History of YouTube Videos

After the creation of YouTube in 2005, and the first video upload entitled Me At The Zoo on April 23rd 2005, the platform has expanded rapidly over the years, quickly turning into the world’s most popular video site, with 72 hours’ worth of video being uploaded every minute.

This platform has been an excellent launch pad for new generation celebrities. A variety of different content has been created, from Swedish gaming superstar PewDiePie, to short viral videos resulting in a fortune being earnt, such as 56 second video Charlie Bit My Finger which earnt their family $150,000. And businesses are also benefitting from the YouTube by using it as their platform for hosting videos that share information and knowledge relative to their potential buying audience. The most frequently searched tag on YouTube, and indeed on the web in general, is ‘How too…..’ so understandably ‘How too….’ videos a very popular as a means of raising profile for businesses.

The success and importance of video in search and marketing was perhaps recognised in 2006 when Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion. No wonder that having video on your home page on line provides a 54 times better chance of you getting returned in a Google search result list. Of course, Google then decided to roll forward the idea of ads to monetise its investment in YouTube and capitalise on the success of the channel for brands, marketers and individuals giving yet another way in which to push potential customers to a product or service.

How effective is Video Marketing?

So how effective is video marketing? Well, with technological changes in the ways in which video is create, it’s now a marketing tool that is well within the range of most businesses. Video can be a relatively simple and cost effective way of giving great return on your marketing investment, providing a visual and more personal look and feel to your business on line. Whilst being able to convey emotion and personality, which no amount of text can truly achieve, it has been proven that consumers are 64-85% more likely to purchase a product or service after watching a video. So adding video to an e-commerce site, just before the check out cart, can significantly reduce the ‘abandoned cart’ syndrome!

Whilst video instantly grabs the attention of people, with 60% of visitors opting to watch a video before reading any text, it has been proven that two minutes of video is more effective at representing your brand than the cluttering amount of text on your website/email can. Visual imagery can be recalled more easily; in fact, studies have shown that audiences are able to recall six times the amount of information from video than text.

Video makes it 53 times more likely that you’ll get a front page Google result 93% of marketers are using video in their campaigns. Videos in emails have been shown to increase click through rates by over 96% on the first introductory email.

Here is a link to a video where Jerry Hughes explains his experience with using professional video, and how it has benefited his business:

How to get Your Video Seen

Creating your video requires a considered strategic plan and organisational thought but what many people may forget is that getting your video seen also requires a plan! Here are a few steps you can take to ensure your videos get good exposure:

1) Embed video on your website: this is a simple and effective step that enables you to leverage your existing website traffic, and embed your video directly on the landing pages via the YouTube platform.

2) Share via social media: if your company is on any social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc., then share the link, and encourage people to share the video too.

3) Search engine optimisation: before uploading your video to YouTube, ensure the filename of your video contains keywords as to what your video is about; make sure you give your video a description and include tags to optimise video search.

4) Other video sharing websites: although YouTube is the most popular video site, there are many others which you can upload your video on to gain the most exposure, and will increase the likelihood of your video ranking organically in search, such as: Dailymotion, MetaCafe and Revver.

It is also important to understand that people don’t like being advertised too, and when given the option to fast forward commercials, I am sure you are most likely to do so too. Therefore, if your video is turning into more of a commercial, the chances are that people won’t want to watch it. Keep your information useful, to the point and well produced so that it upholds your brand and company ethos. And of course, don’t forget a call to action at the end of your video so that people know how to make contact or get more information.