YouTube is undeniably the most popular social media platform for videos today. According to the site, there are over 800 million unique users who visit YouTube and over 4 billion hours of video watched each month. YouTube also has a global reach with 70% of its traffic coming from countries outside the US. Its videos are localized in 43 countries and across 60 languages.
Needless to say, any business that uses YouTube stands to benefit from it. Here’s how you can use the channel to build your brand and engage customers:
Product Demonstrations
Utilize your YouTube account to upload product demos, especially if your product is new or unfamiliar to most users. For instance, Windows released a Windows 8 consumer preview demo on YouTube to introduce the new OS. Windows 8 can still be used for the familiar desktop, but it also responds to the shift to touchscreen devices. It runs your familiar PC applications but also works for apps, so there was a need to introduce customers to the design shift and new functions.
Another great idea would be to come up with videos that simplify the more technical aspects of your product for customers. Commoncraft’s Plain YouTube account does this with various technologies, simplifying complex terms through its “Plain English” videos.
How-to Videos and Workshops
Create simple instructional videos for customers who are looking for help online. This frees up your customer service phone lines, since people can just refer to your videos for their commonly-asked questions. RingCentral cloud phone system does this on their YouTube page, showing customers how to set up call forwarding, change voicemail settings, send faxes on Softphones, and more.
You can also record full length workshops or seminars and upload these in parts through YouTube. Customers would appreciate the free knowledge. You can even use YouTube’s commenting system to generate discussion and create buzz.
Video Archives
Putting all your videos – old and new – in your YouTube account is the easiest way to manage, distribute, and collate your video content. If you’re an established brand, you can upload even your old commercials on your YouTube account. Watching old commercials can make viewers nostalgic, prompting them to share the sentiment to friends on other social media sites.
Archiving your videos also help customers search for your brand. Coca-Cola, for instance, has a huge archive of their commercials from all over the world. If you wanted to write articles about Coca-Cola commercials, you can just refer to the YouTube page.
Then there’s Nike, which did an amazing job for a viral video campaign for its inaugural national five-a-side football tournament called ‘Show Your 5’. The company gave YouTube users the opportunity to edit and publish Nike content, personal photos and videos, and tournament footage using a Video Masher tool. One of the YouTube super-users was also tapped to attend the tournaments and create YouTube videos. The campaign gathered for Nike around 1,000 YouTube clips all archived in the Nike site.
Old Spice, a Procter & Gamble brand, also garnered a lot of attention for their hilarious and witty commercials all uploaded on YouTube. If you look at their YouTube account, the viral “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” has since garnered close to 44.3 million views since it was uploaded on YouTube three years ago.
YouTube is a popular and fun platform. Take advantage of its features to engage customers and build your brand online.