Video Marketing and YouTube: go viral

Written by Manuel Barrios Carrasco

From now on, you have to mark it with fire in your mind, you must use the Video Marketing in your Digital StrategyWhy? The online video has overwhelmed us and a premonitory example comes to mind that already warned us and that I invite you to listen to in the following video while you read the article. Listen to “Video Killed the radio Star”, The Buggles.

YouTube is the platform that has set this revolution in motion, in fact it is the number one video website, the second most used search engine after Google and the third largest site in the world with more than 7 billion videos viewed per day.

We are talking about the first “television” with a global reachThe company has more than one billion users, hundreds of millions of hours watched per day, more than 300 hours of video uploaded per minute, and is present in 75 countries and 61 different languages. It has also jumped on the mobile bandwagon, playing more than 50% of the total on these devices. You can see more YouTube statistics here.

With this level of participation and engagement, it is normal that it is one of the favorite platforms for advertisers and advertisers and the investment made in it is growing steadily, where there are already more than one million advertisers.

Why does video and YouTube succeed?

Several factors are driving video to become a benchmark:

• Birth of the most audiovisual generation in history: technology has advanced and the“early adopters” have changed the way of doing things, but not only them, it has spread to all ages.
• Universal access to personalized content: content targeted to specific communities accessible from anywhere in the world with just a decent internet connection.
• Streaming is here to stay: the way of watching videos and television has changed and in fact it is the television platforms that are increasingly adapting to this format by including streaming in their services.
• The greatest convergence between screens and platforms: whether mobile, tablet or desktop.
• It is a simple, accessible and inexpensive technology: I only need to have access to a connection and a cell phone with a camera.
• Personalization: I see it how, where and when I want.

But don’t I already have a TV?

The best thing about using the YouTube platform is that its operation is very different from that of television. the audience we will reach will be different, and above all, the way in which we will reach them will mark a different relationship. What does YouTube offer me versus the traditional method of video, television?

• The reach is global: I don’t limit myself to a specific channel or geographic area as in television, so I can reach many more users.
• Despite the globality, the experience is personal, it is not the same for everyone: each one watches these videos alone and as he/she wants without the need for it to be an established global experience.
• There are no limits, no time limits, no time limits, no content limits: on YouTube it is unlimited. 365 days, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
• It is social: you can participate and interact, while television has an asocial character and interaction is minimal.
• The audience is segmented by communities: which are really passionate. It is not an audience of a particular age or location, but a community interested in a particular topic.
• The user is not passive, he is active: he discovers your video, he can share it, comment on it and even create parallel content. At the same time you can interact with advertising.
• Creators don’t just make a video and upload it: with the video they can brand, monetize, make themselves known, create community, go viral, etc.
• Brands therefore not only show themselves but can connect with the user: expressing their message but with the possibility of going further in the relationship with them.
• The user does not have to “endure” these advertising videos until the content he/she was watching starts again, as was the case on television: depending on the type of ad, some can avoid them or close them after a few seconds, and their motivations are different since they are looking for more inspiration in YouTube videos, or entertainment or information. The environment is different.
  

  With my videos I connect with people in a different way, everything is more direct, there are no filters.

Brands must seize this opportunity

Faced with this, as is normal, brands have not remained aside as mere spectators, but understand that it is an opportunity and begin to use the platform for advertising. But it is important to keep in mind:

• Video is essential in all phases of the customer relationship process. It cannot be used only in advertisement mode, but must be developed in parallel interactive content or content that does not only talk about your own brand in order to create engagement, interaction, action and loyalty.
• The advertising of the future must be built and take advantage of the use of Big Data in video marketing: there is no definitive model, we build it day by day. Big Data and real-time data should be used to create new ideas and proposals for advertising or user participation and interaction through video.
• The video will be customizable with this data. There are already videos that offer the possibility of continuing its viewing in one way or another depending on the participation of users with it, its virality in social networks, etc.
• The triumph of engagement, it is about being able to make them choose your brand and not impose your ad, it is the time of the jumping ad and the fight for interaction.

How does YouTube work?

YouTube is a video content hosting platform, with worldwide streaming access, where any user can upload and share videos. It uses an Adobe Flash-based online player to serve the content as well as a standard player supported by all browsers. The uploaded videos can be shared on social networks, but also on personal websites using the API or embedding part of HTML code.

In addition to using YouTube to search for and view video content, users can be creators and upload their own videos or create their own channel with their own content.

Advertising on YouTube

Since 2011, the “Google Partners” project was initiated through which real income is granted through Google AdSense to the users with the largest audience on YouTube. This has allowed creators to monetize their reproductions and companies to start placing ads either within the video, on the side of the video or on the platform itself.

Advertising on YouTube will therefore be found:

• When the user enters: through the fixed ads on the header or sides of the YouTube home page or through the recommended videos displayed on the home page.
• When the user discovers and searches for videos: on the video search results screen, either through banners/display, sponsored and suggested videos.
• When the user plays: with video ads before, during or after playback or with banners inserted in the video we are watching.
• When the user interacts with us: either through the branded YouTube channel or by studying their behavior in YouTube Analytics.

Is content still king?

Of course, the content is the essence of the proper functioning of the use of YouTube, since it is no longer necessary to upload videos that will no longer be used on television or to neglect their production. Now YouTube becomes your own TV channel.

• Create your own YouTube Channel: take great care in personalizing your profile, study your YouTube users well and create a channel for them, not for your marketing manager.
• Create a community and redirect traffic to it: create high quality content that brings together a community of followers, interact with them, let them contribute content, comments and that can be shared. Once you have that community, you can redirect traffic to other parts of your online business and offer them other content.
• Including YouTube videos on your website can give you traffic, it is an attractive content, perhaps the most attractive and it usually increases your traffic or the time that users stay on your page.
• Success will be based on achieving a fruitful relationship between your content and user activation.

How to get user activation?

In order for the user to interact with your content and participate in your video or advertising proposal, it is necessary to comply with several guidelines:

• Optimization of titles, descriptions, tags: you must get a title that invites to click, the description must be commercial and contain the keywords chosen to activate that video and of course it is essential to choose the tags according to the theme and the target audience to which the video is addressed.
• Customize the thumbnails of the video: use a striking image, of good quality and that makes it attractive to click on play.
• Use annotations to drive audiences to your website, ecommerce: get subscribers to your channel or generate additional visits or views to other videos or products on your website.
• Create a playlist in your channel that guides the user.
• Get collaborations with successful creators on YouTube: they have a wide audience and are related to your target audience, get “into” their communities and gain new followers or views.
• Develop your video marketing: stand out and be discovered, get your message amplified and involve your community to share it, give their opinion, etc. In short, create a brand to become a reference, do not be afraid to challenge your audience and innovate.

As you can see, we are facing the key platform in video and a basic pillar in the Online Marketing Strategy.

Video Marketing is a magnificent tool and YouTube is the queen platform, in the next post, we will show you the possible ad formats, their functionalities, and how to launch, manage and measure a campaign in Google AdWords.

And you, do you think YouTube is essential in Online Strategy, do you know how to make a good video? Tell us about it…