While text-based web content cannot be disregarded when trying to improve brand awareness and SEO, video marketing tactics are quickly gaining popularity. Compared to text, videos are much more likely to be indexed in the first page of search engine results. This is because there are significantly fewer videos competing for keywords than text-based web content. Nevertheless, video marketing does not just involve recording a video and publishing it online. It takes much more to ensure proper optimization and maximum viewership.

YouTube is considered as the most valuable video marketing channel for online entrepreneurs and marketers. Among the most significant reasons for this are:

1) Number of Users

The data published by comScore in June 2010 states that YouTube has reached 144.1 million viewers and, in May 2010 alone, 14.6 billion YouTube videos were watched. This puts the site’s average viewership at an all-time high of 101.2 videos per viewer. With over 40% of online video market share, it is clear that YouTube has not been surpassed by any other video sharing site and its value to entrepreneurs and marketers hoping to launch video marketing campaigns is undeniable.

2) Search Engine Potential

A quick observation of Google results for any search phrase with video results makes it clear that Google’s ownership of YouTube makes a difference in terms of searchability. YouTube videos are much more easily indexed and are more likely to appear on the first pages of Google search results compared to videos hosted on other sites. Because of this, video marketing content published on YouTube has a higher probability of being found by target audiences.

3) Available Optimization Options

Because the videos themselves cannot be optimized for search engines, YouTube provides a number of fields for text content. These include titles, descriptions, and tags. Within these fields, publishers can include pertinent keywords for effective video search engine optimization. Furthermore, YouTube provides an option to include captions and other text on videos. It also allows linking to other videos or external web content. This gives marketers the opportunity to further engage their users and increase their likelihood to make a purchase or avail of a service.

4) Sharing Functions

YouTube provides a host of functions that make videos easy to share. Unique URLs are provided for each video so that viewers may easily share content to others, no matter what platform is used. Buttons are also provided to allow one-click sharing via email or to other sites including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Orkut, hi5, Blogger, Live Spaces, Bebo, Google Buzz, and StumbleUpon. Furthermore, it allows bloggers and website owners to embed videos onto their own online assets.

5) Mobile Device Compatibility

With the number of users accessing online content through mobile devices, YouTube’s mobile access point definitely helps marketers reach more people. YouTube even provides mobile applications to further enhance the video viewing experience of its users. Through the mobile site and YouTube apps, users of Androids, BlackBerries, iPhones, iPod Touches, Windows Mobile, and other portable devices can be reached at any time.

To start out with video marketing, then, it is recommended for online entrepreneurs and marketers to develop their own YouTube channel. By creating a brand-specific channel, all video marketing content will be available in one place. Furthermore, all videos within that channel are more easily optimized to appear in search engine results pages for targeted keywords or phrases, consequently making a brand more visible to internet users. Lastly, publishing on YouTube increases the viral potential of videos and makes them accessible even to users on mobile devices.

Author Bio: Bruno is a web entrepreneur and social media marketing consultant working for the Norwegian dog community website Hundefeber.no. He also owns a lovely Pomeranian and a Mops dog.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: technology,marketing,business,finance,youtube,video marketing