For the first time in history, people all over the world enjoy access to the affordable high-speed internet. This has created immense demand for online videos. It is not enough to make a video and embed it on your website. It makes more sense to post it on a video sharing site, and by far the most popular is YouTube. YouTube was founded 12 years ago and is still the leading video sharing website. Today $100 million videos are watched every day on YouTube.
Entrepreneurs can choose one of two ways to fit video into their online strategy. The first way is to make their own videos and the second way is to advertise on other people’s videos.
BUDGET
With modern technology, it is possible to make a video no matter how small your budget is. You can use a camera phone and a microphone. Small businesses are better off learning how to make videos affordable. Bigger companies cannot get away with a cheap video. They will have to spend a little bit more money to get something that looks more polished.
One easy and simple way to save money and time is to plan your content so that you can shoot several videos at once. That way you do not have to set up the location and lighting twice. You will also save money on other things like professional makeup, hiring of equipment and video editing services. Use storyboards to illustrate the outline of the video. Even with a low budget, make sure you have a microphone or else it will be no good.
SEO
Businesses open what are referred to as ‘brand accounts’ on YouTube. A brand account can bear a company name and be managed by several people.
When uploading videos for YouTube, use the right titles that will help people who are looking to learn more about your service to find you. Add keywords. Include a detailed description of the contents of the video. This information will help people to find you. Tags too should be optimised for search engines.
CALL TO ACTION
Always have a call to action. A call to action is something that you want your audience to do. Ask them to visit your website, write a comment, call, email, or just subscribe to your channel. The call to action needs to be within the actual video. Do not wait until the end though, because many users do not watch videos to the end.
The videos can either be educational, entertaining, or informative. Instead of focusing on pushing your product alone, focus on telling a story that viewers can relate to, or give them information that is useful to them. Videos should be as short as possible.
REGULAR
The most popular YouTube channels are the ones that post on a regular basis. Posting videos once in a while will not cut it. The easiest way to do it is to make several videos and then post them once or twice a week. Videos can be product demonstrations, tutorials or explanations. They can also be testimonials from customers.
ADVERTISING
Before paying to advertise on YouTube, take time to identify your target audience and think about what kind of content they like to view. Run your ads on the videos that your target audience likes. Advertise on YouTube channels that are of interest to your readers. Use your YouTube videos to grow an email list. Traditional forms of advertising do not do as well on YouTube as they do on Television. The ad has to tell a humorous or otherwise interesting story.
A Google AdWords campaign is used to run campaigns on YouTube. Decide who you want to reach with the campaign.
INTERACT
Interact with the viewers by reading their comments and answering. Use their comments to keep track of what they think and feel and to get ideas for the next videos. Customise your YouTube page in line with your brand’s colours, slogans, email, website and general appearance. Make them line up with the branding of the business. Share videos across all social media channels and use appropriate hashtags where they apply.
ANALYSE
Video Analytics is an amazing tool for learning who your videos are reaching Andrews what their reaction is like. Video analytics will reveal just who is watching your videos including their gender, age, and location. It is possible to also pin down the day and time when people are most likely to watch your videos. You may create ten-minute videos but then realise that people watch six minutes on average. This is your cue to reduce the length of your video.
