Five Benefits of YouTube Marketing
YouTube is the world’s largest video platform and the second-largest search engine, only outdone by Google. The site has over 2.5 billion monthly active users, which means you can reach just about anyone on the platform. In other words, using YouTube for business is an easy investment. The trouble is, producing quality videos takes a lot of time and effort.
If you’re on the fence about creating a YouTube channel for your business, here are five of the biggest benefits that might finally convince you that it’s worth incorporating it into your marketing strategy.
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1. Wide and Varied Audience Reach
YouTube has local versions for over 90 countries and offers content in over 80 different languages. In total, over 95% of all people on the internet use YouTube. That makes it the single most popular of all social media platforms and an absolute marketing powerhouse for any business trying to increase its brand awareness and reach new potential customers.
One of the biggest benefits of YouTube is its mass appeal. Aside from reaching most US citizens between the ages of 18 and 49, there’s YouTube Kids for those under 18 and an entire demographic of users 50. Even if you’re trying to reach other businesses, YouTube is the smart choice, with some 59% of executives preferring videos over text content.
Given such a wide reach, it makes sense to use YouTube for general marketing but it’s also a wise investment for paid ads. In fact, video ads on the platform can drive incredible results, especially if you’re using them to grow your YouTube channel.
2. Low Advertising Cost
One thing is for certain; YouTube marketing is affordable and effective. A meta-analysis of over 56 case studies showed that YouTube advertising delivered a higher return on investment (ROI) in nearly 80% of cases than television ads. Plus, it’s far easier to track your results.
When running an ad on YouTube, you’ll have access to analytics showing exactly how many impressions and clicks your ad received, along with data that tells you how many people watched the ad all the way through and at what point most people bounced off.
You can buy various types of ads on YouTube, including in-stream ads that play right before someone watches a video and video discovery ads that are displayed on the home page and search results pages. The cost of YouTube ads averages between $0.03 - $0.10 per click, but that varies depending on things like:
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Content Quality
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Calls-to-action
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Format
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Targeting
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Bidding
When launching a video campaign, you’ll bid on a cost-per-view or cost-per-thousand basis. However, YouTube does not lock you into spending a certain amount and you can end or extend your ad campaign at any time based on your budget and results. With all of this in mind, you don’t have to pay a dime to post on YouTube. Many brands have grown organically on the platform and you can still reap all these benefits by doing so.
3. Strong Positioning in Google Search Results
For years now, Google has included videos alongside articles and images on search engine results pages (SERPs). Certain queries may only bring up videos on the first page, which means you’re only chance of ranking is to create a video on the subject. However, for just about any keyword, you can multiply your chances of appearing in the SERPs by creating tutorials or other videos.
You can also supercharge your inbound marketing strategy by making videos on a given topic and then creating a complementary article or resource on your website. Embed your video in your article and link to your article in your YouTube video description to instantly build a backlink to your site. Over time, those links will help drive organic traffic while allowing you to capture more leads in the long run.
While on the topic of rankings, it’s worth remembering that YouTube has its own SEO algorithm, so you’ll want your digital marketing team to spend some time optimizing your video’s title, adding annotations, and taking other steps to make sure that you get the most out of all the videos you create.
4. Powerful Repurposing Opportunities
Even years ago, creating a YouTube video meant that you could repurpose it by transcribing it into an article or even using the audio for a podcast platform. Now, YouTube videos are even more flexible, allowing you to get the most out of every investment you make in your marketing plan.
For instance, with the recent addition of YouTube Shorts — which mimic the short-length and vertical format of TikTok videos — you can easily repurpose highlights of your full-length YouTube videos into a handful of shorts, and then repurpose them again by sharing them on TikTok. That means, by getting onto YouTube, you can near effortlessly launch a TikTok presence too if your brand is interested in being on both platforms.
5. Incredible Audience Insights
As a marketing platform, YouTube allows you to see exactly what parts of your video the average viewer watches, and what they skip. Right off the bat, this can help you optimize the video content you’re creating to achieve a truly high-quality presence. For instance, if you find that people are routinely skipping your intro or fast-forwarding to the middle, you might start front-loading your videos for better engagement.
Over time, as you begin investing more time into creating hours of video for your brand, you’ll also collect monumental data on the types of content your viewers enjoy the most. This can help you truly understand your target audience on a deeper level, allowing you to create tailored webinars, landing pages, and email lists that consistently drive better engagement and conversion rates.
By taking the time to review your metrics, you can use YouTube to reach new people and connect with them in a way that builds trust and makes them think positively about your brand whenever they see your products or content.
Get The Most Out of Your Videos
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Tips for Using YouTube for Your Business
The production quality that even amateur content creators bring to the table these days is pretty high, and that might make getting on YouTube seem very daunting for your business. After all, if you don’t have someone in-house who has the skills, time, or equipment to produce killer video content, you might hesitate to even entertain the idea, but you have many options.
Aside from investing in a small studio setup, some videos can be outsourced — especially if you’re planning to test out the platform with simple product walk-throughs or some short ads. While it’d be great to feature your own team in the videos, you can start simple and evolve your approach as you watch your channel grow.
Of course, whether you’re making your own videos in-house or outsourcing the process to a video production company, there are some best practices you need to follow to ensure you make a positive impact on viewers and that the videos you share will actually move the needle.
Plan Your Strategy
Don’t grab your phone and make a YouTube video on a whim. You’ll likely have a very hard time reaching anyone at all, and it won’t necessarily leave a professional impression on those watching it. Before you try to create any video content at all, it’s best to slow down and do your research.
Some key things you need to find out before delving into YouTube marketing include:
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What other content is out there right now? Look up some keywords related to your company and look at how many views those videos are getting, what the production quality is like, and whether or not your competitors are posting.
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How can you get the most out of videos? Before you plan any videos, think about how they fit into your larger content marketing strategy. For instance, maybe certain videos should have a lead magnet or webpage associated with them.
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Where can you repurpose your video content? The fastest way to maximize your video ROI is to repurpose that content in as many ways as possible. Work those ideas into your content calendar.
Invest in Quality
Producing a video that you’ll be proud to put your company’s name on is no easy feat, and it’s not a process that you should rush or skimp on. As we mentioned above, you can always outsource to a video production company that has the equipment and talent necessary to film and edit a quality video, but there’s another fundamental element to consider: The script!
Ideally, you’ll devote each video you make to one specific topic and walk your viewers through an intuitive, direct, and detailed overview of that topic. With a great script (and adequate planning of all your content), you can create videos that position your brand as a subject matter expert while still being entertaining.
Before making a video, make sure you have these elements down-pat:
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Take the time to research your chosen topic and make sure it’s something viewers care about.
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Look at other content on the topic. If there are already a million videos out there, what can you do to make yours better?
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Always think about the bigger picture. Beyond repurposing and tying your content into content on your site, how is the video going to help users on their journey to conversion?
Optimize Your Videos
If you’ve invested in any type of content before, you know the “share it and they will come” attitude just doesn’t apply in the world of marketing. The last thing you want to do is spend so much time creating videos, only to check back and see that you aren’t getting any views. Fortunately, by taking the time to optimize your videos and share them, you can make sure that doesn’t happen.
As part of your video marketing plan, make sure that you:
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Learn the ropes of YouTube SEO and how you can optimize your video to rank higher in YouTube’s own search results.
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Adequately promote your video content on other channels, including social media, to leverage your existing audience.
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Embed your videos into relevant content, like landing pages and articles, to drive additional engagement on your channel.
Reach a New Audience with Scripted
If you approach YouTube marketing with a business mindset, you can rapidly grow your channel into an authoritative resource that people in your industry will continuously come back to for entertaining, educational content. The important thing to remember is that the single most important element in a video’s success is the value it contains, so don’t skimp when it comes to your scripts.
Whether or not you’re producing your video content in-house, Scripted can help you write scripts that are insightful and engaging, allowing you to focus on driving results. With our talented writers across industries, we make it easy to connect with the perfect scriptwriter for your brand. Plus, you can get started for free with a 30-day trial.
