Companies often post videos about their business on social media. And of course, businesses should post videos on social media. A new study shows that users will remember 95% of a message if it’s presented in video format. Meanwhile, they only remember 10% of information when they have to read it. The take-home lesson? Videos work when it comes to brand awareness.
But don’t just post those videos on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. You should also be posting those videos, and additional footage, on a dedicated YouTube channel. Having a dedicated YouTube channel for your business is just as important as having Facebook and Instagram accounts. These are the reasons why your business must be actively posting videos on YouTube:
- Potential customers use YouTube as a search engine.
- YouTube videos are included in search engine results and increase your SERP rank for your website.
- YouTube can drive sales through shoppable links.
- AdWords for Video is a great way to maximize your advertising budget dollars.
Let’s look at each of these more closely.
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People Use YouTube as a Search Engine, Not Just a Video Platform
YouTube has two billion monthly active users. That’s comparable to Instagram and just shy of Facebook’s monthly audience. But there are big differences between videos on YouTube and videos on other social media platforms. YouTube is more than just a video-watching platform or a place to connect with others. It’s both of these things, but it’s also something else – a search engine.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, says that people perform 3 billion searches per month. That’s more than that of Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com combined. Farhad Manjoo, a tech expert for the New York Times, wrote, “The gargantuan video site is a lot of things to a lot of people — in different ways, YouTube is a little bit like TikTok, a little like Twitch and a little like Netflix — but I think we underappreciate how often YouTube is a better Google. That is, often it is the best place online to find reliable and substantive knowledge and information on a huge variety of subjects.”
You probably work hard to make sure your website is indexed by Google and ranks high in search engine page results (SERPs). Every business considers this a top priority. Making sure you rank high in YouTube results is just as important. And that’s why you want to set up a YouTube channel, consistently produce video content, make sure these videos are top quality, and measure the impact of your videos. At SEO Design Chicago, we can take care of one, or all of these needs, for you.
YouTube Videos Hold Great Positions on Engine Results Pages
When you look at a page of search results on Google, you’ll see several tabs beneath the white search bar. They include a variety of terms such as videos, images, news, and shopping. Although technically any video can appear in Google’s video results, most are YouTube videos.
You may have also noticed that videos are appearing more often on Google’s main search results page. This is because Google knows people prefer watching videos over reading text. If you don’t have any videos on YouTube, then there’s almost no way your company’s videos will be featured in SERPs.
YouTube videos are an easy way to increase even the rank of your text-only pages on your website. Basically, if you make a video, you can include links to your website in the YouTube description. You can also link to your own YouTube videos from your website. Both methods build backlinks to your site.
Experts have long theorized that link building is one of the most important factors in how Google decides your website rank. Creating videos and building links takes time, patience, and outreach. If you don’t have the time to create or manage a YouTube channel, and link from your website to YouTube and vice versa, reach out to us. Conversely, we can train you on how to do this on your own, maintain the practices for you, or get you started.
YouTube Can Drive Sales Through Shoppable Links
Whatever your business is and whether you cater to the young or old, your customer base is on YouTube. Unlike social media, which caters to younger people, every age group visits YouTube regularly. 77% of internet users between ages 15-35 are on YouTube, along with 73% of users aged 36-45, 70% of users aged 46-55 and 67% of users are over 56.
So whether you sell canes for seniors who need help walking, or sell cannabis to college students, you can market your products through YouTube videos. Your business should create videos and post each of them on a YouTube channel dedicated to your business. Note: Don’t upload the videos to a personal YouTube account.
You can start by making a YouTube account for your business. Then, in the videos and description, include shoppable links. That way if someone finds your video on YouTube, they can shop directly. Let’s go through these steps more slowly.
Make a Business YouTube Account
You may have your own YouTube account already, but you want to create one just for your business.
Create a YouTube Channel for a Business
After logging into YouTube, you can now create a channel for your business. To do so, sign in to your YouTube account and click the symbol in the top right corner of the screen. To access your YouTube settings, click the gear button (it looks like a bike gear), then select “new channel” followed by “use a company or other name.” Then write your business or brand name in the “brand name” field and click “create.”
Customize the Account
Before posting videos, make sure your account fits your company’s branding. That means you want to click the “customize channel” button at the top of your account page. You can add a description of the business (including your website link), its location, the main email address, phone number, and more. When writing the business description, you can incorporate keywords that people might use to find you on Google. You may also add links to your other social media accounts if you would like to drive traffic there.
Start Making Videos
These videos can be short and sweet. For example, you can simply showcase products in them. Or you can show off your expertise with longer videos. Whatever you do, include keywords that people might use to find these videos through Google in the title and description. Most importantly, include links to your website’s homepage, and also to any pages on your site from which people might purchase products. These are called shoppable links.
You can also create shoppable links through YouTube Shorts. YouTube Shorts allows users to create and watch short-form videos. Shorts are limited to 60 seconds and can include music, text, and other elements. Businesses will receive a 45% share of ad revenue once the program launches.
AdWords for Video is a Great Way to Maximize your Advertising Budget
In addition to embedding links into videos and descriptions to drive sales, you can create video ads on YouTube. These ads are short and can be simple or complex. Your YouTube video ad should demonstrate what makes your business unique.
There are many online tools to create video ads, or you can hire third-party digital marketing experts like us at SEO Design Chicago to create such ads.
While the ad is being shot and edited, you want to think about your strategy. Who do you want to reach? Where do they live? How much do you want to spend? Do you want your ad to appear in the middle of videos or at the beginning?
Then you enter your goals into YouTube’s free analytics tools. You can watch the results and see if the ads are working or not, and readjust your strategy.
Start Seeing the Benefits of YouTube for Your Business
Millions of companies praise YouTube ads and the importance of having an active YouTube channel. In fact, their testimonials page features stories from Wells Fargo to small, local companies. One owner wrote, “About 50% of our new customers find us through YouTube.” That’s proof that YouTube is used as a search engine, not just a video platform.
Maximizing digital marketing strategies is what we do at SEO Design Chicago all day every day. That’s all we do. Figuring out YouTube Channels and ads on your own will be hard if you also need to sell and do the stuff you’re good at. That’s why so many businesses choose us to help with their YouTube channel and YouTube ad needs. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help your business, get in touch with us today!
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