Let’s talk about YouTube.
YouTube was created in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim to allow people to upload their videos and post them on to blogs. As such, YouTube quickly became known as a channel that was pushing content past the limits of the internet and into the mainstream media. It didn’t take long for YouTube to become a destination of its own, creating its own mainstream culture. YouTube now has over 2 billion users which spent at least one hour per day watching videos. Google acquired YouTube just one year after its launch for a huge US$1.65 billion.
Using YouTube as a Marketing channel
Chances are we’ve all spent a wasted afternoon watching a silly cat video, watching ‘How To’ videos, or finding clips from our favourite films one after another. YouTube has been a source of entertainment since it began, and now, the video content channel is also developing into an essential tool for marketers. In fact, nearly half of all marketers plan to add YouTube content to their marketing strategy over the next 12 months (according to the State of Inbound report)
Some businesses may think their audience isn’t on YouTube, or that video content doesn’t add value. Well, think again. One-third of the total time we spend online is spent watching videos. When communicating with over 2 billion subscribed users, it makes for the perfect platform for finding potential new customers, enhancing brand awareness and telling your business’s story - what more could you want for your social media management?
Ecommerce and YouTube
In 2021, YouTube have jumped on the band wagon and announced their new ‘digital storefront’ feature. The aim of this feature is to allow users and customers to buy products mentioned in the videos they’re watching directly from the site.
YouTube believe its platform can serve the shift in interest of e-commerce, given that today, 70% of people claim they’ve bought a brand’s product because they saw it featured in a YouTube video. YouTube is also the second largest search engine behind Google.
The creators at YouTube believe solutions like it’s Digital Storefront will boost leads, drive more web traffic and increase online sales for many businesses/creators. Despite the ease of lockdown restrictions and the re-opening of physical shops, this feature will continue to play a key role in the growth for many businesses.
Due to advances of technology and the change in how audiences consume marketing content, the industry is naturally progressing onto video over static content. YouTube is of course, a key player in this movement.
Advertising on YouTube
Over the last two years, the number of small and medium sized businesses advertising on YouTube has doubled. As a business, you can advertise to people that are most likely to be interested in your product or service. Like other forms of social media advertising, on YouTube you can segment your audience by their age, gender, interests and location. YouTube has also created a ‘Find My Audience’ tool to help businesses understand and find their most valuable customers.
YouTube Shorts
YouTube is now the third major social platform, following Instagram’s Reels and Snapchat’s Spotlight, to take on TikTok and jump on the short-form video trend that’s taking the social media world by storm.
What are YouTube Shorts?
Shorts is a new short-form video experience for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones”
Features of YouTube shorts:
- Add text to specific points in your video
- Automatically add captions to your Short
- Record up to 60 seconds with the Shorts camera
- Add clips from your phone’s gallery to add to your recordings made with the Shorts camera
- Add basic filters to colour correct your Shorts, with more effects to come in the future
So, what is the point…?
This new feature is an attempt from the Google-owned platform to re-capture the attention of short-form video viewers as we all know, it is apparent that a viewers’ ability to engage with a ‘long’ video has decreased due to the likes of TikTok.
Has it got potential?
It’s looking positive. There’s a big appetite for short-form content and Shorts’ already has strong usage numbers. Daily views were reportedly reaching 6.5 billion.
YouTube also knows that where creators go, users will follow, so the launch of Shorts alongside a generous creator fund was a wise move.
Although it is looking a lot like TikTok and Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts has a couple differences;
1. Has one of the largest music library’s
- Due to many artists uploading their music and music videos to the platform, this plethora of mainstream music gives Shorts the major leg up they need in order to be competitive.
2. Ability to schedule content
- Shorts work the same as uploading standard YouTube videos which means you can schedule in your Shorts ahead of peak performance times. Unlike Shorts, TikTok and Reels only have the option to save content as a draft which is not as time efficient as Shorts.
Well, there you have it, my round up of YouTube Shorts. I think it definitely has value and is something creators and marketers should consider as part of their strategy.
Emma
If you would like to learn more about adding video content to your marketing strategy, contact the team at our marketing consultancy Youbee Media or join one of our marketing workshops for more expert advice.
