When it comes to marketing for social media, what is said in a carefully crafted post can be said so much better in a video. Short form video is here to stay and brands are posting them all over Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. However, when it comes to video, YouTube is still king! And if you’re not posting short or longer form videos on YouTube, then you’re missing a key platform in marketing and spreading your brand’s message.
YouTube by the numbers
YouTube has over 2 billion monthly visitors and generates billions of views and over a billion hours watched video daily. This amounts to one-third of the Internet, and on mobile devices alone, YouTube is viewed by more U.S. audiences than any TV network. Here are few more noteworthy stats about this global video-sharing platform.
- Over 70% of YouTube views come from mobile devices
- 74% of U.S. adults use YouTube
- 77% of 15 – 35-year-olds in the U.S.
- 73% of Americans aged 36 – 45 use YouTube
- 16.4% of YouTube’s site traffic is generated from the U.S.
- 56% of YouTube users are male
- 44% of YouTube users are female
- 70% of viewers made a purchase from a brand after seeing it on YouTube
Inventor and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin famously once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It is always better to know what mistakes to look for than to have to go back and correct them down the line. Below are 10 mistakes your brand needs to avoid when creating videos for YouTube.
- Lack of Storytelling
Everything begins with the story. You don’t have to be Scorsese, but if the story isn’t memorable chances are customers won’t remember your video. Your brand has a story to tell and if you’re not adding the element of storytelling to your video, then your video will be flat. And the story doesn’t always have to be a pitch to sell your product. Personal care brand Dove showed a great example of impactful storytelling, as well as displaying its brand’s principles when they ran the commercial series of women interviews, which talked about beauty stereotypes and its impact. You can also fuse storytelling in with how-to or educational videos.
- Disregarding Audio Quality
With short-form videos on Facebook, audio isn’t always needed, but YouTube viewers aren’t just interested in great visual content, they’re also looking for a certain level of audio quality. When it comes to video, sound is as equally important as the clarity of the videos and will have a great impact on how your audience perceives your content, or if they stay to watch the entire video. Invest in a video microphone to improve the sound of your audio.
- Inconsistency
Don’t sporadically post to YouTube; create a schedule and follow it.
- Creating off-topic/brand content
Make sure your video topics are consistent with your brand and the message you’re attempting to convey. If you’re a shoe brand, don’t go posting content about travel, unless the content is showing how your latest spring shoes would be a great addition to a spring break vacation.
- Loading too many short videos
Short-form videos work great for Facebook and Instagram. They also do well on YouTube, but longer videos tend to perform better on YouTube’s search engine. Longer videos tend to outperform shorter videos because YouTube uses minutes watched as an essential metric to rank its videos. From an SEO standpoint, it’s better when a viewer watches 10 minutes of an hour video, than it is to watch an entire three-minute video.
- Not optimizing your videos for a search
You don’t just want your customers to view your YouTube content, you want potential customers to view it as well. How will a non-customer find your content? Search engines. But if your content isn’t optimized it won’t rank high in search engines. To properly optimize your content, consider implementing the following:
- Include keywords in your video’s title.
- Use at least one keyword in your description.
- Add relevant tags to your video so that YouTube will target the right viewers.
- Categorize the video correctly.
Consider adding an SRT file to your videos. This will create closed captions which makes the entire transcript of your video script readable by YouTube’s search engines.
- Not doing enough YouTube Marketing
The videos you share on YouTube should be integrated into your overall marketing strategy. They should entertain, inform, and engage your audience helping them move closer to making a purchase of your products or services. The key is creating content that builds trust and sells your products or services and brand identity.
- Not sharing YouTube videos on your other Social Media channels
The marketing video you create shouldn’t just live on YouTube. Generate some buzz for your compelling video content by tweeting about it or promoting it on Facebook, LinkedIn, or your website. You can even share a link to your content via SMS text or email.
- Not Breaking Your Channel into Categories
If you have multiple products or services, you will want to break the videos you create that are catered to that content into different categories. Breaking your channel into categories makes it easier for your subscribers to find what they are looking for in a timely manner.
- Not soliciting for subscribers or comments
Remember to ask viewers to subscribe and comment. Encourage interaction and the opportunity to engage with viewers and customers. An easy way to achieve this is by having a footnote appear at the end of your videos asking viewers to subscribe or comment below in the comments section.
YouTube is one of the world’s leading social media platforms. By avoiding these blunders you can create better content that’ll be more useful to your marketing goals, while creating another avenue to stay engaged with your audience.
You must be logged in to post a comment.