Ten Tips on Using YouTube for Business

Most businesses are beginning to make use of Facebook and Twitter to promote themselves; but very few take advantage of YouTube, despite the fact that it is the second-largest search engine in the world (behind Google). YouTube currently gets 3 Billion hits a day with over 490 million unique users worldwide per month, which presents an incredible opportunity to increase the online visibility of your brand. There are alternative video hosting websites such as Vimeo which offer better features, but YouTube is number one for attracting hits. For the best results, duplicate your content over multiple video sites to get even better coverage. Here are ten tips to get you started... 1 Choose a channel name that reflects your identity, allowing users to find your content easily and quickly. 2 Incorporate your brand identity within your channel's user-interface using background images and simple CSS to include your logo, supporting graphics and colours. Apple is the perfect example. 3 An introductory video embedded into your website's homepage is a useful and engaging alternative to a block of text. 4 The production possibilities for your videos are endless. You can create a great piece of film on almost any budget; don't let the thought of cost hold you back. 5 Placing How To or In Action videos alongside your products will give the customer a professional insight into your products and services. 6 As with your identity, consistency is vital within your video marketing. Treat it as a branding exercise, keeping colours, positioning and tone-of-voice in mind.  7 Ensure company information is displayed clearly including phone numbers, URLs and email addresses. Creating animated 'intro' and 'outro' templates for all of your videos is a great way of providing calls to action for the viewer. 8 Using websites like YouTube to house your video content can greatly help your SEO campaigns. Adding friendly titles, keyword-rich tags, detailed descriptions and URLs will aid in driving traffic to your website. 9 Promote your videos with your social media channels like Facebook and Twitter to maximize visibility. 10 Have fun and be as creative as you like; keep things simple and moving with enough pace that the viewer remains interested. It is important to put some time aside to carefully research and find out what works. Analysing which videos get the highest ratings and most views, comments or subscribers will help you on your way to viral stardom.

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