of SMEs and start-ups use YouTube to attract customers, with meet-the-team videos or how-to videos commonplace, making customers feel they are getting value and entertainment by clicking on your YouTube page, building trust in the process.
From filming a podcast to showing customers the value of your brand, you can choose to make your mark in whichever creative way you like!
You don’t need masses of budget to reach the masses. As home to many businesses here at Heathhall, read on for our top tips on why your business should probably be on YouTube.
YouTube is more than just cat videos
Hilarious cat videos aside, you could be laughing all the way to the bank by tapping into your share of YouTube’s 2.7 billion monthly active users. Time to be part of the how-to community or add to some other type of conversation. Authenticity is key here, as is you making something happen that your competitors are too busy or too daunted by.
But it does take a step-by-step approach. It’s not just a matter of grab your phone and starting filming.
What are your business goals?
The first step in using YouTube for business is to define your goals.
Is driving traffic to your website your goal? Showcasing products and services? Building trust with potential customers? Building your reputation as a touchstone for customers with questions? Someone with an expert eye and the knowledge to match among your peers?
All of the above is entirely possible, as is improving your Google search rankings. Our top tip is to drill right down to specifics when settng such goals – along the lines of ‘my goal is to gain 20 more subscribers this month’.
That’s entertainment!
Entertainment wins over dry videos with too much intention to inform. Balance is key. Sounds daunting, yes, but this goes back to the authentic thing again. If you’re yourself, it piques more people’s interest.
This is also about having confidence in your knowledge base, and the more esoteric, the better. You might have to give away one or two trade secrets, but the trade-off could be well worth it when you start seeing your traffic rocket, followed by awareness of your brand and sales too!
You could go all out with some videos on how to manage staff effectively, or cash flow, and it could prove to be especially popular if you bring something new to the table that local competitiors aren’t doing. We know that there’s nothing new under the sun, but there are less-talked-about topics that you can investigate to plug the gap.
People also love seeing all the behind-the-scenes stuff too, remember – sometimes more than the polished end result!
Keep it human and relatable
Filming equipment, lighing, microphones, etc., needn’t break the bank to make you a buck. Most influencers influence by the light of a ring and make themselved heard via a clip-on-mic, and that’s all you’ll need.
You don’t need to go all out to make a quality video that people can properly see and hear. A tripod is another good idea to keep things steady and professional. Wobbly camera shots might’ve been cool in the ’80s but customers might switch off on YouTube as soon as motion sickness kicks in.
Search that engine!
SEO is something that you may or may not have come across. It’s good to know the basics, and what better place than a YouTube turorial! As well as learn about SEO, you might pick up some tips that inform how you shoot your first/next video.
SEO is all about keywords and using the phrases in how you tag the videos and write the description, along the lines of ‘how to fix a leak‘, or ‘how to hang blinds for beginners.’
You might wish to do a search for those relevant to your business, so that you find similar videos to how yours might be in terms of content and reach, to see which words and phrases keep showing up.
Consistency is king
Like any good recipe, consistency is king. Once you make one good video, you might be itching to make the next and the next, plus your followers will also be on board for this.
But how many is too many?
Overkill can be just as bad as too few, and we recommend maybe once a fortnight, or even once a month, if every two weeks just isn’t sustainable. The worst possible thing you can do is start off all gung-ho and then suddenly, the videos stop.
To stretch out the cooking analogy a wee bit more, batch filming can work wonders too, ensuring you have all the material in the can, leaving you only the editing to do. We say, only the editing. This can be the most time intensive part.
iMovie is a good piece of editing software that’s fairly straightforward and easy to get the hang of.
Reach out to your audience
Posting the video isn’t the end of the story. Don’t forget to comment on the comments by thanking all contributors, positive and negative, and never taking criticism personally or rising to trolls. Keep it light and professional, and you will emerge the victor by winning the respect of your customers.
This is one way you turn a passing interest in your channel into a loyal follower base.
And why not ask them to subscribe to your channel as a way to sign off from your videos? A call-to-action capitalises on the feel-good factor you build up in the video on the back of interest and entertainment.
Get as much from it as you can
Make that YouTube video work for you! Once you repurpose the video, that’s when you really maximise its impact.
One of the ways you can do this is by slicing it into shorter clips for Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.
You might also wish to turn it into a blog post with some wee extra information written down that you couldn’t fit into the video. Then, all you do is embed the video in the post. The SEO gods will smile down on you for this.
You can also take stills for graphics that you can repurpose for future social media posts for a deeper dive into one particular aspect or angle
And finally, the email marketing revolution includes you making room for videos to be embedded in your email marketing newsletters etc.
A great way to work smarter
Don’t forget to track what is working and what isn’t! YouTube has built-in analytics that tell you which videos are stonking and which are honking, helping you to craft more watchable ones in future.
There’s beauty in imperfection
It doesn’t matter if your video is a bit rough around the edges because there’s beauty in imperfection. You or whoever is in front of the camera may stumble over your words, but that’s okay. The important thing is to start and not lose your nerve or interest, and build up a library of evergreen content that others will keep coming back to reference. Putting a face to your brand really can work wonders.
Experiment and have fun
You might also, in time, wish to experiment with YouTube ads to get more eyeballs on your videos, as you can target them by location, interest, demographic, etc. Always start small with a low budget to see what works best for you, and don’t forget that the data you collect can inform your organic content (the traffic you don’t pay for) strategy of the future.