by G.B. Oliver

This blog post made the New York Times Small Business page, May 13, 2014

Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), a major business magazine for the fashion industry, is reporting that 4 in 10 consumers visit a store either online or in person as a direct result of watching a video online. It also reports that fewer major fashion brands find Facebook to be a top driver of traffic in 2012, but rather YouTube, with referral traffic doubling from 20% to 40% in 2012 over 2011.

So are you using YouTube in your marketing efforts?

A lot of people treat YouTube like television on demand. There are various channels, you can search for things you want to watch, and, particularly popular, are tutorials. And if you think it is only young people on YouTube, guess again.

Who is on YouTube (US stats only):

• Ages 18 – 34 – 37.6 million each month
• Ages 35 – 49 – 31.6 million
• Ages 50 – 64 – 25.7 million
• Ages 65+ – 12.3 million
• Men– 59 million
• Women – 63.7 million

3 Quick & Easy Ways to Use YouTube to Promote Your Business:

1. Have Your Own Channel – If you have a Google+ account, setting up your own YouTube channel is pretty much already done. Just go to YouTube and if you are logged into Google+ you will see a channel already set up for you in the right hand corner. It acts as a profile for your business because it shows your Google+ account and other social media icons, as well as your shop url (make sure you are using the new layout). You can now curate other people’s videos onto a playlist or favorites list. If you want to add your own videos, I will cover creative ideas for that in an upcoming post.
2. Comment - Using your shop name, add a comment on a popular video or one relevant to your business. Viewers may click on your name out of curiosity and they will be taken over to your YouTube channel, where they will see all your business information. You can also engage with people who comment on your videos.
3. Place an Ad – There are a variety of ads you can run on YouTube, all typically on a cost per view. This article explains all the different types of ads.

I CAN HELP! If you  do not know how to market your online business and are not making sales, contact me at attentiongetting@gmail.com. You can also read an excerpt of my ebook, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work! Jewelry & Accessories Edition, HERE.

FINAL WORD: Like all social media, YouTube is free so why not use it. Just don’t invest too much time in it if it does not pull in traffic for your business.