The other day I was talking with a client about small businesses using YouTube to market their business. More specifically, I was talking about how important it is to have a YouTube channel to grow your business.

She replied, “What? What? What?”

She was under the impression that YouTube was only for the big brands. Not true.

YouTube is for everyone.

So what exactly does YouTube have to offer the small business owner? The answer in short is that YouTube is a goldmine for any small business.

It doesn’t matter whether you sell a product or service. It doesn’t matter where in the world your business is located. And it doesn’t matter if you have no experience making videos, no expensive equipment, and no fancy editing tools. YouTube offers a level playing field for all of us.

If your business is in need of more visibility on the Internet, setting up a YouTube channel should be at the very top of your 2020 goals.

Awhile back I wrote about Marketing Your Business With Video. So I won’t repeat all the reasons WHY video marketing provides the best bang for your marketing buck. If you haven’t read that blog post, I suggest you go back and read it now.

Instead, let’s dive right into EXACTLY why every small business should be using YouTube to market their business.

 

YouTube Offers New Leads

When you have a YouTube channel, you get exposure to a huge audience. YouTube boasts of having over a BILLION users per day. That’s a heck of a lot of people!

And think about this, YouTube is the number 2 search engine in the world. Second only to Google Search. (And, just so ya know, Google actually owns YouTube. We’ll talk a little bit more about what that “connectedness” means for you later.)

Okay, so back to the BILLION users a day. Wouldn’t you like access to all of those folks visiting YouTube? Of course, you would. We all would.

The great thing about YouTube is, unlike all the other Social Media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), you don’t need to already have a large following to be visible. Actually, even without having a single YouTube subscriber, people can still find your videos and learn about your small business.

How do I know this? Because, that’s exactly what happened to us.

Several years back, we were uploading videos to YouTube without having any kind of video marketing plan. Instead, we were really just using YouTube as a way to store our videos online. (By the way, free and unlimited video hosting is another cool YouTube feature.)

One day, I made a how-to video for my business partner. At the time, I *thought* I had published it to be private (meaning nobody could see it except for us) but I actually published it be public.

Several months later, I happened to discover that same video had chalked up over 3,000 views. Wow! That really got my attention.

That was also the day I realized the INCREDIBLE REACH YouTube offers, even when you have no subscribers.

 

 

YouTube Let’s You Optimize Videos for Search

The trick to your videos being found on YouTube is to make them more visible to potential viewers. On YouTube, there are actually several ways people can discover your videos. The most relevant are:

1. SEARCH RESULTS – After someone performs a YouTube search, your video shows up in the search results.
2. SUGGESTED VIDEO – After someone watches a video, your video shows up as a suggested video on the same topic.

The higher your video is ranked in either the search results or suggested videos, the greater chance someone will pick your video to watch.

 

By adopting just a few simple techniques you can easily make your video be at the top of the list. Tips to optimize your videos to be found more easily include:

• Choosing an attention getting title for your video.
•  Using the right video tags (YouTube’s version of keywords) that your video is about. (You want to make sure it’s the keywords that people are actively using.)
• Writing a keyword rich description that allows the viewer to easily understand what your video is about.

Bonus Tip:

When your videos are highly visible on YouTube, you can also get an SEO bump from the Google gods. Google, who remember owns YouTube, loves to promote relevant YouTube videos in their search results.

What that means for you is that when someone is searching for something on Google, your YouTube video may be featured at the top of the search results, which means even more potential viewers. Hurray!

Since many Google Searchers actually prefer video content, they might be more inclined to click on your YouTube video, rather than reading a blog post.

 

 

With YouTube Your Content Never Dies

On almost every social media platform, yesterday’s posts can get buried in the timeline pretty darn quick.

When we log into Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, we’re always directed towards viewing the most recent content. That video you posted two weeks ago, may never see the light of day again. 

On YouTube, the algorithm is a little bit different. Since YouTube is more of a search engine (like Google), people tend to type in exactly what they are looking for. YouTube will then offer up the most relevant videos to satisfy that search request. Which means that a video you posted two weeks, two months, or two years ago, might still be the best result.

As a matter of fact, on our YouTube channel, we have videos that are several years old and are still getting current traffic. That’s pretty exciting.

 

 

YouTube is Great for Building Brand Awareness

When you set up a YouTube channel it’s almost like setting up a mini video website. You have the option of creating a profile the describes your products or services. You can include links to your website and even other social media channels.

There is even a way for viewers to subscribe to your channel. That means that whenever you post a new video, they will be automatically be notified.

Best of all, you have the ability to create playlists. Essentially, a playlist is just a way to group your videos together by subject. And that subject can be whatever you want to call it.

What’s especially cool is that when people watch a video in a playlist, as soon as one video finishes, the next video on the list will be served up next. This is a great way for prospective clients to get to know, trust, and like you.

 

 

YouTube Allows You to Talk to Strangers

Another great thing about YouTube is that viewers have the ability to comment on your videos. This is a great way to start a conversation with potential leads.

I especially like that YouTube sends us an email each and every time someone leaves a comment. We’ve found that by simply responding to comments (both positive and negative) makes people feel heard.

When someone leaves a short note on how much one of our videos has helped them, we feel really good. When you actually know the content you’re creating matters, it motivates you to create even more.

We’ve also discovered that the people who take the time to post a comment often become regular subscribers to our YouTube channel.

 

 

YouTube Provides Easy to Understand Analytics

Every YouTube channel owner has free and immediate access to a whole heap of analytics. For each and every video, you can learn about how the viewer found you, where in the world they are, and what type of digital device they used to watch your video. 

Most importantly, you get data on exactly how their viewing experience was. How long did they watch? When did they click away? Did anyone view your video at all? While it’s not always fun to see some of this data, it does allow you to learn what’s working and what’s not.

Are you videos too long? Are they too short? Do you need to tighten up your introduction so that people don’t click away? 

One feature that is especially helpful is that you get geographical statistics. This alone might reveal your videos, and hopefully your products or services, appeal to a whole other country you weren’t even aware of. 

If you have a lot of foreign visitors, you might consider adding captions based on that country’s native language.

 

 

Bonus tip:

YouTube has a built-in free tool that allows you to automatically create closed captions for your videos. Once you create captions you even have the option of having your captions translated (for free) into other languages.

Closed captions you create in YouTube can be downloaded as an SRT file and be repurposed on other social media platforms. We like to use this feature when we post videos with subtitles on LinkedIn and Facebook.

 

YouTube Provides Free Video Storage Space

One of our favorite reasons for having a YouTube Channel is the free storage space for hosting all our videos. To be honest, this is what led us to using YouTube in the first place.

As internet marketing consultants, a huge part of our business is coaching and consulting with clients online. For years we have been meeting with our clients using Zoom (an awesome video conference tool). When we meet with people, we often include the option to record the meeting, so that we don’t have to waste time by taking copious notes. That way we have access to all the details discussed.

Unfortunately, finding a place to store and share those bulky MP4 files can be quite cumbersome. This why we love YouTube’s generous NO LIMIT storage capacity.

Best of all, using YouTube’s privacy settings we can easily maintain client confidentiality by designating videos as non-public (i.e. private or unlisted). That way, there is never any danger that our channel subscribers or YouTube searchers stumble upon those videos.

We also use YouTube to host public videos that are embedded on our website and featured in our email newsletters.  It’s great to know that we will never run out of video storage space and have an easy way to share videos.

 

 

Have We Convinced You Yet?

So, those are just some of the reasons we believe every small business should consider setting up their own YouTube channel. So much to gain and nothing to lose.

It costs you nothing to create a channel for your business, except for perhaps your time. However, the rewards offered from having a YouTube channel far outweigh the work needed.

With a YouTube channel you will have a proven way to attract new leads for your business, that will hopefully convert into loyal customers and become raving fans.

As a caveat, you need to know that building and running a successful YouTube channel does require some strategy. For starters, you need to be clear on who your target audience is, what video content they’ll find most valuable, and what Calls to Action best aligns with your business goals.

Just like any part of your marketing plan, maintaining your YouTube Channel will take regular and consistent effort. However, if you follow a simple strategy and commit to posting a video even just once or twice a month, you will see results.  

With over a BILLION people a day visiting YouTube, wouldn’t it be great if you could have just some of those folks learning about your business?

On our YouTube channel, we have many videos to help you learn tips, tricks, and strategies for marketing your small business online.

Visit our channel by using this link: Launch4Life YouTube Channel