Using YouTube as an effective business tool

As the second largest search engine in the US, YouTube offers countless opportunities for businesses to share knowledge, show off their expertise, market products and connect with consumers.

Here are five tips for using YouTube:

Create a custom channel

A customized channel gives you the opportunity to showcase your brand with specific information and links to your website and social media pages. With the simple click of a button, viewers can subscribe to your channel and share your content.

Keep it simple

You don’t need an expensive camera to make a professional video. Pay attention to lighting, sound quality and shakiness of the camera. Use a tripod if necessary. Prior to making your video, create a script to include a beginning, middle and end. Keep it simple and short.

Add the right tags and keywords

YouTube processes more than three billion searches a month. One hundred hours of videos are uploaded every minute. Like many other social platforms across the web, YouTube’s videos are organized around tag words. You want to do everything that you can to make sure that your videos are easily found. Take the time to add well-thought-out tags to your videos.

Leverage social media

Share your videos on your website, blog, tweets and Facebook page. Videos are effective on website landing pages as they welcome people to your brand. Tweet the link of your newest video to your Twitter audience or share it on your Facebook business page for maximum exposure.

Measure results with free analytics tools

YouTube’s free analytics tool allows you to make informed marketing decisions and measure the success of your videos. YouTube offers free analytics data via the “Insight” button on every uploaded video. This feature can offer you some valuable information on views stats, demographics and community – including where your viewers are located.