Over the last several years YouTube has become a serious marketing platform where businesses are given the opportunity to promote content in a truly visual and highly engaging way.
Today, more than 1.9 billion users visit YouTube on a monthly basis and watch billions of hours of videos every day, making YouTube the second most visited website in the world.
YouTube has also become an extremely powerful tool for businesses to increase awareness of their brand, drive more traffic to their company sites, and reach a broad global audience.
If you’re like many business owners, you may be unsure of how to get started on YouTube. While it’s not rocket science, it will take time and effort to make it successful. Building your YouTube channel requires a roadmap to keep you on track.
Consider these three guidelines to help you get started:
Create Your Roadmap – Before you can create your roadmap, you first need to define yourself. Know who you are, what you like, and how you want to present yourself to your target audience. Focus on something that you’re knowledgeable or passionate about. Just do what you love, do it well and you’ll be able to attract an audience.
What is Your Capability? – While not critical, content on YouTube that has a higher production quality tends to get more views. Got the latest equipment? Great. Use it. If not, there is no need to rush out and buy it – for starters, use whatever is at hand. You can (and should) upgrade later.
Are you good with a microphone, telling a story, organizing content? These skills are important and even the best of us are constantly working to improve these aspects of our online presence. Again, don’t wait for perfection – just do it!
Who’s Your Audience? – This is a must and is the most important part of having a YouTube channel. Creating a good relationship with your audience will single-handedly decide your success or failure. Everything that you do needs to be focused on building that audience. Growing your audience will also build demographic information that can use to tailor your content and appeal to a broader audience.
The Take Away
If you aren’t taking advantage of YouTube for your business you are missing out on a powerful marketing tool for your company or brand.
Start with a schedule and stick to it. Regular content helps keep your audience’s attention making it much easier for you to develop a long term relationship with them.
If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, I encourage you to get started. You will be surprised by the results.