Greetings to all our readers! Today we have decided to give you some useful insights about building your strategy on YouTube. We invited for an interview a specialist in the sphere of digital marketing. His name is Damien Hong from VideosGrow and he would love to share his option list to use for gaining viewers, comments, and likes for YouTube. We also asked him to share his understanding of user behavior and modern tendencies in social media marketing.
Hello, Mr. Hong! We welcome you to our studio! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Yes, hello! You can call me Damien if you like. Well, there’s nothing much about me to say. I am 34 years old and I work as a digital marketing specialist. My services are requested by many different companies, so I guess that I have a clue about social media promotion (giggles). In fact, I am honored to be interviewed about the work that I do. Let’s talk about it, I love my job!
Okay, Damien, then, could you please briefly tell us about the benefits of using YouTube for marketing?
This topic is hard to be described briefly, you know. But I will try for the sake of time. From my experience, the main perk of using this particular platform for brand promotion is that it is a merge of a social network and a huge search engine. So the ranking system that is working on YouTube is considered to be one of the smartest. It’s very complicated, and many factors can impact the result. But knowing the keys to the mechanism of ranking, marketers can do miracles.
And those keys are..?
First of all, good knowledge and understanding of YouTube SEO.
Being fluent in SEO is a must for anyone who wants to promote here. First of all, it is a big pile of keywords for you to examine and sort out. Keywords are the main instrument in your work because they impact the algorithms of ranking a lot. With the current state of competition, researching your target keywords is a must. And believe me, all else is secondary. All the magic happens only after you have defined the keywords that will push your brand forward.
Is the competition so tough today? How can newcomers beat it?
Yes, the concurrence is growing rapidly every day. Squeezing a new product into a well-developed industry is tough. But the trick is that all the competition is on the surface, and you can easily detect the small niche that is not swamped by others. I always recommend my clients to do big competitor research before even launching a channel on YouTube. This way they can easily adjust their plans and avoid many mistakes. Researching concurrents means being prepared for action, and this tactic is much better than relying on blind luck.
What information the research should bring?
Each successful business has a feature that makes it original, unique in the eyes of the public. It can be a signature product, or specific policy for social affairs, ecological impact, and so on. The problem of modern promotion is that there are already enough high-quality products in most industries, so everybody is looking for a specialty that attracts potential buyers besides the qualities of the product itself. Hence, by exploring the market you can see what original features are already used and what result it brings.
Isn’t a signature feature something that comes naturally or by chance?
Oh no! Nowadays this stuff is practically programmed. At least that’s how I call it. Marketers, like myself, are constantly monitoring the trends on social media, and we build the image of our clients on different platforms according to what we know of them. I can say, it’s users who define our strategic moves. A successful marketing strategy for any brand is always strongly related to the preferences and behavior of the target group.
And how users behave on YouTube?
Oh, I love the YouTube crowd. Subscribers on a particular channel can form a strong community. Video content is believed to be the most engaging type among all, and I strongly agree with that statement. People love YouTube because it’s a huge hosting of various content- educational, entertaining, and advertising. But since this is actually a social network, people are interested in exchanging personal experience, and YouTube perfectly gives that. My number one point for building an effective tactic on YouTube is creating videos with personal flair.
So let me get this straight – to promote a product, brands have to personalize their content?
Exactly. This is the superpower of YouTube – it gives brands the possibility to communicate with their target audience as an impersonation, making the connection between consumers and their product much stronger. My main tip – give your business a real face. Mascots like Ronald McDonald can’t do it, because such a fantasy impersonation works only for kids. Business owners can be perfect representatives of their products. I recommend creating a special category of video, where the brand owner is in the focus – their personality, character, inspirations. Such things attract the attention of the audience, and, yet again, form a connection with the business.
What else a beginner should consider when creating a promo strategy for YouTube?
Unfortunately, I cannot say that there is a perfect combination that suits everyone. Many things depend on individual factors, like industry, target audience, desired public image, and so on. To understand how you should develop your channel, you need to set clear goals, and define how you want to look online, what reaction do you want to provoke from users. My approach is through being personal and sincere, but not all companies want such an image. And that’s perfectly okay because they know what they want. My opinion, that the professionalism of the brand is measured by its customer service quality, and I always say that social platforms are not about customer service. Some specialists have opposite opinions. To sum up – people, marketing strategy on YouTube, or any other network is based on your individual characteristics, there is no universal recipe that can bring you success.
How to understand your goals for promotion on YouTube?
First of all, realize that growing a YouTube channel is not about sales. Social platforms help you to build and improve relations with your audience. After you find the point of resonation with your potential customers, only then you can think of pushing your sales. Your content on YouTube has to encourage viewers to buy stuff from you but in a subtle way. Aggressive marketing isn’t working here, it scares users away. Since there are no shopping features on YouTube, I recommend using this network for streaming traffic to your website. The direct purpose of the content that you release is either to educate your viewers or entertain them.
Thanks for your insights on digital marketing strategy, Damien. As the conclusion, tell us please, the ultimate tip for beginners on YouTube?
Before you actually create a channel and start your campaign, watch and learn. Look at the channels of established companies, popular influencers. See how they interact with their viewers, and collect what you think would work for you. That is how an effective individual growth tactic is born. Or hire me!