I just read Greg Jarboe’s new book “YouTube and Video Marketing“. In it I learned that 15 hours of video is being uploaded to YouTube every minute of the day. Whew! That’s a lot of video. It would take you over nine thousand years to watch all the videos posted to YouTube to date. YouTube dominates all video sharing sites like Google dominates search engines. If you want to share your video, you have to do it on YouTube.
I myself use to believe that YouTube was some amusing site for my kids. It’s where you find silly animal tricks and other people’s dumb home movies. I even joked that it was pure punishment to be dragged to someone’s house for dinner, then forced to watch their dreadful home movies. Now, we stay at home and watch their bad movies.
It’s true, you find a lot of material on YouTube that only a kid can enjoy. But “YouTubers” span the age spectrum evenly. You’re as likely to reach a 15 year old as you are someone 50. What’s important to recongnize is that YouTube today is exactly where major TV networks were in the 1950’s. A lot is experimental but one thing is certain, YouTube is here to stay.
Advertisers are cutting back on TV advertising budgets. I don’t believe TV is dead, only wounded. TV didn’t destroy the movie industry in the 1950’s as many had predicted. It was only when the movie industry and TV learned to live with each other that both industries settled down into their comfort zones and complemented each other. Major movie studios and TV networks today are working to find that comfort zone with YouTube. They know that effective communication in the digital world is done through video. To reach the digital audience you must go to where the digital community is gathered on the web.
Think about this. When I was a young boy my brother and I would go fishing around noon because that’s when our mother would let us go out. Needless to say, we never caught any fish. It wasn’t until a friendly neighborhood fisherman told us to go out early in the morning or late in the evening and fish around old logs and shady spots, “That’s where you’ll find em’ boys”. We listened and you know what, we began to catch fish. The old fisherman said, “Boys, you’ve got to go where the fish are, and you’ve got to go when they’re hungry, not when you are. That’s the only way to catch fish”. The same is true today. If you want to reach a growing population you’ve got to go where they are, and you’ve got to go when they’re hungry and in today’s world, there is no better place than YouTube.
It was only a few years ago that businesses included a website as a key part of their Marketing and Advertising program. Business may have been a little reluctant at first but show me a business without a website today and I’ll show you a business in trouble.
Today businesses are beginning to utilize video as a key part of their communication and social media strategy. YouTube along with Facebook provide opportunities for companies to create a relationship with their customers. It is a cornerstone of the Marketing strategy for companies like Johnson & Johnson, Kmart, P&G, CBS, HBO, and Showtime.
So what kind of videos work in today’s market? In my next blog I’ll begin to explain what makes a good video and the benefits of results oriented digital media that are achieved by using YouTube’s analytics. You’ll discover how to expand your reach and develop a customer base that you may not be aware even existed.
