How to Grow Your Brand Through YouTube

Video marketing is taking over. That statement shouldn’t be a surprise to you. From browsing social media and having video ads interrupt our feeds to celebrities and influencers using their Instagram stories to promote a brand. Video is everywhere and brands are finally realising it. The trouble is, how do you even begin to compete?

 

The Value of Video

YouTube is one of the largest search engines in the world. Users love using the site to get the information they need via short video clips, instead of browsing the web, scouring through blocks of text. They want their information disguised as entertainment. It needs to be engaging, creative and interactive.

That’s not to say any content you post to YouTube stays there. You can reuse or repurpose it for your own website, social media sites and as digital ads. However, it is worth utilising YouTube itself as a platform for your brand to be a little more creative. After all, users mostly go to YouTube to be entertained, to shut off from everyday life just like they would be going to the cinema or binge-watching Netflix shows. This means that your normal marketing strategy might shift somewhat.

 

Introducing YouTube Marketing

The videos you produce as a brand shouldn’t be immediately recognisable as a sales pitch. Users don’t want to sit their through a 10 minute video that offers them nothing but a long, drawn out advert. Think of YouTube marketing as more of a brand awareness strategy. Though this might not seem profitable to you at first, as a business, you need to understand that familiarity is key to building trust and thus purchases. If a customer feels like they know your brand, they’re going to trust you enough to want to buy from you.

We’ve put together some top tips on the type of video content you should be producing as a business:

How-To Videos – As YouTube can often be used as a search engine where users need to find an answer to their query or visualise how something is done, sharing ‘how-to’ examples can be a great way to get your brand noticed. Regardless of your industry, try and find something relevant and worthwhile that could be useful to consumers.

 

Watch below as Paperchase teach viewers how to wrap up a bottle in a unique and quirky way:

Behind the Scenes – People are inquisitive. They want to know the insider scoop and how something came to fruition. People also buy other people. Sit down with members of your team for a mini interview session. Make them fun as well as informative. Client case studies are also a great way to build awareness.

Tell a Story – Think of the John Lewis advert at Christmas; we anticipate its release because it has not only become a part of tradition but they are never overly ‘salesy’ despite being adverts. They tell a story that is creative, funny or emotive. Consumers want to see video that makes them feel something so that they talk about it at work the next day or share it with their families. Try to think outside of normal sales techniques. Make your marketing creative and engaging. Think of all the shares, the press releases and articles online linking back to your brand. It’s an SEO dream.

Measuring Success

This isn’t too difficult considering YouTube does a lot of the work for you. You’ll obviously be able to keep track of the views as well as the quality of those views and what time most people stopped watching. You can also see shares per social network, watch your subscribers grow and check the obvious likes, dislikes and comments. You can also add UTM links to your description boxes as a way of tracking visits.

 

Get Ahead

Despite how much YouTube has grown over the last few years in particular, there are many brands that aren’t driving video marketing through the platform. This means you still have the chance to dominate in your industry by creating content that matters.

For more information on video or digital marketing and the content production services we offer, contact us here.