Do You YouTube?

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By Carl Weiss

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Or so the story goes. When it comes to getting going in a tough economy, any advantage you can employ that can boost your business’ visibility would be worth its weight in gold. Particularly if the advantage costs little to produce and nothing to deploy, this is one marketing proposition that should be a no-brainer for every business owner on the planet. What is this magical commodity that can literally transform your business overnight? It’s not the boob tube. It’s YouTube.

800 Million Viewers Can’t All Be Wrong

Having just turned seven years old, you wouldn’t think that a fledgling video portal would wield much clout. And you would be dead wrong. Far from trailing the pack in terms of viewership when compared to television networks that have been around for more than sixty years, YouTube is the most watched channel on the planet, having a worldwide audience in excess of 800 million. And unlike television networks that charge exorbitant fees to air commercials on the air, YouTube not only doesn’t charge a fee for airtime, in many cases they pay their advertisers a fee for providing compelling content to the masses.

 YouTube Stats 2012 - from 35 Mind Numbing Facts, Figures and Statistics

• 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second. 
• Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day 
• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month 
• Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube 
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years 
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US 
• YouTube is localized in 39 countries and across 54 languages 
• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views 
• In 2011 there were almost 140 views for every person on Earth 

With free advertising to be had, why isn’t every business in the US broadcasting videos by the boatload? Good question. Some businesses lament the fact that they can’t afford the production costs. However, when you consider the fact that every business owner in the US either has access to a webcam or smartphone, there is no reason why every business shouldn’t sport at least an elevator pitch video and several video testimonials on their website. If you are concerned with production value, there are numerous video production companies there that can help shape and shoot a professional video for a reasonable fee. We’re not talking thousands of dollars a pop any more.

What’s even better is the fact that once produced, a YouTube video can be used to put every other form of marketing you are currently employing on steroids. Have a blog. Embed the video. Want to tune up your tweets? Link your YouTube video to Twitter at the click of a mouse. Want to break out of the box? Literally every piece of print advertising and literature that you currently employ for business purposes can be enhanced by the addition of one square inch of ink known as a QR code.

But the best reason to YouTube is the fact that the portal is owned and operated by the world’s most popular search engine: Google. Just like websites, properly optimized videos can jump onto page 1 of Google. Do you think that would help your business prosper? You better believe it. In fact, it has been shown that people are five times as likely to click on a video as a website. Add to this the fact that since there are only one or two videos displayed on a Google search, owning one gives your business the kind of online advantage that's hard to beat.

From YouTube to Boob Tube!

Speaking of television, are you aware that YouTube announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that they’ll be creating Mobile / TV partnerships with Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio, Western Digital and other manufacturers of televisions. This means that in addition to easy access to every PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone on the planet, your business could soon make the leap from YouTube to the boob tube.

 So when you add up all the variables, including low cost of entry, huge audience, enhanced SEO, and cross platform viewership, this is one corporate bailout that every business in the country needs to take advantage of right away.

Carl Weiss is president of W Squared Media Group and owner of Jacksonville Video Production a company that has been helping companies take their online marketing to the next level since 1995. Carl can also be heard weekly on his Working the Web to Win radio show broadcast on Blog talk radio every Tuesday at 4pm eastern.