We have written about blogging, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter in our Social Media 101 series. In this post, we talk about YouTube.
What is YouTube?
YouTube is Google’s video-sharing site, which has more than one billion unique visitors each month. This is a platform where users can view, share, and upload videos. It has become synonymous with homemade or company-made videos and it is popular worldwide.
Why is it important?
- You can potentially reach millions of people, increase brand awareness and educate your followers.
- YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, because of its parent company Google, and most people watch one YouTube video a week.
- Most companies can use YouTube to their advantage. Professional people, including lawyers, accountants, and financial advisers can offer valuable tips. Marketing, public relations and advertising firms can display their creativity.
- It is a great way to display the type of content that works well in social media. This includes behind-the-scenes, personal interviews, and tips and insights that offer your followers new and interesting information about your industry.
How to set up a YouTube channel
Setting up your channel is simple and free of charge. Follow these steps in this link from YouTube for Dummies. You can automatically share your uploads on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, or set them up to feature in your personal blog or website. Many features for branding your YouTube channel are free. You can customise the background and the header, and showcase your other social media networks.
How to use YouTube
Use it to show people how to do something, or to demonstrate your product or service, or to introduce a new product. Build your credibility by highlighting your knowledge and skills. Once videos are posted, promote them on your blog, Twitter feeds, Facebook page, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+ and other platforms. The key to using YouTube effectively is to feature your product or service in a fun, professional, and engaging way. You should also stay true to your values and the personality of your brand.
YouTube Tips
- Video does not require a huge investment in equipment or time. Your iPhone is a perfectly good video camera and you can film an informal video as part of your daily business.
- To get started: Make a list of the 10 most frequently asked questions in your industry and film yourself answering them.
- If you want to share videos, your content should have the proper permissions and clearance for use across all social media channels.
- You will receive many different types of comments. Make a point to remove any spam or comments that use offensive language.
- Videos should be approximately one to three minutes long and incorporate music or images whenever possible to boost engagement.
- If you’re promoting a business, treat your videos less like a commercial and more like an interesting story.
- Use relevant, upbeat titles for your videos. Write brief, useful descriptions of the content. Add 10-20 tags per video to make use of relevant keywords that could not be included naturally in the title or description.
P.S. If you want to learn how to blog and write for social media, join us for The Complete Blogging Course
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1 thought on “Social Media 101 – What is YouTube?”
i so much love this post…. it is very good to show people to set up youtube-account and educate people about youtube
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