What is Your YouTube Strategy?

If you choose to do only one thing for your business in 2018, having a YouTube strategy could result in your best Return on Investment (ROI).

ROI is all about inputs (what you invest) versus outcomes (what you get back).

If I invest $10 and get back $100, that’s excellent ROI. If I invest $100 and get back $10, I’m losing money like a sieve.

If I invest 200 hours to create a painting that I can sell for $50, I’ll starve.

But if I can duplicate and sell that painting for $50 to 100 customers, that’s $5000 and I’m making a living wage ($5000 made divided by 200 hours to create equals $25 per hour).

In today’s world, there are many places to invest your time and money. The emergence of video as an important marketing tool can’t be ignored.

Well, it can, but you won’t be as happy with your ROI.

Here are some interesting facts about YouTube:

  • YouTube gets over 30 million visitors… per day.
  • 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!
  • Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day.

See more YouTube statistics.

Depending on your audience, it’s very likely you’ll find them on YouTube. That’s why you need a YouTube strategy.

The Plan

Your plan begins with creating your own YouTube channel if you don’t already have one. Even if you do, you might want to create a new one specifically for your business.

Here is a good basic YouTube video on how to create a YouTube channel.

Here’s a more thorough explanation with screen shots in a blog for creating a YouTube channel.

Once you have a channel you need to add content.

But where do you get video content?

You can share other people’s content or you can create your own. Mostly you’ll create your own. After all, promoting you and your art is why you have a YouTube channel!

How do you create video content?

Here are seven tips to help you create good content.

  1. Most of our devices come with video cameras that are far better quality than we’ve ever had. They’re simple to use.  Editing software is widely available and easy to use.
  2. Remember to pull your devices out of your pockets and capture the moments of your life.
  3. Ask friends and family to record you at your craft, perhaps a piece of one of your music performances or you teaching a child to paint.
  4. You can make videos on how to do certain techniques that make you a better artist. If you have a trick that makes a beautiful creation, produce a video and share it with the world.
  5. Create a slide with your contact information to attach to the front and back of your video.
  6. Edit. Edit. Edit. Attention spans are shrinking daily so it’s wise to get to the point and keep it short with no unnecessary footage.  If you don’t grab your audience in the first five seconds, they’re gone. If you bore them along the way, they’re gone. We recommend one to two minute videos, and up to five minutes if they’re VERY interesting.
  7. You can even hire professionals to help you create content. (We can recommend videographers. Contact us.)

Post your videos to YouTube.

Then remember to tell people about your video using other media like your web site, Twitter, Facebook, and email.

Why do you need video content in your marketing mix?

There are at least five good reasons to use video content:

  1. Consumers want it. Remember those statistics? There is an appetite to learn using video.
  2. Connection. Arguably, video allows us to get better connected. When customers can see you, hear you and see your work, they’re more apt to trust you. And if they trust you and like you, they buy from you.
  3. Choice. That’s the new consumer desire. They want to choose how they consume their media. Some want written words, some want to hear them. Some want pictures, many want video.  By going to where your customers are, you are adding to their choice and increasing the chances they’ll choose you.
  4. Video is a unique way to promote your business. While customers are online, the majority of businesses have yet to discover the power of video. You can lead by pioneering video marketing in your category.
  5. Video is an ideal way to promote visual and performing arts, simply because… it’s visual! Event planners want to see you before they hire you. Having a presence on YouTube is vital for getting those gigs.

At S2 Seminars we are a “practice what you preach” company. We recently fired up our own YouTube channel. See our first video here.

We produced a half dozen “spots” which we will use to promote ourselves, our seminars and our other products. We plan to release them one at a time, strategically.

We will combine our YouTube strategy with our other marketing and promotions, like this blog, which is sent to Facebook and Twitter when we post. And we’re tracking it all in our marketing plan.

If you would like some help planning your YouTube strategy, contact us or attend one of our courses.

Shelley Goldbeck and Susan Cramer, 

S2 Seminars, Eradicating Poverty in Artists by Teaching Business Skills, is a partnership between Shelley Goldbeck and Susan Cramer. To learn more about running your small business, attend our workshop, 3 Must-Have Tools to Market Yourself on a Shoe-String Budget.

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