Why Your Business Needs a Dynamite YouTube Marketing Strategy— Like, NOW

— July 10, 2018

We’re not sure we need to convince you that people love watching videos.

But in case you didn’t realize how much, users watch ONE BILLION hours of YouTube per day— royally spanking the watch times of any other video hosting platform.

As the second largest search engine in the world, maintaining an active YouTube channel is kind of a marketing must-have.

So why is it that corporations resist jumping on the YouTube marketing bandwagon?

Maybe they assume the competition is too high. Or maybe they’re too busy schmoozing it up trying to rank on Google, they neglect to explore the full power of YouTube as a traffic source and sales tool.

If ranking higher, getting more website views or landing more leads and sales matters to your business, discover how a refined YouTube marketing strategy can get you there:

1. YouTube Helps You Rank on the Papa of all Search Engines: Google

NEWSFLASH: Google bought YouTube in 2006 and has since been investing years and unfathomable amounts of money into advancing their search tool.

If YouTube was a person, he’d be Google’s eccentric, vintage camera-yielding son. And if YouTube is owned by Google…don’t you think papa Google has a reason to show the search engine extra love?

Afterall, companies promote their own assets, and you betcha Google promotes the crap out of its video marketing platform.

Here are some ways YouTube rules Google search:

YouTube Dominates the Videos Featured on Google’s Rich Snippets & Organic Results

A study by Wistia found that YouTube royally knocks the socks off of all other video hosting platforms when it comes to snippets ranking on Google.

Plus, for organic search results, you’re more likely to see a YouTube video suggestion as an easy answer to your query above all other video sources. Think about it? Have you ever seen a Wistia video listed right on the results page?

Let’s not forget that video results show up as thumbnails, which are both eye-catching and take up a lot of real estate on the results page. An organic result of your video could potentially bump your competitors further down or onto page two.

YouTube Gets its Own “Videos” & “Images” Search Tabs on Google Result Pages

Whenever you do a Google search, you get a few different “tabs” you can select from such as News, Maps, Shopping, etc., two of which are devoted solely to Videos and Images.

Who hosts the video results? You guessed it— YouTube. Meaning, when people are filtering their Google results to only see videos, you need to be on YouTube to wrestle with the competition.

YouTube users also have advantages on Google’s Images search tab. If the uploader knows a thing or two about SEO and optimizes their image with keywords, the video thumbnail also has a chance of ranking on an image search.

2. YouTube is its Own (Kickbutt) Search Engine

Again, YouTube is an actual search engine, people— the second largest search engine in the WORLD!

Your marketing team invests all this time trying to rank, oftentimes tunnel-visioning on Google as the only highway to get to their destination, forgetting that Route YouTube is even on the map.

All efforts, all SEO KPIs, are typically focused around improving your ranking on Google (or Bing) and users often neglect tracking optimization performance elsewhere.

In fact, for many marketers, YouTube is like Robert Frost’s The Road Less Traveled.

Oftentimes, the video hosting platform is written off as a completely different beast, as if it’s a dirt road when you want paved. Either you’re a big-shot YouTube influencer who drives a Jeep and makes a career out of off-roading, or you’re a more distinguished marketer who drives a Cadillac and uses “professional” video hosting platforms like Wistia or Vimeo.

What many companies don’t realize is that YouTube traffic can be an incredibly more powerful ranking asset than other video hosting platforms, and sometimes‚ even more so than Google itself.

Here’s what sets YouTube apart as its own rockstar search engine:

YouTube has the Perfect Domain Authority

YouTube has a flawless domain authority (DA) score— a 100, meaning, something posted on the domain has a greater chance of appearing higher on the search engine results page (SERP) than lower ranking domains like Wistia with a DA of 80 and Vimeo with a 96.

This authority comes from the insane amount of backlinks, interactions and views the website gets a day, high above any other video host.

YouTube is the 3rd Highest Trafficked Site Across the Entire Web

In addition to being the second largest search engine, YouTube traffic is insane.

It’s third most trafficked website on the entirety of the internet, just behind Google itself and Facebook.

People are on there every day, and with such a large audience at your fingertips, it seems silly to focus on lesser volume websites and ignore this popular platform.

In the same way that you would optimize your website to rank on Google, there are plenty of ways you get optimize your videos to rank better on YouTube itself and develop clear calls-to-actions to get users onto your website.

3. YouTube Helps Potential Customers Make Purchasing Decisions

How many times have you trolled YouTube for a product review, advice or how-to tips? A lot. Well, so too do your prospective customers.

In fact, according to Think with Google, 68% of YouTube viewers watch videos to help make a purchasing decision.

 

With nearly three quarters of potential buyers searching for details on the video platform to help justify them closing, it’s more important than ever for you to be on the search engine.

 

Let’s explore how you can leverage your YouTube marketing strategy to delight possible buyers:

Potential Buyers Trust Feedback from Others in Video Reviews

When weighing their options, people typically turn to other sources to get honest, unbiased feedback.

They trust communicators who they perceive as credible, either for being an expert or for delivering their message clearly and sincerely.

Many companies miss this fact, thinking if they post videos of themselves using the product or explaining the service, that’s all they need to hit home.

Sometimes it does, but most of the time, people are seeking material that’s not promoted by the source itself— because, of course the company itself would try to convince you they’re awesome!

Think of ways you could use your current audience and promoters to genuinely promote your brand. Post testimonials videos with real interviews and feedback, or ask someone who already knows a thing or two about your industry if they’d give you a professional, honest review after trying your product or service.

The key here is to keep it real and, preferably, coming from both you and other supporting channels.

Making a “Face-to-Face” Connection on YouTube can Build Trust

There’s nothing better than face-to-face interactions, but with today’s incredible video quality and the power of interactive editing, video marketing is becoming more and more personable.

Cameras capture tone of voice, facial expressions, body language and tons of other cues that when edited seamlessly, can really make viewers feel like they’re interacting with a real person (because, well— they are!).

It’s no surprise that trust is built through these personalized meets. In fact, according to Forbes, you are twice as likely to convert prospects into customers with an in-person meeting.

Well, when you can do that— video is your best alternative. Make sure you’re showing off real people on your YouTube channel and not just showing off fancy products.

Prioritize Improving Your YouTube Ranking!

After all this, we have one big question for you:

Are you measuring your YouTube rankings the same way you measure your Google rankings?

Dominating the video platform’s search results pages is just an important to your marketing strategy as tracking your Google rankings.

 

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