If you’re interested in promoting your business entity, there are many ways you can do it. Most business owners and operators would agree at this point, though, that you need to incorporate social media into your strategy.
That means first doing a little bit of research to determine what social media platforms will benefit you the most. There are so many of them, including:
- Snapchat
The one we’re going to go over today, though, is YouTube.
What Businesses Should Use YouTube for Promotion?
Some people don’t necessarily think about YouTube as a social media platform, but that’s precisely what it is. If you’re a business entity or even just an individual with business aspirations, then the videos you make and post on the platform act like mini advertisements for your brand.
There are very few types of businesses that don’t do well using YouTube, provided you make the right sort of content. But what kind of content is going to be successful on this platform?
Viral Content
The type of videos that are likely to do well on YouTube will vary depending on your niche. What works well for one particular area, like carpentry tips, isn’t going to do as well for another, like cake decorating.
Regardless of what you’re making videos about, though, the idea is that you’re trying to get them to go viral.
You may have heard this expression before, but not been sure about what it meant. Going viral simply means that:
- Your video offering has exploded in popularity, and everyone is watching it now
- Your video has gone from being popular in your niche alone to all demographics engaging with it
You want more than anything for your video to go viral. That’s like the Holy Grail on YouTube for which you are striving. But how can you do that? What follows are five tips that should turn your offerings into veritable YouTube sensations.
It’s All About the Keywords
If you know the least bit about marketing, you know how important keywords are. Keywords are the words that people in your niche use when they’re typing queries into a search engine like Google or Bing.
The thing is, though, YouTube is a search engine as well. When someone in your niche types a phrase into the search bar, they’re likely to use the same keywords and keyword combinations.
With YouTube, if you want to get to 10,000 views and beyond, you need to pay attention to how you’re using keywords. In particular, you need to use a tool such as Rank Tracker.
This type of tool helps you identify keywords that people use when looking for videos in specific categories. With Rank Tracker, you can use YT URLs as though they were site names.
What you’ll first have to do is select YT from among the list of search engines. Then, once you enter the URL, you’ll get a detailed list of keywords and keyword phrases that people use when they search within a given category.
Once you have that, you can identify the keywords that you absolutely must use in places like your video’s description and title. You might not have realized that the title, description, file name, etc. mattered as much as the video content itself, but that is indeed the case.
Think About Mobile Device Use While Creating Your Videos
The next thing you need to think about if going viral is your goal will be video creation with smartphones and tablets in mind. The reality is that more people are likely to watch your videos on smartphones and tablets than on laptops and desktops.
People like watching videos when they’re on the go. They might be watching one of your offerings:
- At work
- When they’re on the bus or train
- At home lying in bed
Because of this, you need to create videos that will do well on mobile devices. Begin by tracking your YouTube channel’s traffic. You do this by clicking on the Channel icon. Next, go to Creator Studio.
After that, click on Analytics on the left-hand side, followed by Devices. You can then see what devices and operating systems people are using to watch your videos.
Once you have that information, you should evaluate each video you make with mobile devices and operating systems in mind. You can look at features like thumbnails and titles. They should be easily discernible and clear.
If your videos don’t look very good on the devices and operating systems that people are most likely to use, then they’re not going to go viral.
Hire a Professional Videographer or Team
If you have any type of a marketing budget, then you should at least consider hiring a team or videographer to create your videos for you rather than making them yourself.
If you don’t have much of an operating budget or none at all, then this won’t be an option for you. However, most business entities can allocate at least a little money for marketing. Now’s the ideal time for you to put it to use.
Hire an experienced video-creation team or even just a single videographer who can frame and shoot your videos for you using professional equipment. The finished product is sure to look a lot better, and your result has a much better chance of going viral.
You can hire someone via a platform like Fiverr or Upwork. If you can’t afford to do that, but you still want someone who knows what they’re doing, you might try recruiting film school students. The cost of a pizza might be all it takes to convince them to work for you for one afternoon.
Write a Dynamite Video Description
Once you have completed your video, it’s time to write a brilliant description of it. This is a chance to take advantage of the SEO possibilities that the description provides.
Your video description should be about 300 words. Make every one of them count. They should be packed with keywords that you learn about through analytic research.
The trick is to use all of those keywords and phrases in a way that sounds natural and not stilted or forced. Even though you have to find a way to shoehorn them in there, you’re still writing for humans, not computer algorithms.
If your description is written in broken English, then the YT algorithm will sink it to the bottom of the search engine rankings.
Create Compelling, Thrilling Content
You might have written a brilliant title and description for your YT offering. Still, if the video itself is a tired retread of things that other companies have done before, then the way you describe it won’t do you much good.
The video itself has to be original. Even if you’re creating it in a niche that is already extremely popular, you need to find a way to approach your topic that no one has thought of before.
It’s not going to be easy. This is where you need to flex those creative muscles. It helps to bring some fresh minds in on the project. If you’re part of a startup, then have a sit-down with everyone who has a financial stake in it.
Brainstorm and try to develop a master list of topic ideas and ways to present them that no one has done before. If your content is dry and formulaic, then going viral is next to impossible. Creativity and originality are your greatest weapons on this platform.
Now you should have a general idea of what it takes to go viral in the cutthroat world of YT. This is a social media platform that rewards persistence, ingenuity, and careful research. The combination of those elements is ultimately what should lead to your success in this venture.
