Using YouTube

YouTube is the third most visited website in the UK; globally, the site has over 490 million unique users per month.  It is hard, in fact, to browse online without running into YouTube results for news, entertainment, sporting goods, promos and trailers, how-tos, and more.  There are apps to make it more convenient for mobile users, and it is incorporated into smart TVs.  YouTube is a great source of information and entertainment, and it can be an excellent business tool.  Here are some tips for maximising your video presence:

• As with web content, make sure that you are offering solid, quality video for your visitors. What do you have to show them? Whether it is funny or informational, make sure that it offers something that is worth trading a few minutes of time for because there are millions of other videos for them to try instead.
• Share videos via social media sites.
• Establish a YouTube channel with a business-related username.
• Make sure your videos are short and sweet. Get to the point; people do not tend to visit YouTube to settle in for the night with a bucket of popcorn. They want to get the information or snippet they want and then be able to move on.
• Optimise your video with targeted keywords in the title and description. You can also add your business email and website address onscreen, or link to it, as well to direct traffic.
• Make sure you put the most important words first in your description. You have a limited number of characters, so you want to both optimise it in terms of keywords and in terms of giving the viewer enough information.
• Link to your site via YouTube, and use your site to link to videos back on YouTube.
• Encourage viewer comments and respond to them, particularly negative ones.