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| Make money on YouTube and other social media platforms! |
YouTube and Google are the top two search engines in the world; and YouTube viewership is over 2 billion people per month (YouTube Stats). YouTube uses video titles, descriptions and tags to index videos. YouTube videos are becoming more and more popular as they reach audiences of all ages. This global reach could be used to create exposure to your company and brand. People searching videos look at two aspects of the video before watching. First, how many subscribers do you have? Second, how many videos do you have? The reality is, viewers watch what other people watch or what is popular that day, week or month. YouTube tells viewers what’s hot, recommended and trending at the time.
The “You” in YouTube
Discovering YouTube and all it has to offer is the best first step. It can be quite overwhelming but you need to jump right in and start using YouTube in order to start realizing the monetizing benefits. Make sure you bookmark the site and visit the site often. You will begin to see trends and will be given suggestions on what to watch. YouTube will recommend channels for you based on your search engine results and your likes and dislikes.
This is where your research begins because you can see the videos that millions of people are viewing, start to categorize popular videos, brainstorm ideas and ask yourself the important questions about your own business and strategies. Some questions you may want to consider are: What videos are popular and why? Are they funny? Emotional? Educational? Then ask yourself: What are these companies trying to accomplish? How are they driving traffic to their videos and websites? Are these companies trying to sell goods and/or services? What brand are they trying to build? Your next step is to take a look at your competitors and figure out what they are doing to achieve real business results. Are they implementing them in an organized way? If yes, how so? If no, what lessons are you learning from their mistakes? Statistics show that approximately 33% of viewers watch the first 30 seconds of video and then tend to lose interest and 60% of viewers click off after two minutes.
After you have asked yourself these principal questions and researched competitors and popular tastes, it’s time to clarify a concise marketing strategy, set specific goals on YouTube and stay consistent. Your business can benefit from this type of planning in a variety of ways. For example, you will see benefits from driving viewers to your website; your brand becomes memorable and people connect and want to engage with a brand that helps them, teaches them and informs them in a special way.
Top Three Benefits of YouTube
YouTube has dozens of benefits for businesses, including these top three (in no specific order), which we consider to be the most significant.
First
YouTube drives traffic to your website. The content you are creating is original and creative and when viewers search for anything related to your business – they find your video and on your video you have a clickable link to both your website and another video you have created. As well, you need a call-to-action to close the loop and begin to have a meaningful relationship with your viewer. “Call-to-action”, means, asking viewers to sign up for a newsletter, subscribe, learn more on your blog, check out your contest and visit your website.
Second
YouTube is a popular place for socializing, sharing and starting conversations, not only for fans but also for content creators. Every video you post is another opportunity for a viewer to like it, subscribe to it, forward it to another fan, embed it in their blog and provide you with a positive endorsement. Of course, all it takes is getting one positive endorsement, which you are able to respond to, and others will begin to bond with your brand and the chances of you being found increase.
Third
YouTube videos generate sales in the long run. It is probably best to begin with the soft sell and later the hard sell because you first need to build trust with your viewers. In other words, do not tell people to buy your product or service directly; instead, offer them advice, teach them, converse with them, respond to comments, answer questions in a professional, honest manner and this will lead to the hard sell in the end. Ultimately, your sales success will be the result of your interaction, creativity and proper planning.
YouTube Videos
It is crucial to think about YouTube videos in groups or series and to remember that it takes time to build quality content. A series of successful YouTube videos are the end goal so never think one video is good enough to have a YouTube presence. It may be a strategic idea to create videos in 10 groups of 10 and then upload one or two videos per week. In other words, you need to plan and constantly be producing new, fresh and original video content that viewers can like and share. As well, you need to push and pull viewers from one of your videos to another one of your videos. Your company needs engaging and creative videos and therefore brainstorming and hiring the proper creative team is key.
YouTube Creator Playbook
Google and download the YouTube Creator Playbook to help you build your audience on YouTube, understand Analytics, get great tips, suggestions, step-by-step instruction and detailed explanations. This playbook is not only for content creators but it is also for anyone hiring content creators. The more you know about YouTube, the more you can target exactly what you need because you will know what is available and attractive for your own personal business strategy.
One Social Platform?
Do not rely on only one social platform to conduct your business or marketing strategy online. At the minimum use three sites and attempt to add others as you grow and learn how to use the first three effectively and cohesively.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
YouTube videos are content useful for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and each video has the opportunity to drive traffic not only to your website but also to a clickable link to another one of your YouTube videos. New video content added to your website will help increase your rankings on search engines. Social Media Platforms are cross-pollinators, so there is a need to get people to follow you on a variety of social networks. You need to have a connection with your audience via all social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Blog Sites. The more you integrate your social media, the more viewers and followers will encounter your brand and this will lead to increased opportunity to influence them.
Social Media Optimization
Social media optimization (SMO) takes a holistic approach that not only encompasses strategic and careful planning but also creative content and the absolute need to include Google Analytics in the process to strengthen your web presence. We need to emphasize the importance of a continuous cost/benefit analysis and a time commitment. SMO is all about planning. Plan for the best, but also understand the need to highlight the risks involved. It will minimize the surprise when something goes wrong.
Multi-Channel Networks
A multi-channel network is essentially a company that provides a service to individuals and companies. The service involves the establishing a partnership with YouTube to essentially monetize and monitor video content for the client. Research suggests that a multi-channel network can be useful to connect clients and businesses with similar, complementary content. This form of networking leads to social media optimization, engaging the viewer and networking with other creative talent.
In other words, online content is a long-term investment and is useful when collaborating with others to grow followers. Multi-channel networks can save the content owner valuable time so that great content can be created. In addition, joining a MCN helps content creators partner with several other YouTube channel owners and widen their reach in related fields to promote one another.
YouTube Analytics, Google Analytics, Google Alerts & Facebook Insights
One of the cornerstones of social media networks and platforms is the need to measure success. Google and YouTube Analytics, Google Alerts and Facebook Insights are all helpful measuring tools. Insights not only give you a weekly total reach, but also provides you with a total number of likes, a line graph to showcase your progress, and the number of people talking about you and the number of friends of fans. Data speaks volumes and you need to listen and analyze this information carefully. This means of tracking data in your business is a must have in your marketing strategy. You will want to track engagement and where keywords are mentioned, and have Google Analytics embedded into all pages of your website.
The Age of Consumers
We are in the age of consumerism and this will most likely intensify in the next few years. Consumers have a say, demand a response, and can possibly make or break a brand, ultimately they have the ability to compare services and products in one search. In other words, consumers ultimately sell your services and products for you if you develop a dialogue and honest relationship. Keeping this in mind, you need to begin your customer research. Find out what attracts people to certain videos, products and services, and then decide what is working and what is failing. Plan discussion groups, get insight from staff members, develop a survey, ask current customers and potential customers for feedback and suggestions to improve.
The Importance of Strategy
When it comes to social media, you need to first have a business goal and build a proper strategy. You need to begin your campaign with a purpose, but this purpose will differ from company to company. Ask yourself what motivates your customers to find you, make a purchase, or hire you for your services and remember that one of your primary goals is to drive traffic to your website. What else? Social media is about creating dialogue and building trust with your customers and potential customers. You not only want new customers but you also want to keep your loyal customers engaged and working for you. Word of mouth is very powerful and your loyal customers can help you build what you have started.
Blogging
Blogging is a growing and popular social medium and a great opportunity to provide your customers with an opportunity to engage with you. The more engagement you have across all social media platforms, the more leads and customers you entice. Blogging also gives you the opportunity to have a conversation, listen to feedback and figure out what people are thinking and feeling about your brand. One of the best and smartest tactics is to teach people something or give them accurate information they will find useful and helpful. By doing this you will begin to keep customers for life. The fact is, your social media strategy will drive people to your landing page which, generates leads for future business because the more people that visit your site equates to a better chance you have of converting potential costumers. With all this in mind, you need to update your blog, meaning you have to add content at least twice a week and make sure you add social sharing buttons to it and to your website.
Measure your Return on Investment (ROI)
The bottom line is that if you are not monitoring your return on investment (ROI) you have no way of knowing what works and what does not work for your social media campaign. Set up a plan for measurement – both qualitative (insights) and quantitative (analytics) and compare them to past performance. You need to track and measure the results of your campaign or hire someone specifically to track the results for you. The same principle applies to measuring your competitors and what they have to offer to the client. Google Analytics and Google Alerts is where you should start and once you learn how to use these very important tools, you can then begin to learn about other social media management.
E-mail Marketing
E-mail is a highly measurable means of communication and gives you the opportunity to connect with customers and potential customers. So, create an e-mail newsletter and provide your contacts with useful information, a contest, a link to your YouTube channel or anything that can help them engage with you. It is recommended to add the Rapportive Extension to Chrome so you can receive individual social media profiles from email contacts when they email you. Rapportive gives you contact profiles inside your email and in turn allows you to engage and grow your network. Rapportive is a great add-on to Google Chrome and looks similar to a personal business card with an image, social tabs and interesting information about your contact.
Mobile Madness
It is important to consider that everything these days starts with “mobile” or “mobile-social” and this will continue to become more and more popular. An increasing number of customers are using their mobile phones to access information, log-in to Facebook, check emails and find information on search engines. This is important to remember when designing your website, choosing images, blogging, and creating your content. You want your content to be mobile user friendly, so make sure you add a contact number, email and location if that pertains to your business. Mobile-social is about immediate action and often users want to find a product or company in the moment, contact an individual immediately, reserve, purchase and order. Keep in mind that your platforms need to be mobile friendly to remain competitive in your industry and within your goals. The bottom line is that the mobile world will continue to expand. Meaning, figure out what people are searching for and learn how to think like a mobile customer.
Risks of NOT Engaging in Social Media
Social media not only impacts your marketing strategy but also customer service, sales and all other areas of your business strategy. Your competitors are engaging in social media so if you are not then they are getting your business, and recruiting your customers.
Content is Crucial
What is content? Why do I need new, fresh content? How do I leverage my content correctly?” And you should be asking these questions because these are crucial to your business strategy, every step of the way.
First, content is any information you provide the customer with; such as a blog, a creative video for your business, research information, e-book, reports, images, statistics, fun facts, FAQs, webinars, interviews, stories, how-to demonstrations, your website, product demos, and the list goes on.
Second, you need fresh content because people are looking at you and searching for services and products all the time. You need to be up-to-date, current and polished because it says something about you and your brand and ultimately your company as a whole. It not only showcases your expertise, but also increases brand awareness and builds trust.
Finally, leveraging your content is not only paramount, but also takes strategic planning because content leads to activities that drive online visibility. Your content should have keywords that people search for online—plain and simple you have content on all your social media platforms with these very important keywords. Thus, you need to optimize your content with high-traffic keywords. Upload at least 1 video per week. It is suggested to upload as much as possible, however, you need to make sure you have quality content, post and like on Facebook twice a day, tweet on Twitter 3-4 times per day, post two new blogs every week and post on LinkedIn once a week at minimum.
This takes planning and a considerable amount of time because you need quality content and engaging material. Take your time in this process and create a publishing schedule, create content a week in advance and stay on top of what is important for your brand. Clearly, content is extremely important for your social media success.
LinkedIn is a social network for self-promotion, business professionals and business contacts. It helps other people learn about you and your business by optimizing your keywords, updating your profile often and visiting your page everyday. From a business development perspective, LinkedIn has many benefits from sharing expertise to connecting organizations, to intelligent news feeds to a regularly updated resume where you can showcase yourself and your business.
Twitter is a social network that allows you to communicate and answer the question—(in 140 characters) “What you are doing?” Twitter is a great marketing tool to focus and be succinct about your brand. Communication is short, fast and in real time, so it allows you to have an open dialogue online. Twitter is a great social network that you can use to get people to act and engage with you and your company and your brand. A twitter feed can be pulled through your website to show consumers you have up-to-date relevant material and information to share. The hashtag (#) is used to categorize your topics, groups, events and activities. For example, the ‘#’ can be added at the beginning of a word or phrase that allows other people to use the same ‘#’ to join the conversation or find relevant topics that interest them, such as: #howtogetmoreyoutubeviews.
Twitter, through business, can be used to not only showcase your expertise, but also used to generate leads in a very concise way. Like every other social media network, you need to strategically plan your comments and information you share, you need to know your audience and track your success and potential failures to give you important insight. Remember that a mix of content is convenient to connect with a bigger audience and gives people the chance to retweet interesting tweets you post. For example, in the planning stage, think about tweeting events, blogs, posing a question and answer, re-tweeting other popular tweets, interests and observations. You can also use RiteTag social media optimizer to use analytics to discover if your hashtags are reaching your preferred audience and worth it.
Do not underestimate the power of Twitter for your business and brand but make sure to remember that if you are going to include Twitter in your social media strategy, you also need to learn how to use Google Analytics to measure your traffic and achieve your goals. In other words, use Google Analytics to find out whom you are reaching and how they are interacting with you. For example, learn how to track your followers, your response rate and the leads you generate by driving followers to your website. As mentioned several times above, content is king and undoubtedly Twitter is content rich.
Facebook is another social network used to meet specific business goals in strategic ways. You can use Facebook for research purposes, event promotions, to drive traffic to your website, to get people talking about your brand and products, and to engage with you. Most importantly, like any other social network, you need to invest time and set specific goals to make Facebook work for you.
First, your Facebook page should have fresh content and you should be posting regularly. Content can include images, blogs, press releases, questions, poll options, recommendations and videos. Videos can easily be added to your Facebook with keyword titles for optimization purposes.
Second, you can use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to increase your visibility on Facebook. You create an ad and pay Facebook to target a specific demographic. Even though you pay for this service, it ultimately drives consumers to your website, increases likes on your Facebook page and encourages people to talk about your products or brands which drives engagement.
Finally, if you are looking to optimize your business with Facebook, Facebook Pages is where you begin. This differs from a Facebook individual profile in several ways. First, Pages is optimized for business and people engage with the page via likes. Second, Facebook Pages allows you to purchase targeted advertising—you are not required to pay for advertising if you chose not to and you can conduct commercial activity. Finally, Facebook Pages provides you with Facebook Insights to give you the ability to measure your social media activities.
Conclusion
Throughout this post, we have stressed the importance of having a social media presence for your business in order to ultimately make money. By setting objectives, creating a plan and executing your plan, you set yourself up for maximum social media optimization. Remember that your goal is to maximize exposure on multiple social media platforms by creating content, engaging with clients, analyzing your data and remaining current. Start now, stick with it and good luck!