Entrepreneurs Should Be Using YouTube To Generate Leads
YouTube Has Grown To Be The Search Engine Of Choice For Many Entrepreneurs You can still find multiple ways to gain visibility for your products and services, but as an entrepreneur if you are not concentrating on YouTube, you may be missing an opportunity to really hit it out of the park.
So what has changed with YouTube that now causes it to become a lot more important.
It's not that YouTube has changed as much as it is that social preference has moved a great deal more in that direction.
In a very recent study, 66% of respondents said they're watching more online videos then they were a year ago and 48% said they are expecting to watch a lot more in the months to come.
If you couple this with the idea that 80% of US online users are watching online videos on a regular basis, then it is simple to see why you will need to go video.
But not just video, you have to be certain you are targeting YouTube.
As an entrepreneur you have be able to generate the best return with regards to your time.
You want to be where practically all viewing is taking place and YouTube is it.
YouTube is now the second biggest search engine site, garnering over 2 BILLION searches everyday.
Not all of them focused on business by any means, nonetheless the point is that this is where people go to find things.
One last statistic that could surprise you.
For all the hype about social media, it is possible to assume that almost all the traffic is going to places like Facebook and Twitter.
You would probably be right that a lot of traffic is headed that direction.
But the fact is, that Video puts the other sites to shame when we talk about views.
When asked where people are spending their social time on line, a whopping 63% are watching video's while only 20% are focusing on Facebook and Twitter combined.
So when you think in terms of visibility you can certainly see where you ought to be spending the effort.
Being an Entrepreneur, How Do You Avoid Pitfalls While Using YouTube? OK, I gave you plenty of stats, you like what you see and now you are going to march off and try and build the next viral video.
But wait a minute, that's not the way to begin! There are many things you may need to watch out for before you take off and try and develop a successful video.
The first thing to take into account is that YouTube is a social media site, just like any other.
It is important for you to take the time to master the culture and etiquette of the site well before you stomp in there just like a bull in a China shop.
Bad etiquette will not just get you a small number of responses, it could even get you thrown off the site.
Build relationships online, socialize, it will let you get quite a bit further.
The 2nd thing you want to do is forget about the viral video.
Most likely, it isn't going to happen, but more important, it isn't what you want in order to develop a solid and long-standing base of leads and customers.
Your focus should be more on building a channel and a big picture video strategy more so then a one hit wonder.
Another area you should avoid is attempting to use your video as a sales pitch.
If all you are going to do is selling, then you will almost assuredly fail.
You must add value.
People search for videos that either interest them or solve a problem, not for things to buy.
OK, I understand What Not To Do, How, As An Entrepreneur Do I Benefit From YouTube? There are three basic items that you want to do to optimize your YouTube effort.
The first thing you should be doing is to optimize your video for the keywords that best go with your organization.
These words also need to be relevant to the person who is searching for your service or product.
The next thing, and this is important, it is critical for you to make sure that your video engages people and also has a call to action.
Many entrepreneurs forget the last part of this and create a quality but useless video.
You can tell a possible prospect every one of the ways to deal with an issue as well as interject how you can solve it, however if you don't ask them to do anything with that information, they probably won't.
A final tip, is that you will have to have a follow-up strategy in place.
If you generate a great video, post it and do nothing with it, then you undoubtedly have wasted the effort.
Be sure you have a solid follow-up system set up and are also capturing your potential clients information.
In addition you need to have tools in place to make sure that, even if they don't become your client today, they will have the possibility to order from you at some point in the future.
You have already spent the time and effort to capture their interest, now make sure you capture their information which will help you to build a relationship with them.
One last aspect to take into consideration.
You don't need to go out and spend a great deal of money on video equipment.
a lot of the best videos are shot on a beach or in traffic with an inexpensive camera, or at someones desk with a camera built into their computer.
So what has changed with YouTube that now causes it to become a lot more important.
It's not that YouTube has changed as much as it is that social preference has moved a great deal more in that direction.
In a very recent study, 66% of respondents said they're watching more online videos then they were a year ago and 48% said they are expecting to watch a lot more in the months to come.
If you couple this with the idea that 80% of US online users are watching online videos on a regular basis, then it is simple to see why you will need to go video.
But not just video, you have to be certain you are targeting YouTube.
As an entrepreneur you have be able to generate the best return with regards to your time.
You want to be where practically all viewing is taking place and YouTube is it.
YouTube is now the second biggest search engine site, garnering over 2 BILLION searches everyday.
Not all of them focused on business by any means, nonetheless the point is that this is where people go to find things.
One last statistic that could surprise you.
For all the hype about social media, it is possible to assume that almost all the traffic is going to places like Facebook and Twitter.
You would probably be right that a lot of traffic is headed that direction.
But the fact is, that Video puts the other sites to shame when we talk about views.
When asked where people are spending their social time on line, a whopping 63% are watching video's while only 20% are focusing on Facebook and Twitter combined.
So when you think in terms of visibility you can certainly see where you ought to be spending the effort.
Being an Entrepreneur, How Do You Avoid Pitfalls While Using YouTube? OK, I gave you plenty of stats, you like what you see and now you are going to march off and try and build the next viral video.
But wait a minute, that's not the way to begin! There are many things you may need to watch out for before you take off and try and develop a successful video.
The first thing to take into account is that YouTube is a social media site, just like any other.
It is important for you to take the time to master the culture and etiquette of the site well before you stomp in there just like a bull in a China shop.
Bad etiquette will not just get you a small number of responses, it could even get you thrown off the site.
Build relationships online, socialize, it will let you get quite a bit further.
The 2nd thing you want to do is forget about the viral video.
Most likely, it isn't going to happen, but more important, it isn't what you want in order to develop a solid and long-standing base of leads and customers.
Your focus should be more on building a channel and a big picture video strategy more so then a one hit wonder.
Another area you should avoid is attempting to use your video as a sales pitch.
If all you are going to do is selling, then you will almost assuredly fail.
You must add value.
People search for videos that either interest them or solve a problem, not for things to buy.
OK, I understand What Not To Do, How, As An Entrepreneur Do I Benefit From YouTube? There are three basic items that you want to do to optimize your YouTube effort.
The first thing you should be doing is to optimize your video for the keywords that best go with your organization.
These words also need to be relevant to the person who is searching for your service or product.
The next thing, and this is important, it is critical for you to make sure that your video engages people and also has a call to action.
Many entrepreneurs forget the last part of this and create a quality but useless video.
You can tell a possible prospect every one of the ways to deal with an issue as well as interject how you can solve it, however if you don't ask them to do anything with that information, they probably won't.
A final tip, is that you will have to have a follow-up strategy in place.
If you generate a great video, post it and do nothing with it, then you undoubtedly have wasted the effort.
Be sure you have a solid follow-up system set up and are also capturing your potential clients information.
In addition you need to have tools in place to make sure that, even if they don't become your client today, they will have the possibility to order from you at some point in the future.
You have already spent the time and effort to capture their interest, now make sure you capture their information which will help you to build a relationship with them.
One last aspect to take into consideration.
You don't need to go out and spend a great deal of money on video equipment.
a lot of the best videos are shot on a beach or in traffic with an inexpensive camera, or at someones desk with a camera built into their computer.
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