In a previous blog post I recommend why and how to take advantage of three social networking services: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I also mentioned that I would write subsequent posts on each of these "Big Three" social networking sites, and the video sharing network YouTube. This final installment of four is dedicated to getting you started with YouTube.
YouTube, the free video sharing website, is an especially useful tool for those in
the livestock business to advertise videos of animals for sale, or to showcase a herd
sire. You could even share a video of yourself giving a sales pitch for your business.
Videos are streamed to users from the YouTube website or, more importantly, can be viewed from blogs and your own business website. Not sure if your customers hang out on YouTube? The website http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-history-statistics/ lists the following data:
- YouTube exceeds 2 Billion views per day (Nearly double the prime time audience of all 3 major US broadcast networks combined).
- More videos uploaded to YouTube in 60 days, than all 3 major US broadcast networks created in 60 years.
- 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute.
- The average user spends 15 minutes per day on YouTube.
- 70% of the traffic comes from outside the U.S .
To open your (free) YouTube user account, you can visit the website at: http://www.youtube.com/. (To view sample horse videos, type the words, “One Hot Krymsum” in the YouTube search box and check out the videos you find there. To view sample cattle videos, type the words, “WLB 76Y” in the search box.) I think you will quickly appreciate what videos like this can do for your livestock sales program.
Similar to Facebook, once you have opened a YouTube personal user account, you can then set up a free YouTube “Channel” for your business and customize it to match the style of your website if you like. Check into the YouTube Guide at this link: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=2403720&topic=2403637&answer=2403640.
The other significant advantage of having a YouTube account with uploaded videos, is that a snippet of computer code can easily be copied and pasted into any webpage or blog page, which creates a video viewing window. YouTube supplies this code and it is easy to insert. If you are not comfortable doing this, you can ask your webmaster to do it for you. Then, your video runs right there on your webpage and visitors don't leave your site. This can add a very dynamic feature to an otherwise static webpage. And, it can keep web visitors coming back to see if you have uploaded any new videos on your site. For a sample of how this works on a webpage, click here to see a sample linked video. (Scroll down to the link below the stallion's pedigree for the video of his dam.)
Launched in 2005, YouTube supports AVI, MOV and MPEG video formats from most digital cameras, camcorders and cell phones. Nowadays, everyone seems to have access to at least one of these gadgets. You can even upload a video directly into YouTube right from your computer’s web cam. So, as I mentioned above, you can easily create a video of yourself giving a sales pitch for your business.
You are invited to ask questions and/or to post a comment in the space provided below regarding your experience using YouTube for business or to point out other advantages and disadvantages not mentioned here.
I highly recommend that you increase your business marketing strategies by tapping into the "Big Three" social networking services: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We will also touch on YouTube, the very popular video sharing Web site, that lets anyone upload short videos for private or public viewing. There are many others, of course, but arguably these are the “top four” web based services, which can help promote your business to your target market. Best of all, they’re FREE!
What exactly is a social networking service?
- Wikipedia (an on-line dictionary) defines social networking services as, “…an on line service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, including e-mail and instant messaging.
- One popular use for this new technology is social networking between businesses. Companies have found that social networking sites are great ways to build their brand image. According to Jody Nimetz, author of Marketing Jive, “There are five major uses for businesses and social media: to create brand awareness, as an online reputation management tool, for recruiting, to learn about new technologies and competitors, and as a lead generation tool to intercept potential prospects. These companies are able to drive traffic to their own online sites while encouraging their consumers and clients to have discussions on how to improve or change products or services.”
But, isn’t Social Networking just a fad?
The website www.graphicsms.com/blog/877-social-networking-statistics-2010/ lists the following data: (Note: these are the published statistics for 2010)
- 47% of online adults use social networking sites and 73% of teens and young adults are a member of at least one social network.
- The global average time spent on social networking sites is now nearly five and a half hours per month.
- The active US-based social network audience grew roughly 29% from 115 million in February, 2009 to 149 million in February
Facebook: has more than 400+ million active users, with over 1.5 million business pages, with the average user spending more than 55 minutes per day on their site.
Twitter: has 24+ million unique visitors per month, with 50 million tweets per day, and 11 % or 33.8 million US online adults use this service.
LinkedIn: has 60+ million professional members worldwide, including all Fortune 500 companies.
And then, there’s YouTube:
The website http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-history-statistics/ lists the following data:
- YouTube exceeds 2 Billion views per day (Nearly double the prime time audience of all 3 major US broadcast networks combined).
- More videos uploaded to YouTube in 60 days, than all 3 major US broadcast networks created in 60 years.
- 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute.
- The average user spends 15 minutes per day on YouTube.
- 70% of the traffic comes from outside the US .
But, isn’t Social Networking a huge “time-suck?”
Yes, you will have to invest time and effort (but importantly – no money) to use these marketing tools effectively. Can you afford to ignore FRE on-line marketing tools when the user statistics are so staggering? Wouldn’t you rather be moving forward with these trends than standing by and wondering what all the “buzz” is about? Today’s business environment is highly competitive and to survive and thrive you need all the help you can get.
I will devote my next four blog posts to providing more depth about each of the "Big Three" Social Networks and YouTube, how they differ and how that will help you to use them to your advantage for your business. Until then, happy social networking!
As always, you're invited to comment on this post below (and any others).
