Why use YouTube for videos?

Youtube.com is the 2nd highest used site globally. That's a lot of traffic! So how can you make YouTube work to market your website and business?

With an estimated 60 million unique viewers per month, YouTube is one busy website.

Ok so when you think of YouTube, you may just think of funniest home videos, guys dancing on treadmills or Justin Bieber. Yes its full of all sorts... but... its also full of companies marketing themselves such as Cadbury and John West and j6 design.

Use YouTube video in your marketing because:

• Video engages customers longer. For over 30 secs they’ll be watching your video and the messages you can convey.
• Video allows people to visually understand your product and message.
• Videos provide content to be shared within communities and networks.
• Videos are cheap and easy to produce and most video sharing websites are free.

Tips for marketing on YouTube:

• First work out what type of video your will be: informative, educational or entertainment?
• Focus on something fun, something that people will want to share with friends.
• Clearly demonstrate the product you’re marketing.
• Take advantage of YouTube tags; use adjectives to target people searching based on mood; and match your title and description to the tags.
• On videos there is a share option. You can share by email address or with friends you have attached to your account. Remember the more friends you have the more people you can send to.
• Go viral with your marketing campaigns for videos. Send videos out to your client base, friends etc with a link to the video and an encouragement to share it.
• Participate in the YouTube community.
• Make sure your videos direct visitors to your site. Tens of thousands of viewers watching your videos sounds great, unless they have no direction to find your business afterwards. We recommend a special “landing page” for viewers coming to your site from YouTube.
• Most YouTube videos are shot with a home camera. YouTube videos are 320 x 400 pixels. Less important is the equipment, while more important is technique. If you've got a camcorder with an external mic input, use it the sound quality will be better.
• Choose your keywords carefully. Choose words that best fit your subject area and niche. Keywords should draw in a broad enough audience to get the exposure you seek, but not too much.

Put your video on your website

Don't expect your video to go viral

48 hours of video are loaded to YouTube every minute, so you're probably better off playing Powerball than waiting for your clip to take off. Think base hits, not home runs. Raw numbers aren't as important as reaching the right customers, so don't freak out if you're nowhere near a million views.

Check out these top viral videos

Brand	Campaign	Views	Watch it
Blendtec	Will it Blend?	173,200,818
Evian	Live Young	158,185,452
Volkswagen	The Force	58,537,201
Old Spice	The Man Your Man Could Smell Like	51,048,338
Doritos	Crash The Super Bowl 2010	47,267,865