YouTube is an online video hosting service that allows people to share their videos. Businesses and individuals use YouTube to share or find videos, including entertainment, promotions, and directions.
YouTube is the most popular video hosting service, followed by similar services such as Vimeo, Facebook video and Flickr. Like other social media channels, YouTube allows people around the world to interact, share and create content through online communities.
Because of its popularity and features, YouTube can be a useful marketing channel for businesses. Your business can use YouTube to promote products, express the 'personality' of your brand, track feedback, provide customer service, and help your customers spread words about your business.
This guide explains the benefits of using YouTube in your business and tips for avoiding potential pitfalls.
YouTube started in early 2005 and has grown rapidly. Every minute, people around the world upload over 300 hours of video footage to YouTube.
YouTube is behind Google and has the second largest search engine in the world. This means that people are constantly searching for information and discovering videos on these topics using YouTube.
YouTube provides a simple way for people to store videos online and share them with others. YouTube videos cover any topic anyone wants to upload videos to. These videos are easy to share via other social media, email and websites, and can be embedded on other websites as well.
There is a list of 'recommended videos' next to every video on YouTube - the videos YouTube's search engine calculates are likely to interest users who watched the video you watch.
YouTube encourages viewers to express their opinions about the videos they watch, store videos for later viewing, and share videos they like. You can make a video public or share it privately with selected people.
YouTube Analytics is a self-service analysis and reporting tool. It provides data about each video you upload so you can easily track how many videos they watched, where people came from to find the video, and what kind of people they watched.
Accessing YouTube Analytics can give you information about:
You can create a YouTube channel for your business that brings together all your videos. This allows you to customize your channel with images that represent your company. Your channel has an 'About' section where you can give a brief description of your business and a link to your website or contact information.
Your channel is where you group the videos you've created and uploaded, the videos you've watched and liked, and the playlists of the videos you've created.
Your channel will have a web address (URL) that you can promote on your website or in your marketing materials. Users can subscribe to your channel. This means that your videos will be listed on their YouTube homepage when they're signed in to YouTube.
You can also create 'playlists' on your YouTube channel to organize your videos by topic or genre. For example, you may have a playlist with videos about each of your product categories, or you can have a playlist for videos contributed by your customers for a video contest you run.
YouTube, işletmelerin videolarını ilgilerini çekebilecek kişilere tanıtmasına olanak tanıyan, müşterileri demografik özelliklere, konulara veya ilgi alanlarına göre hedefleyen özellikler içerir.
Reklamverenler, bir kişi videolarını her görüntülediğinde ödeme yapar. Reklamınızın hangi yerlerde görüneceğini, hangi biçimde olacağını ve görüntüleme başına ne kadar ödeme yapmaya hazır olduğunuzu (reklamınızın rakipleriniz üzerindeki önemini artırmak istiyorsanız) seçebilirsiniz. YouTube'un reklamcılık kılavuzu nasıl çalıştığını açıklar.
Businesses that can enjoy the benefits of using YouTube:
YouTube has a variety of uses and benefits that can complement those offered by other communication channels.
YouTube allows businesses to showcase their products in action. This is particularly useful for companies with limited physical distribution channels, including online sales. Businesses that use YouTube to allow customers to see their products in action before purchasing include toy manufacturers, theme parks, and theater companies.
Businesses that have the following or are part of a community can use YouTube as a tool to share and interact with customers. Examples include private bike retailers and running stores that share product launches, event footage, video blogs, and customer views via video.
Some business people use YouTube to build their reputation as an expert in an area. This may include uploading video tutorials or short video tips and linking to videos of other experts' interests.
YouTube allows you to embed video content on your website without increasing your site's bandwidth. This means you can add videos to your website without slowing down your customers' download speeds.
YouTube is a chance to add color and movement to your business image. For example, a coffee supplier can not only post images of coffee tasting events and video tutorials, but also share video footage from their coffee sources and interview people who choose the varieties they use.
YouTube offers the ability to revisit successful events by showing video footage to people who are not there or want to remember what happened.
If you host an event (like an author talk at a bookstore or a seminar for a consulting firm), you can share the videos on YouTube as long as you have 'talent' permission.
Some businesses use YouTube to provide solutions to their customers. For example, they post videos showing how to set up their product or 'screen capture' tutorials showing how to use their software.
Video can be a great way to cover a frequently asked question or help troubleshoot common problems with your product. By acknowledging a problem and showing customers how to deal with it, it's better to be proactive about it than to let the market do it for you and criticize your product in the process.
You can also use YouTube to provide solutions to people who don't even know about your product yet. Every day, people post questions to search engines asking how to solve their problems like 'my pink socks faded from washing'. What can I do?' If your product solves such a problem, posting a video on YouTube showing the video in action is a great way to get your product to the attention of those who need it.
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