By Wade Cockfield
It doesn’t shock us that YouTube’s users make up a third of the Internet population, garnering over a million users in total. If that doesn’t impress you, people all around the globe watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and can generate billions of views every day.
Video marketing may seem like a powerful tool for small businesses, but people still often overlook its feasibility. Some may commit mistakes thinking that video marketing is a matter of luck, that you just need to post a video then hoping people will talk about it and it will go viral. That’s not how it works.
Just like any marketing and business tactic, you need to have an elaborate plan. You need to take a step-by-step process to achieve success with YouTube marketing. When done properly, your videos can bring thousands or maybe even more visitors. And this doesn’t happen overnight.
However, out of the countless people who tried to do this, especially with small businesses, only a few succeed in doing so. It happens because they commit one of these four YouTube marketing mistakes that spoil their chances of reaching their goal.
1. Relying on Viral Videos
Let’s face it, if you plan on going viral, you’re out of luck.
It’s true that there are videos that go viral every day, but the chances of also going viral are small, especially if you’re still starting your business. It’s just not realistic. If you’re spending all your time and effort on trying to go viral, you’re just wasting your time.
The bottom line is if you plan to engage in video marketing, especially YouTube Marketing, expect to be in it for the long haul. You’re going to drive a lot of traffic, but again, it’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s not going to happen from one video.
2. Not Developing a YouTube Channel
Having a YouTube channel can allow you to build your personal space for your brand. It allows you to customize your pages’ background, create playlists for specific topics, and lay out your page in different formations.
The videos you publish should be a part of a broader plan for your channel. If possible, don’t upload too many standalone videos. Try creating a series of your own that follows a “path” of subjects. If you’re publishing too many standalone videos, it’s going to be impossible to build an audience.
Take your time in developing your channel. Perfect the layout, polish the design that best suits your audience. After all, your followers and viewers are the core of your channel.
3. Not Having a Call to Action
Do the videos you publish point to something else after, or you just post the content on YouTube in the hopes that your audience will discover your website? If so, then you’re doing something wrong. You’re not instructing them what to do next.
When you’ve got a lot of people viewing your videos, you can transform these views into clicks, and eventually into sales. But for that to happen, your videos need to instruct them what to do, and this can occur by putting a call to action.
You can create YouTube annotations that redirect your followers to your website and start from there. Make your call to action as coherent and persuasive as you can. Then you can use other methods to convert clicks into sales.
4. Forgetting to Track and Analyze
YouTube offers an analytics package that can comprehensively track the statistics of your YouTube videos. It can tell you the demographic of your viewers, the source of your traffic, and more.
Most people ignore this tool and can lead to poor views of their videos. The analytics package can provide data that can tell you what’s not working and what’s working for your channel, and this will help you create more videos which cater the need of the audience.
Takeaway
The path to success on YouTube isn’t always clear, there will be trials, and there will be moments of joy, especially when you’re focused in Marketing. One mistake could lead to your small business to fail.
Be careful not to commit any mistakes, and always create a network of support from others who does the same. By taking one step at a time, you’re guaranteed to have a successful small business with the help of YouTube.
