How to use YouTube for small businesses

People watch over 5 billion YouTube videos daily. Is using Youtube for small businesses effective marketing strategy – how do you stay relevant on a platform that has 30 million daily users?

The video giant is more than just a platform for makeup vloggers and funny cat fails. Over 1.9 billion logged-in users visit Youtube on a monthly basis. That is more than half the internet, and they watch over billions of Youtube videos.

How will this help your business? According to Hootsuite, since 2016, twice as many SMEs are now advertising on youTube.

If you have a business that incorporates a video marketing strategy to get customers and generate leads, chances are you have chosen youtube as an effective marketing tool for it. Since youtube is a free platform, everyone uses it.

Why and How Does YouTube Marketing Work for small businesses?

YouTube was formed in early 2005 and has grown rapidly since. Every minute, people around the world upload more than 300 hours worth of video footage to YouTube.

It is the second most-visited website on the entire web.

The first-ever Youtube video was published in 2005! According to an article by Impact, it is estimated that by the end of this year, 80% of all web traffic will be claimed by video. Video is still one of the best forms of content marketing strategy with regard to engagement.

YouTube and Small businesses in India:

YouTube has completed over 10 years in India. Over its time, the video marketing platform has penetrated to over 80% of India’s internet universe.  India has over 30 million small businesses, and YouTube has over 225 million monthly active users on the platform, from mobile devices alone.

65% of Indian viewers are subscribed to YouTube channels. Therefore, uploading Youtube videos is a good way for your business to collect leads and interact with your customers.

How to use YouTube for small business:

Creating a business account: You must have a Google account, in order to engage with videos by either liking, sharing, subscribing or commenting on them. Your Google account could be your Gmail account.

What kind of videos should you share? The length of the average YouTube video is 4 minutes and 20 seconds. But video length can range from short to long videos over 20 minutes in length. Based on your business, create videos that form a part of your audience.

Split your videos into playlists, like ‘How to’ videos or customer stories etc.

Define your marketing strategy. Write down specific targets you wish to achieve using youtube to grow your business:

• Clicks/traffic
• Engagement
• Reach/subscriber numbers

Once you get started:

• Talk to customers in the comments of your videos to gain their trust.
• Invite customers to subscribe to your channel for updates.
• Slowly, collaborate with top YouTubers to publish sponsored video content about your products on their channels.

Tips to use YouTube for Small Business:

YouTube for your small business is more than just a video-sharing platform. It is an elaborate glossary that carries everything your company wishes to market and inform your audience. Besides this, you can adopt these short, sure-fire tips to up your Youtube game:

Take your YouTube mobile:

A mobile ad on YouTube attracts your customers’ attention 83% of the time. According to a study by over 50% of YouTube’s video views occur on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.  Video consumption on mobile devices doubles every year, based on numbers from YouTube.

Use Subtitles in your videos:

India has over 100 languages. however, a third of the country speaks basic English, therefore, it is important to enable subtitles in your videos. Simply turn on auto-captioning and edit the output for accuracy. Over millions of hearing-impaired users appreciate captions, and they are optional, so those who do not need it can disable it.

Leverage your content:

Avoid over-promoting. Integrate visuals and mentions of products discreetly and naturally. The video shouldn’t come across as one big sales pitch. So, steer clear of hammed-up dialogue. It can alienate viewers.

Besides this, optimise your content. Enter relevant and useful titles, descriptions and keywords that are clear from the beginning and helps your audience find your videos through search engines.

The most popular YouTube channels are those that have a good volume of consistent and frequently updated content.

If your business conducts webinars, break it up and post them as a series of videos. For infographics, you can re-purpose them into explainer videos, or create short tutorials or product demos. Tell your audience more about your brand story, your staff and your goals.

Invest in the right equipment:

This might sound expensive, but it is an investment too. Buy quality filming equipment to record your videos. Your camera should produce crisp and clear images. Set aside a budget for your video marketing, invest in a good camera, mic and tripod.

Trim your video content down to the essential bits. Keep your videos short, as much as possible.

Talk to your customers:

Use the ‘Community’ tab (located in your channel’s main page) to post images, GIFs, and video previews, as well as to poll your subscribers. Reply regularly to comments and feel free to feature your customers on your channel.

Do not forget to monitor channel analytics using the free Youtube Keyword Research Tool. Businesses on YouTube have access to analytics about views, subscribers, demographics and more. This helps you keep out a watchful eye and see where you can improve with regard to your content.

How Instamojo facilitates payments through YouTube:

We use the video-sharing platform too! You can find a plethora of ‘How-to’ videos on Instamojo YouTube channel, along with snippets of our company culture and customer stories.

Also, we allow our sellers to collect payments from YouTube! How? Simply copy/paste your payment link onto your YouTube video description page and your customers will be redirected to the payment gateway page.

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