Want to make better videos online for your business? Want to really connect with your audience? Watch this video to find out what really makes a difference. (Hint: its not a lot of fancy video equipment!)
Many small business owners don’t realize the incredible marketing power they have at their finger tips by simply starting a YouTube channel. YouTube is a serious marketing tool, and here are four reasons you should be using it for your business right now.
1. YouTube is bigger than ever. In case you’re still wondering if YouTube is a less serious media outlet than, say, your local cable company, consider this: YouTube gets over 300 million visitors each month, who drive more than 2 billion video views every day! And every minute, 24 hours of new video is uploaded to YouTube. Its popularity is growing year after year, but even more importantly, its growing consistently across all demographics and age groups. So, no matter who or where your target audience is, you can bet they are watching videos on YouTube.
2. Your customers are looking for you there (or your competitors). Think all those YouTube users are just kids watching Justin Bieber? Guess again! 2 billion videos are monetized each week on YouTube… that means somebody watching each of those videos spent money on a product or service referred to in that video. In fact, YouTube by itself is the 2nd largest search engine in the world (right behind Google search). Every minute people go there to look for videos to answer their questions, show them how to do something, or review a product or service. It’s an immense opportunity for business exposure.
3. YouTube is Social. Everyone thinks of Facebook and Twitter when they hear social media, but YouTube is another social media giant. Their subscription feature allows users to stay connected through their own YouTube channel, notify friends and subscribers when they upload new videos, and interact socially right on their channel homepage. YouTube gets millions of these subscription requests every day. Over 4 million videos are auto-shared everyday to YouTube subscribers, as well as countless Facebook, and Twitter feeds. With a well crafted social media campaign propelling your YouTube video content, you could reach far more customers than you may have thought possible.
4. It’s Free and easy to use. YouTube’s basic service is free to all users. And with the help of great tools like YouTube’s video editor, you can easily create professional looking videos, build a channel, and start providing content to your target audience today for no more than the cost of your own time and effort.
So there you have it, four good reasons why you should be using YouTube right now to market your business… even if you’re just starting out online now… YouTube is a powerful social marketing platform that’s easy to get started with and can have a serious impact on your bottom line.
What’s the one device that most people have with them pretty much at all times of the day? You guessed it… their mobile phone. If you think about the fact that most people feel naked without their cell phone, and that now one out of every three mobile devices is connected to the Internet–you’ll quickly appreciate how powerful marketing to your audience through mobile media is becoming. Here are five strategies you should consider to bump up awareness for your biz with mobile marketing.
1. Get listed on local social sites. Sites like Yelp, Foursquare, Google Places, and many others have already revolutionized the way people find out about services in their area. And thanks to the growing power of peer reviews, they’re allowing prospects to make an informed decision about your business before they ever walk through your door. But the big deal is the majority of this activity is all happening right on everyone’s mobile phone. Looking for the best Thai food within a one mile radius? Just fire up your Droid and see what folks in town are saying. Mobile phones are supercharging the local social space. That’s why its more important than ever to get your business listed and get in the conversation. Then then once you’re there, be sure to diligently manage your reputation online.
2. Use mobile texting to run promotions. A great mobile advertising strategy that gets attention is to have people send a text to a mobile number of your own, in exchange for a discount or other special offer. Not only is this a creative way to engage people on the spot to get their business, but it also allows you to build a “warm” contact list of buyers and interested prospects for future promotions and follow ups. So while you’re advertising your business with mobile text promotions in your storefront, on flyers, print ads, online etc.– at the same time you can also be sending targeted offers directly to your customers via SMS message (especially effective when offering “time sensitive” deals).
3. Get into QR codes. These are those funky little black and white boxes, which when scanned with a mobile phone will direct someone to an online resource. You may have seen them posted in store windows or other places. Google has made them more popular by allowing customers to access your online Places listing by scanning their QR code. But you can get much more innovative than that. Services like BeQRious allow you to build your own custom QR code for just about anything you want. Try directing mobile users to one of your Youtube videos, or a special webpage with an offer. Be creative!
4. Reach more people with mobile ads. Google, Admobi, and other services provide you the ability to advertise very effectively to people right on their phones, based not only what they are searching for, but their location as well. And the traffic is often dirt cheap.
5. There’s an app for that! A cool app providing a service related to your business is another killer way to get discovered and stay in your customers’ mind share. Services like iSites and appmakr offer an inexpensive way for you to create a custom app for iPhone or Android. Even a developer who will build one from scratch can be reasonably priced. So what can your business do with a mobile app? The possibilities are endless. Restaurants could let their customers order from their phone. Financial consultants might provide mobile access to their client’s portfolios. You’re limited only by your own imagination.
Start experimenting with one or more of these powerful mobile marketing strategies, and you’ll be tapping into a whole new reservoir of customers in no time.
Are you using of these strategies with your own business, or interested in trying them out? Leave a comment with your thoughts below…
In my last post I emphasized the effectiveness of Google Places for any local business looking to draw new customers from the web. Well, last week Google rolled out a major update (called Google Places Search) which now positions Places data much more prominently in their search results. Google now states that fully 40% of all its US search traffic is local (incredible!) and the changes they are making to their service prove that the local sphere is one of their top priorities. If Google is putting that much attention on local search, then you should be too– especially if your customers are locally based or geographically targeted.
Check out the video above for a detailed walk-through of the new changes, including an A/B comparison of an example keyword search, showing the old search results side by side with the new.
In a nutshell, here are some of the important differences now featured in Google Places Search:
The 7-pack is gone. Whereas before the local search results and the map were sequestered off in their own section (usually at the top of the page), now local data dominates far more of the front page.
Blended listings. One of the ways Google has given more face time for local is by creating a new kind of listing, which is neither a web listing nor a local listing–it’s both. The listing title and description are now pulled from your business’s ranking web page (if you have one), and then filled out with data from your Places page, including address, photos, and reviews. This new hybrid listing is featured for local search queries, often leaving only a few spots at the bottom for web-only results.
Floating map. The map now hovers in the upper right corner of the page, no matter how far down you scroll. This was a bold move, because it draws your attention to the map no matter where you have navigated to on the page. It even covers up Google’s own paid ads section. Are you getting the picture how important local is to Google?
Customer Reviews are Front and Center. One of the most eye grabbing things on the page now is the quantity and quality of reviews for each local listing. In the old local search result, you had only a small reference area for this. Now, individual local directories and social sites that feature customer reviews are each summarized right in your listing, and you can click straight through to them without opening your Places page. In case you didn’t get the hint, they even include a sample review in your listing too. Attention local businesses: start noticing what your customers are saying about you online.
Bottom line, the new Google Places Search means you need to be building a strong web presence AND a solid local profile, because your rankings are going to be counting on both. Also, with Google emphasizing your ratings, and providing directly click-able links to reviews on other local social sites, its more critical than ever to stay on top of what your customers are saying.The best way to deal with this is to be proactive– start engaging your customer base to provide reviews and support to strengthen your online profile. Businesses that take this cue to stay on top of the social sphere are going to have a distinct advantage over the ones that don’t.
What do you think about these new changes to Google search? Leave your questions or comments below!
In this video I talk about why Google Maps is one of the most important local search tools you should be using right now to get your business found online. Google Places (as its officially called) basically gives you an opportunity to shortcut to the very top of the search results for keywords about your business and location. You can appear in a prime real estate position in Google for multiple keywords, and you can even do it for free.
I cover the basic anatomy of a Google maps listing and how each of the elements of the listing contribute to its ability to rank in the search results. Plus, if you haven’t set yourself up in Google Places yet, I’ll walk you through the process of finding your “placeholder” listing and claiming ownership of it.
Enjoy! And please leave feedback below with any thoughts, questions, or comments you may about the video or using Google Places yourself.
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1. Video Helps Your Customers Get to Know You
People buy on emotion and then justify with logic. In other words, before someone hands over their hard earned money to you, they first want to feel they’re dealing with someone they know, like, and trust… only then do they care about how great your product or service is. One of the fastest, most powerful ways of of building that kind of rapport is through online video. Video is sensory, familiar, and personal. Once prospects get to know you a little and see what you and your business are about, they are are much more open to your message.
2. Video is Convenient for the Viewer
Presented with the choice, people usually prefer to be shown something cool instead of having to “work” at researching and reading about it. Video is direct and fresh. It gets your attention and holds it. In a flash, you can demonstrate how cool your product is. You can tell your story. You can create a mood, pique interest, get a laugh, and countless other emotional responses from your audience through video.
3. Video is Convenient for You
Which is more natural… to sit down and write an article describing your product or service to someone, or to simply talk about it and show it to them? You can flip the camera on and just start talking about what you do, and before you know it you’ve got hours of fresh, unique content. Think you don’t have anything to say? Try this: determine the top ten frequently asked questions you hear about your industry, service, or product, and then discuss the answers to each one of those questions in a video. You’ll be surprised how much you have to share, once you tap into your own experience and the passion for what you do.
4. Video Just Works
Hey, don’t just take my word for it. The numbers speak for themselves (stats provided by Comcast and Nielson):
- 84.8% of US Internet users now watch videos online
- The average person views 182 Videos per month in the U.S.
- 1 billion videos are viewed each day on YouTube. Over 14 billion videos per month in U.S alone.
- From 2009 to 2010, online video watching grew 400% faster than TV viewership.
- Prospects are 3-4 times more likely to respond to a video than written words.
There are countless ways you can connect with your audience using online video. It’s easy to get started, so give it a shot! Leave a comment below and let us know how you’ve experimented with video in your business.
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