How to Use YouTube to Your Advantage

 

Did you know? The YouTube video, “Baby Shark Dance” had over 10.4 billion views. If you think about it, there’s approximately 7.9 billion people in the world, so that means most YouTube users have seen this video. (The reason there’s more views than people in the world is because many people have played it multiple times.) This statistic alone testifies to how many people are actively using this app. YouTube is extremely influential, you can find videos that families have posted of memories, food and craft tutorials, music and so much more.

Many companies have joined YouTube to give a fresh perspective on what their company has to offer and to make them more relatable. Our class textbook, Essentials of Social Media Marketing, by Michelle Charello gives an outline of a good content strategy for YouTube. First, include a channel trailer to essentially introduce your product/service to potential customers. Second, experiment with different types of video content such as inspirational, entertainment, learning, shopping recommendations, etc. Some examples given in our textbook are product reviews, customer testimonials, how-to videos about the product/service you are trying to sell, vlogs, comedy skit videos and unboxing videos. Third, post videos regularly and utilize YouTube Live to introduce new products from your company or maybe even do a raffle for a giveaway! Finally, engage with customers and influencers by commenting or having them promote your product or service. I follow influencers such as Emma Topp, Sadie Crowell, Cora Shircel and Hannah Meloche who are all girls that are around my age. Some went to college, some didn’t but if they were to truly recommend a product, I would try it out.

The types of videos I usually watch are daily vlogs and shopping hauls. I like to see how other college students and girls my age are going about their day. Since I have similar interests to them, I also like to see what products they would recommend and what they’ve most recently purchased. I also love watching travel vlogs to get inspiration on where I want to visit next. Most of the influencers I watch on YouTube are very real and they are vocal about their struggles in life. It’s refreshing to find people that don’t act fake.

YouTube ads are structured and very prevalent. According to our textbook, YouTube targets ads towards people based on demographics (age, gender), lifestyles, passions, life events, in-market segments and more. YouTube can track what keywords are frequently used to better suggest videos and ads that the user would watch. I find that ads I see are usually for things like food and women’s fashion. I find the ads at the beginning of the video I’m about to watch highly annoying, but I can tell you from prior experience that is a way to get potential customers to sit there and watch them.