The Digital Marketing Potential Of YouTube Videos
Google is the world’s most popular search engine, but do you know what the world’s second most popular search engine is? The answer might surprise you – it’s YouTube!
While this might seem a surprise a first, it makes perfect sense. We often turn to YouTube to learn a new skill or to see a visual demonstration of someone completing a task we are curious about. Users searching for terms like “how to fillet salmon” or “how to lay floorboards” would find a video with step-by-step instructions more useful than a blog post with those same instructions written down.
Sharing your knowledge on YouTube is a fantastic way to build an online presence, demonstrate your expertise and drive traffic to your website or social media channels.
However, many businesses are still not taking full advantage of YouTube to market themselves. This is unfortunate as it means that they are missing out on thousands of potential customers, but it also means that if you do use YouTube as part of your marketing, you’ll find that on average the level of competition is far lower than it would be for the same keywords on Google Search.
Google has also started displaying clips from YouTube videos in its search results when it thinks the clip would be relevant to a user’s query. This is particularly common to see on searches of the “how to do I do X” variety.
What Sort Of YouTube Video Should You Make?
Many people go to YouTube to see a visual demonstration of something, whether that’s a recipe, a DIY technique, a dance routine, or anything else which is easier to understand in video form.
Think about all the knowledge you have gained in your industry, then think about the most frequent questions people ask you about your field of work. To gather more ideas, you could do some keyword research on both Google Search and YouTube. We go into keyword research in more detail in our article about the elements of a great PPC campaign.
Don’t worry too much about the quality of your YouTube video, it doesn’t need to look professionally produced (although it’s even better if it does). What’s important is that the information contained within it is easy to understand and is genuinely useful to a viewer. Don’t just record an advert for your business, make sure that you are providing something of value.
How To Optimise Your YouTube Video For Search
While the content of your video is the most important thing, it’s also vital that you give your video the best chance of ranking in search results. Here are some steps you can take to give it an edge over the competition.
- Title
Choose a clear title. (e.g., “How to sand and paint a door”) - Description
Write an accurate and detailed description. Make sure to include some of the keywords you are looking to rank for. You should also link to your website and social media. - Closed Captions
Add closed captions to your video. This makes your video more accessible for the hard of hearing and means that there is a full script of the text of your video uploaded to Google’s algorithms to scan for keywords. - Chapters
Add chapter markers. This will make it easier for users to navigate to the information they are looking for and help Google find the right clip from your video to display in search results. - Re-using Your Content
Compared to writing a blog or posting some photos of your products on Instagram, YouTube videos take significantly longer to create. So, you want to make sure that you are getting the most value out of the content you create. Here are two ways you can make your YouTube video go a little further. - Repurpose Your Video As Clips For Social Media
You can cut your YouTube video into shorter clips which you can then post to your social media channels. For example, imagine you are a florist, and you record a video called “15 tips on how to arrange your flower beautifully at home” – you could then split this content into 15 individual clips and post those to your Instagram feed each day for two weeks. Over time, you’ll will naturally start thinking of your content in this way, planning videos which can be easily split into shareable chunks. - Turn The Script For Your Video Into A Blog Post On Your Site
While a video is a terrific way of demonstrating something to your potential customers, some will still prefer a written version of the same information. Without much effort, you can turn the script for your video into a blog post on your site. You could even use screenshots from your video to illustrate your blog. Make sure to link to the blog from your YouTube video’s description and remember that you can update that description at any time after you upload the video.
Hopefully, this has been a useful explainer on how YouTube can be beneficial to your digital marketing efforts. If you would like help planning your digital marketing strategy including social media, pay per click advertising and search engine optimisation – speak to our team today.
