Did you know that Youtube is the 2nd biggest search engine in the world? In this quick-fix world where everyone wants everything now, it’s easy to understand why people would rather watch a 2-minute clip rather than read a 2-paged article about anything.
While majority of Youtube consumers are on the site for entertainment, a big chunk of its users are looking for information: Cooking videos, Makeup Tutorials, Fashion How-to Videos, Clips on Changing a Flat Tire or Creating an App. and the list goes on. So, what does this mean for local businesses?
This means that you don’t need to own a dog that can sing the ABC song or a baby panda that sneezes like a giant to become a Youtube sensation. In fact, your objective isn’t to gain world recognition but rather, to make an impact among your target demographics. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how you can find business leads on Youtube.
Content That Helps
What does your business offer? What do people pay you for? If your business has been running successfully, it means that there’s a market for it and that other people outside of your existing customer base could be interested in your product or service. All you need to do is connect with them.
Now, we all know that in the digital space, content is king. For example, if you’re running a bake shop, don’t expect people to come to you by merely creating a video that showcases your shop and goodies. In order for people to watch your clip, you have to offer a value exchange. Will you entertain them? Will you give them answers or provide them with information? Ask yourself, “Why would they click on your video?”
How about creating a clip on “How to Make a Chocolate Cake” instead? That way, you can subtly sell your expertise, showcase your product and attract consumers who love chocolate cakes so much they’re willing to spend time learning how to make one.
Production Value is Important
No, you do not need to be the next Spielberg to get your video noticed, but, people do appreciate watching well done and professional videos. All you need are the following: a camera, a tripod, good audio and lighting and most importantly, great content. It’s also important to remember that you need to keep your video short and sweet with a maximum length of 3 minutes. As mentioned earlier, we’re living in a quick-fix world and people want immediate answers.
By paying attention to these elements, you will stand out from the millions of poor quality videos available on Youtube, which earns you more attention from viewers. Who wants to watch shaky videos that drag on anyway?
Get Your Video Optimized
Now that you have a great video, it’s time to put it out for people to see. You must remember, nearly 100 hours of videos are uploaded on Youtube every day. This means that you need to optimize your video to get recognition from your desired audience. When selecting a title, it’s important to place the right key words in. When we say “key words”, we’re talking about the words that people type on search engines when looking for particular topics.
Let’s go back to the bakery example. You may want to title your video, “How to Make a Chocolate Cake by Delicious Bakery Baking Videos”. Your tags must include the following, “how to, baking, cakes, chocolate, recipe, instructions, tips” etc. Your thumbnail could be an image of you with the finished product. These are important elements that could help viewers decide whether your video will be helpful to them or not.
The next step would be to share your video on your social networks to drive traffic to it. Additionally, we would recommend running a pay-per-view advertising campaign for your video. Youtube offers this service where they make your video accessible to a defined set of audience according to age, gender and more importantly, location—if you’re a small business, you may just want to target people in the area you operate in.
Attract viewers to your shop
Now that they’ve watched the entire clip, you need to give them a compelling reason to come to your shop. The simplest, most efficient way to do this is to give them an offer.
For example, a good call to action would be to ask them to join your Facebook community page where they can print a discount coupon that they can claim at your shop. Websites like Woobox.com offers businesses with simple promotional apps that can be integrated on social media platforms. The unique coupons generated from such sites will provide you with a measurable way to determine how successful your Youtube video is.
These are just a few tips and quick ways on how local businesses can take advantage of Youtube. There are many more tricks but starting with these could immediately put you in front of a larger set of audience.
