YouTube is the second biggest search engine. Yet many companies only use YouTube to house videos for use on blogs, social media, or landing pages.
In fact, only about 9% of US small businesses are using YouTube. So today, we're going to talk about why a strategic approach to YouTube matters.
Hi. I’m Matt Brown from HubSpot, and this is Skill Up. The show where you’ll learn how to take your sales, marketing, and service skills to the next level.
Last season, we met with a whole host of folks on HubSpot’s social media team to learn the ins and outs of social media. But there was one platform in particular that, well, to be honest, deserves a season all its own.
And no, I don’t mean you, Mark. This season we’re tackling YouTube Marketing.
So I guess, housekeeping, first things first, whatever cliche you fancy, there’s one statistic you’ll hear me and this season’s slew of guests reference. To be fair, it’s a pretty important one. Are you ready? How was my build up? B+? A-? Well thank YOU.
Ok here goes: YouTube is the second biggest search engine -- after Google, of course. But if season one of this show tells me anything, it’s that SEO is important to you.
But excuse me for the quick head scratch. Many companies are interested to dip the proverbial toe into the YouTube waters, but for a good number, YouTube acts more like a repository, housing videos, and content that companies use elsewhere -- be it a landing page, email, or some other social channel.
In fact, in reality, only about 9% of US small businesses are using YouTube. So today, we're going to talk about why a strategic approach to YouTube matters.
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YouTube is a force of massive strength in today's social space. When you look at the stats for the channel, they're astonishing.
You can watch YouTube in over 91 countries, and navigate YouTube in a total of 80 different languages, covering 95% of the internet population.
Three hundred hours of video are upload to YouTube every minute. Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day. And very telling, five years ago, YouTube surpassed the popularity of live television.
But businesses are still shy about using YouTube, preferring to think of it as a space for chopping it up with cooks like Binging with Babish, or watching celebrities fight back hot sauce stained tears in Hot Ones, or basically a potpourri of all the things imaginable in lifestyle vloggers like Yuya.
Ok then all-wise interior monologue, why do businesses ignore YouTube? It can’t be an irrational fear of Ryan’s Toy Review. Can it? Can it?
No. It’s just that YouTube seems daunting. Expensive. And time-consuming. But the truth is, all you need is a smartphone and some good ideas.
I’m here to definitively tell you that you can use YouTube to grow your business organically without advertising and without spending money. In many ways, better than you can on any other channel.
Now, of course, let’s not ignore the fact that if you do spend money, you can expand that reach even further. But if you have great content and you understand how to use the YouTube platform, you could reach millions of people without spending a dime.
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Let’s start with ads. Vidyard reports that in a recent study, 87% of marketers said they planned on placing video ads on Facebook, compared with 81.5% on YouTube. Let me put that into perspective a bit.
Facebook ads autoplay. So three seconds of watching a video is considered a view whether or not the person was actually watching it. YouTube, on the other hand, focuses on audience retention and rewards channels that create great content that keeps viewers onsite.
Now, is the title sequence to Season Five Episode 6 of Gilmore Girls, because maybe I’m skipping over the single greatest strategic advantage of YouTube.
Remember that all-important stat from our pre-segment days of this episode? We were young. New. Drinkin’ in all that information from a fire hose. Well here it is again.
YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. Some quick back of napkin math, and, oh yea, YouTube is also the second most trafficked website on the internet. Again, behind Google.
So as part of that, YouTube dominates the videos that are featured on Google's snippets and organic search results. YouTube videos just rank higher on the Videos and Images search tabs on Google. And YouTube helps your potential customers make purchasing decisions and builds trust.
Best of all. Everyone's on it. People in countries all over the world and of all ages, races, and genders, it breaks stereotypes of whom people think should be on a social channel.
For example, in the US, YouTube is more favorably rated by older age groups than millennials. And 51% of people over the age of 75 are using the channel. I know, kind of wild stats, right?
All of this is to mean we -- you, me, and, yes, soon enough, your competitors -- can't afford to be indifferent about the channel anymore.
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Before you start using YouTube, or if you've been using it for a while and really want to maximize your efforts, you need to start offline.
That’s right I’m talking buyer personas. You’ve heard me ‘em break down in previous Skill Up episodes. And you can listen back to those anytime in our feed. You’re close to the finish line here, so maybe right after this one’s over.
So again, you’ll want to start with your buyer persona. And then, determine what your goals are.
There’s plenty of ways to approach YouTube content. Not all are going to be the right fit for you or your business. Let’s say you sell services. Great! But maybe unboxing videos of your products wouldn’t make much sense.
So take a step back, deep breathes, come on, deep breaths, and set to work on figuring out who your audience is.
Man, deep breathes. Feels good. Did I just come up with that?
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Next episode, we’ll take a look at algorithms. No, not the 2000’s popular vote-winning electoral college losing Democratic nominee and his questionable takes on dance moves. Algorithms. You know, the thing that knows you almost better than you know yourself? Bah, you got it.
Ok, see you there.
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