Video sharing sites are popping up left, right and centre but YouTube is by far the biggest player, in fact 16% of the entire Internet population visit this site and it is the 4th most visited site in the world. YouTube has 60% of all online video viewers with up to 70 million viewers in an evening and over 65,000 videos uploaded every day, making it both the #1 online video site and social video sharing site online. This implies that most video consumption on the Web is already based on Social Media, and that there are over 115 million online viewers of video overall.
These days, everyone can be a star – you, your cat and even your funny little neighbour (and by funny I don’t mean ha ha funny – more like strange little serial killer funny). It is no longer necessary to rely on that once-off 15 minutes of fame Andy Warhol predicted for us. Reality TV, talk shows and most of all, the Internet, allow us to expose our best and worst assets to the world.
YouTube has broken through traditional barriers – essentially the need for looks or talent are no longer required. Today, if you’re connected and you have just the most basic of cell phone video cameras, you can make like M. Night Shyamalan from the comfort of your laptop.
You, What?
For the uninitiated and those of you who have been in a drug induced coma since the sixties (welcome back), here goes...YouTube is essentially a website which, by using flash technology, allows users to upload, view and share videos with the rest of the connected world. These videos can range from music, movie and television clips to homemade amateur videos and vlogs.
Since it was launched back in 2005 YouTube has developed into a highly sophisticated marketing tool with high-end functionality that remains at the forefront of online technology. Google Inc acquired the company in 2006 for $1.65 billion, taking the site to the heights expected from such an acquisition.
So, What Can You Do?
While it is possible for unregistered users to watch most of the publicly available videos, a quick, straightforward registration process allows members to upload an unlimited number of clips, comment on and add video responses to them and subscribe to content feeds that catch their attention and interest.
Frequently enhanced functionality and clever features on YouTube continually push this site to deliver bigger and better services to its ever-increasing user base.
- A personal profile page where recently viewed videos, favourites, friends, subscriptions and a record of your own videos as well as their viewing and rating statistics are displayed.
- YouTube email from where general messages, invitations, comments and responses can be sent and received.
- Video uploading tools.
- Commenting function, including video feedback, on clips viewed.
- YouTube Blog where the latest site-related news, newest features and other info of interest to the user is posted.
- Easy navigation to allow the quickest and most economical searching and browsing of the site.
- Videos, for browsing the most-viewed clips of the day, or checking out the top rated, most discussed, most linked and videos that are currently being viewed by other users.
- Categories allow the user to find videos on specific topics, from music and entertainment to news, comedy and more.
- Channels can be created by YouTube members who upload videos. On this page you can subscribe and receive newly uploaded videos direct to you as they arrive on the site. Channel types include Gurus, Musicians, Sponsors and more.
- Community, where groups for users who share interests and want to share related clips, and competitions, are found.
At the end of the day YouTube continually responds to feedback to keep the users happy.
YouTube as a Marketing Tool
Wherever large numbers of people gather a marketing opportunity presents itself. Like every successful public website, YouTube is a brilliant platform for eMarketing. There are billions of videos viewed on YouTube each month. It’s easy to understand how this site has become recognised as one of the top Viral Marketing hubs online today.There are two aspects of marketing through YouTube – self-promotion of people and products such as music videos, movie previews, interviews, video-advertisements, and sponsored ads.
Promotional videos can work well if certain guidelines are adhered to. An interesting service or product, clearly demonstrated in an eye-catching but genuine way (blatant trickery will just annoy most potential clients), where viewer participation is encouraged tend to go down well and achieve results. Remember, you’ll want your video to go viral not unnoticed. The tag function is imperative for targeting your market. Mood-related adjectives make great tags that lure viewers. Competition for viewer interest is intense so you need to be über-creative to make this form of marketing work for you.
On the down side, the fact that YouTube does not let users put clickable links alongside their videos which means that no matter how awesome your video is the viewer is effectively locked in to YouTube and will have to leave the site completely to get to your website. But once again, if the video is compelling enough – they will do just that.
Sponsored Advertising on YouTube is available through Google AdWords. This renowned advertising program connects ads with customers by targeting ads to this specific site or basing them on carefully selected keywords, advertisers get to write their own message and set their own price for each ad click, which results in complete control for the advertiser.
YouTube SuccessesIf you’re anything like the average TV viewer you probably use the ad breaks during your favourite shows to make a cup of tea. When you think of how much money the advertises paid for you to miss their ads – you wonder why they bothered coughing it all up in the first place? Video sharing sites like YouTube are changing the way we view adverts. Well the way we view the good ones at least.
BMW has tapped into this - They created a BMW South Africa channel on YouTube and uploaded a bunch of ads. One of them has been viewed 735,952 times. Can you imagine that that many people actually chose to watch an ad. You want to talk about influence and making a brand impression, there it is right there.
On occasion, in this world of consumer generated media, something magical happens. And brands that are listening to what is happening online can seriously benefit.
An unknown teenage girl with the YouTube account name: Bowiechick made a 75 second video clip about her break-up with a boyfriend. While making the clip she played with some of the effects on her new webcam, like putting ears on her head and a moustache on her face with its facial tracking software.
3 days after uploading the video 178 000 people had seen this video and 900 had commented on it (1 year later the video has had 1,906,402 views). The comments had nothing to do with the break up but with the Logitech webcam she had used in the video. All of a sudden the camera broke into Amazon’s Top100 bestselling products list. Probably not a coincidence. Logitech were obviously listening and are now YouTube’s official partner. The products and services out there that are really good are being marketed by ordinary people – and we all know that word of mouth is more valuable than any amount of money you could pump into getting your brand known.
Whether you use YouTube for fun, creativity, social networking, instant fame or as part of a hardcore marketing strategy, the Internet’s most popular video streaming site is here to stay.
Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | NextOther Articles in the How To... Social Media Series :
- Part 1: Social Media - The down low
- Part 2: Social Networking - You can never have too many friends
- Part 3: Social Bookmarking and Aggregating - Avoiding overload
- Part 4: Content Sharing - So hot right now
- Part 5: Blogging - Starting a blog baby, starting a blog
