It is only reasonable that when you
invest a great deal of time, effort and no small measure of inspiration in
creating on point YouTube videos to promote your business that you spend a good
portion of that time, effort and inspiration on marketing the video to ensure
its influence spreads far and wide and that you have the best chance of forging
new leads.
Your first port of call is likely to
be social media and that can certainly be a great start – and there are
examples of businesses who make it work for them as their principal method. It
is likely though, for many small businesses, that it will largely involve
preaching to the converted in that your followers will see the video, but few others.
If you can get enough engagement and receive enough shares then you could enjoy
some stellar success, but marketing videos via social media can be hard graft
when you are competing with the giants of industry.
One simple technique that should not
be ignored is email. There are many ways that you can incorporate your YouTube
videos into your email newsletters, but arguably the simplest and most
effective is using merge tag to allow you to embed video screenshots into your
email. These screenshots will send anyone who clicks on them directly to the
original video. Simple, but effective.
If you can spare the time, becoming a
guest contributor to another blog will be able to use the platform not only to
demonstrate your knowledge and expertise but also to draw attention to your own
YouTube channel or videos. On a slight tangent do not neglect the impact of
positive local press. You should get in touch with local newspapers and their
editors and see if you can arrange some sort of collaboration. Once in place
you can subtly market your videos, perhaps using their own social channels as
well. Of course, it should go without saying that you should promote every one
of your YouTube videos well via your own blog. It is imperative that you come
up with catchy and relevant headlines to encourage the greatest number of
clicks. You can also come up with some competitions on your website and social
media that require subscription to your YouTube channel in order to enter.
Perhaps one of the most neglected
jobs that simply must be done even before you begin to market and promote YouTube videos involves the correct and enticing set-up of the YouTube channel itself. It is imperative that your channel is set up displaying
all of the information, branding and resources necessary. You should make it
easy to navigate and a pleasure to use as well as:
- Creating
unique and relevant channel artwork
- Designating
appropriate featured videos for subscribed and unsubscribed viewers alike
- Putting
together video playlists to organize all the different types of videos you
produce, so that those interested in a particular arm of your business can
easily filter what is relevant to them.