10 Ways To Use YouTube Video Marketing To Promote Your Business

In this article I want to demystify some of the tactics best used for optimal YouTube video marketing to empower your business online in the web 2.0 world! Although there are many great techniques to help get you higher views and engagement, I’m going to touch on 10 important points that I feel are non-negotiable when promoting your videos online.

Pick Your Niche

Those who are most successful with their YouTube video marketing campaigns thrive in a specific niche. Do your best to narrow your niche as much as possible or else risk struggling to cut through the noise. If you’re a doctor or lawyer, focus on your specialty (e.g. Dermatology or divorce law) and position your channel to project that very clearly. If you know your demographic well, the rest is plug and play. You need to show all the signs of being the “perfect place” for the solution you are trying to provide.

Brand Your Channel

Once you’ve got your channel setup, you will want to get a personalized vibe that matches your brand. Have a consistent image between all your social media profiles and your website. You want people to know they are in the right place once they’ve got there and familiarity is your friend in this department. Don’t forget that your YouTube video marketing plan should work in conjunction with your overall online and social media marketing plan.

Always Put Links In Your Video

You’ll be surprised at how many people will go to your web site because of links displayed in your videos. Video marketing is hands-down the most effective way to spread your message as it produces consistently high levels of engagement. The catch, of course, is that your content must provide high value. There is an average of 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link, which leaves a big opportunity for you to be one of the (roughly) 576,000 tweets a day containing YouTube links.

YouTube Annotations

Annotations can be extremely effective in increasing engagement in your YouTube video marketing strategy. Try not to pollute your video with too many but rather use them for effective reminders and a call to action. Simple instructions like asking for a thumbs-up, to subscribe or share the video will typically yield the highest levels of engagement. Experiment with the many options YouTube annotations have to offer, you’ll be surprised at how flexible they are.

Keywords – Put them in your title, description and tags

YouTube video marketing is a great tool in your arsenal for SEO so spend the time to choose the best keywords possible. Your chosen keyword(s) should be in the title, description and tags.

Choose the Best Thumbnail Possible

Your thumbnail is almost like your video’s first impression. The thumbnail is what catches users eyes when it’s sitting in the “Suggested Videos” sidebar and determines whether or not it will be clicked. The title of your video is extremely important as well but there are many videos with millions of views and a poor title. The reason why? An irresistible thumbnail!

Create Great Content, Not Commercials

As with any form of social media, commercials and blatant advertising are not welcomed. If you want to promote your product on YouTube, you have to be clever about it or else nobody will care. Please don’t kid yourself into thinking otherwise because I can assure you…nobody will care.

A great example of a successful YouTube marketing campaign is the “Will It Blend” series from Blendtec featuring their commercial quality blenders. If you haven’t seen it, a man who looks like a cross between William Shatner and Bill Nye puts uncommon objects in the blender, like an iPhone, and watches them turn to dust. Nearly everyone has seen these videos and contributed to their virality in some way by either talking about them or sharing them.

Call To Action

An effective call to action is simple, clear and concise. When directing your audience to your blog or web site, give some sort of incentive or benefit to them. Encourage people to subscribe to your channel and don’t forget links to your blog/web site in your video description. It’s best to put the link at the very beginning of your description to yield the highest conversions possible. Even if you don’t have a product to sell just yet, encourage people to connect or interact with you somehow like leaving a comment.

Remember: Engagement is the currency of social media!

Keep It Short & Sweet

Attention spans are limited in cyberspace where flipping through the channels has endless possibilities. Short and sweet increases your chances of having your video watched until the end, and that is important since that’s where you are likely to put your call to action. Truly great content will continue to shine but if your video is slow to grab attention, you may have viewers dropping off early or barely even watching at all.

Spread The Word

Once you’ve uploaded your video and optimized the keywords, it’s time to start spreading the word across your social networks. Share your video on your blog, Facebook, via Twitter and LinkedIn (if appropriate). Don’t forget to encourage people to share your post with their network. Find groups that are relevant to your topic on LinkedIn and start a discussion around your post to encourage feedback and engagement.

If you use these 10 tips you will supercharge your YouTube video marketing results. Did I miss anything? Share the video marketing tips that have worked best for you. Leave a message in the comments below!

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