The Hostpapa Blog

Getting Started with YouTube Marketing

By HostPapa

• March 6, 2013 6:00 pm
• Social Media Marketing
• 0 Comments

HostPapa’s YouTube channel is a lot of fun! Not only is it a chance to be creative, but it has enabled us to effectively reach, share information, and interact with customers. Have you checked it out yet? If not, you should!

What’s great about video marketing?

Studies show video offers greater retention and recall than the written word. And online videos are popular: according to Strategy Analytics, 280 billion mobile videos were viewed in 2012, up from 108 billion in 2011; online video advertising spending is on the same trajectory. YouTube is considered the second most popular search engine by volume.

In other words, people are turning to online videos for research, education, entertainment and purchasing. The time to take advantage of YouTube marketing is now.

Just like any other type of marketing, social media marketing with YouTube has to be done with a plan. Here are some hints to get you started as you build your video marketing strategy:

1. Research. Check out the competition. See what works and what doesn't; check out the quality, content, tone and user feedback.
2. Focus on content over sales. Most people don’t come to YouTube to watch a blatant advertisement – they want information. Capture their interest and provide a link to your website. Inspire trust and relatability by showing real situations in the videos as much as possible.
3. Make sure you have time for this. Successful YouTube marketing requires regular new content to keep viewers engaged. You should also make time to comment on other videos, respond to comments on your videos – anything to improve the level of interaction. Above all, take care to be sure you are uploading high-quality videos.
4. Video optimization. Increase your chance of being seen among the billions of videos competing for viewers. Apply search engine optimization tactics to your videos, just as you would to an article or blog post. Use relevant keywords in your account profile and in each video filename. Add descriptive tags if available and always be sure to properly categorize your video.
5. Keep it short. Your video should run between 30 seconds and two minutes. If your video is longer than that, recognize that you will lose some viewers. If you have a lot of content, consider breaking it into a number of videos.

Do not plan your video marketing strategy in isolation. Connect all the dots by adapting your video content to reach more people. Create a transcript to post as text; create eye-catching stills from your video to post on your blog, Facebook, or Pinterest. Create an audio-only version for iTunes or other audio websites.

Social media marketing with YouTube is a valuable addition to your overall marketing plan. Get your plan in place, be creative, and have fun!

Video Advertising, Video Marketing, YouTube Marketing, Social Media Marketing with YouTube.