If you’re in the business of marketing your small business online, odds are good you have your social media channels pretty well figured out. You have your Facebook, your Instagram, maybe your Snapchat if you’re looking to market to the younger crowd, and that’s it.

Which is a shame, because in doing so you’re ignoring the one social channel that enjoys a direct link to Google, a user base of 1.3 billion people and reaches more 18-39-year-olds than any cable network.

Understand the power of YouTube

We’re talking about YouTube, which some of you may have just remembered is a social channel. And that’s OK – it’s a common mistake. A lot of businesses will sign up for a YouTube account and basically just use it to produce video content they share across other platforms. But if you do that, if you just use it as a tool for uploading video, you’re only reaching a portion of the audience you could reach.

Let’s start with the first facet of YouTube we mentioned – its direct link to Google. As it is now owned by Google, the search giant not only weighs results greater based on YouTube presence, it also puts YouTube results first when searching for video results. You might think this is merely corporate synergy, but everyone from Yahoo! to Bing index YouTube videos in their searches.

Simply put, the more you’re on YouTube, the stronger your SEO.

Get on the video marketing bandwagon

And let’s talk about that audience, shall we? Even a small business can benefit from putting themselves out in front of 1.3 billion people. And if you happen to go viral, all the better. Savannah attorney Jamie Casino saw this first-hand when a local spot he aired during the Super Bowl went viral, boosting the views on the ad hosted on his YouTube page into the millions. If you haven’t experienced it, please enjoy the craziest two minutes of attorney advertising you’ll ever experience. We’ll wait.

His viral fame became big news in Savannah, boosting his profile among the local customer base far more than simply airing the ad on TV would have. Keeping tabs on who you’re reaching, and whether they’re the local customers you’re looking for, is as easy as checking your analytics.

Clearly, it is in your best interest to create content for YouTube and keep your channel current. It not only boosts your SEO, it puts you in front of a global audience always hungry for video content. It’s also particularly handy with boosting open rates for email marketing – according to Brainshark, use of the word “video” in a subject line boosted open rates by as much as 13 percent. But first you need content. So what are YouTubers looking for?

Optimize your content on YouTube

Entertainment and information, mostly. If you currently air advertisements on television, by all means upload them to YouTube as well, but don’t let that be the only thing on there. Use this as an opportunity to show your company culture and let people behind the scenes a bit. Edit together short promotional videos for any special events you have coming up. Run a webinar outlining a little bit of your value proposition.

One great strategy is to let your blog lead your video content, if you have one. Take a look at your analytics to see what high-performing posts you have that could be repackaged as video content. It can be surprisingly easy to turn a post about anything you do – from selling cars to home repair to retail – into a short, easily shareable video. Just layer your logo over it (which is achieved fairly easily using YouTube’s built-in editing tools), insert that call to action and let those keywords rip in the description.

If you can add to that conversion elements like a link back to your blog or related videos, all the better. You’ll often find many small businesses adding extended “outros” to their videos. This not only gives the user a chance to check out some of your other offerings, it also delays the autoplay/up next feature that would otherwise send them on to the next video.

It’s also worth noting that subscribers to your channel tend to favor regularity. Don’t just upload videos as you produce them – set a specific date and time every week when you release your new video and you’ll soon find your subscribers anticipating your next video (and asking where it is when you miss deadline, so don’t miss deadline).

If you’re simply getting your message out on the traditional social media channels, and reserving YouTube as a simple digital clearinghouse for television ads, you’re missing the boat on one of the true titans of online marketing, combining a global audience with a huge SEO boost.

Want to learn more about boosting your small business’ presence on YouTube? Give us a call at 904.359.4318, or fill out our contact form.

Also, don’t forget to download our Guide to Digital Marketing for the latest insights.

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