Social media really does offer plenty of opportunities for branding any small business quickly and positively, even on a small budget. With this in mind, YouTube should play a considerable role in your efforts. YouTube is free to watch and it costs nothing to upload videos that can be shared with others.
YouTube is easily one of the big players in the social media playing field. With more than 120 million US viewers alone, the opportunity to reach your audience on a visual video medium just shouldn’t be missed.
Video offers business owners a way to connect with audiences in a way other mediums simply can’t offer. People viewing your videos get the chance to form a connection with you directly. Video also lets you establish you as an authority on your particular topic or niche quickly. In fact, if you get your video marketing efforts right, you could find it’s much easier to increase sales, too.
Here are some ways to brand your business using YouTube:
Create a YouTube Channel
Your Channel is the place visitors come to in order to see what other videos you have to offer. When visitors arrive at your Channel page, they should see a list of links leading to other videos you have. You can also customize this page to include your
business logo, color scheme, and other elements that will help to distinguish you from other Channels within your niche.
In order to create your YouTube Channel, simply select a name that represents your company, business, product, or even you as the expert. If you’re aiming to establish yourself as an expert, you might want to add your name. You can also create a unique name that will be shown for your Channel.
Once this is registered with YouTube, you will be given your own URL that contains this name in the link. This makes it a lot easier for visitors to recognize you and helps your brand to become more visible.
The URL for your Channel will show like this:
www.youtube.com/username/fullname
Create Your Profile
Your Channel profile can be customized to make it easier for people to find you. The information you include in your profile can be equally as important as the profile information you included in your Facebook Fan Page. You may also include one URL in your profile, so choose the site or blog that best shows off your brand or business.
You have the option of adding an avatar here, so you might choose your business logo or a screenshot or even your product graphic. You can also add other graphics, background images and other branding features that tie in your overall branding theme with your Channel page.
The key is to be consistent with your customization options so your Channel is as easily recognizable to visitors as your website or blog.
Optimize Your Channel
YouTube is searchable. This means you need to find a way to optimize your Channel. Choose your Channel title carefully. Inside the settings under “Edit Channel” you can amend the Channel title that will incorporate your name, your business name or the topic of your video content.
In order for your page to show up in search results when visitors are looking for keywords that relate to your business, you’ll need to add keyword tags too. Think about keywords and tags that people might look for, but don’t go overboard here. You want to attract the right viewers to your Channel, so take some time to think about tags that will attract people who are interested in what you offer. Wherever possible, add relevant tags or keywords that will adequately reflect the video content you offer.
Access All Modules
Inside the “Modules” section, select all the options available. This is important, as you really want visitors to have the highest possible chance of seeing, sharing and enjoying your video content. Selecting all the modules means comments, friends and subscribers will become a part of your YouTube community, which can only help
to increase your brand.
Creating Videos
Many people immediately think of hiring a camera crew to create highly professional TV commercial substitutes for their YouTube videos. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you need to make a video filled with hard-selling tactics. In fact, these don’t work very well on YouTube. Instead, think about ways to engage your viewers. It’s very possible to create very high quality videos using a PowerPoint presentation with a simple voice-over reading a script over the top.
A presentation allows you to make your point, highlight important segments, and really reinforce your message. You have the opportunity to educate, inspire, amuse, inform, or otherwise connect with your viewers this way. Of course you can also use a video camera or web cam to record yourself talking about your business or products. This gives viewers more awareness of who you are within your business.
Increasing YouTube Viewership
Uploading new videos to your Channel on a regular basis is a great start, but you really need to build your viewership to get your brand out as far as possible. Whenever you add a new video, always embed it onto your blog. Link to this from your other social media sites, like Facebook or Twitter, and other sites or blogs you have. This will help to broaden your audience.
Encourage participation wherever possible. A simple call to action at the end of your video could be a great way to get viewers to add comments, leave their opinions, or begin a discussion about your product or service.
When used correctly, YouTube can be a very powerful branding tool for any business.
