Marketing a small business with YouTube advertising may result in the biggest bang for the buck of any marketing tactic you use to build your brand, to influence the voices that will influence your potential customers, and to present your product or service information to a broad audience. But there is a huge amount of hype in circulation about the value and popularity of the various social media, including YouTube.
There are some myths abroad about all of the social media and about YouTube advertising. Let's see which ones need to be debunked.
- The popularity of social media has exploded in the past 18 months and can be expected to continue to grow exponentially into the foreseeable future. This is false. The popularity of social media has actually begun to decline. This does not mean it should be ignored for marketing value. To the contrary, the opportunity to reach even 1/4 of the currently active members of social sites is worth the time, cost and effort. YouTube has the potential to reach 800 million people globally.
- Twitter is the most important of the social media. This, also, is false. First, according to a recent study by Marketing Profs, LLC (The State of Social Media, 2009), most businesses with Twitter accounts actually have 100 followers or less. It is primarily the media - who are the ones talking about the popularity of Twitter - who have the staggering numbers of followers.
- Facebook is more important than YouTube advertising. This statement is also false. A year ago it was more important to have a presence on Facebook than on YouTube. This is no longer true. A powerful presence on YouTube will be of more benefit today.
Marketing a small business with YouTube advertising makes a great deal of sense for small businesses for several reasons.
First, unlike television advertising, you do not need to pay for a time slot or rely on only the people who are watching when your ad runs. Posting a video on YouTube is free. What is more, once posted, it is always available for people to see. Whenever someone executes a search for one of the keywords you attach to your video, it is accessible. Think of YouTube advertising as the ad that never sleeps.
Second, unlike most advertising venues, YouTube advertising is always on and can go viral at any moment. Think back for a moment to what YouTube did for Susan Boyle last year! A video that goes viral could be seen by 800 million people around the world!
Third, it does not have to cost a fortune to place an ad on YouTube. You do not need to rent a studio, hire professional actors, have a professionally written script, and use the industry's best equipment. Many of the most popular videos used in YouTube advertising were filmed using a web-cam or a personal video camera.
Fourth, your video for YouTube advertising actually should not be a typical commercial. People do not go to YouTube to view TV commercials. If they leave the room, tune them out or edit them out when watching TV, why would they be interested in them on the Internet? The more creative, entertaining, surprising, informative and/or relevant the video the greater will be its interest in YouTube advertising.
One of the most popular YouTube ads was a video of a man trying to mix very strange things in a blender (with a clearly visible brand name). After laughing at the crazy combinations attempted and the hilarious results, viewers saw the man finally mix the right ingredients to create a perfect drink. This was followed by an announcement that the video was presented by the manufacturer of the blender.
You can create videos at a very low-cost and post them to the site for no additional cost. What you will need to invest is time and creativity. Your creativity will need to be personal and relevant; the video will need to be actionable; and it will be best if your video shows how people can interact with your brand.
What can you expect to achieve? Of the people who used YouTube advertising for PR purposes, 29.1% said it worked great, while another 49.3% said it worked a little (according to the MarketingProfs Fall 2009 Survey). Of businesses that posted a video on YouTube and used the analytics from the site to profile the people who viewed the video, 28.8% said it worked great and 35.6% said it worked a little.
Producing a video that is engaging, entertaining, relevant to your product or service, and personal to prospective customers can be very effective advertising. It can help you build your brand, associate your products or services with a particular group and achieve your PR goals. With a little luck, your YouTube advertising video could go viral and you could win the small business marketing sweepstakes.
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