6 Best Practices For Small Business YouTube Marketing

Mention YouTube and most people will picture cats playing piano. But among a certain type of small businessperson, the name conjures another image: Dollar signs.

Such entrepreneurs can often sound like brainwashed cult members — in a good way. For instance, Scott Imbrie, owner of Original Skateboards, a brand that has been built largely on its YouTube presence, says the platform is better for marketers than even Facebook. “YouTube is actually the biggest social media site,” he says. “It’s bigger than Facebook or Twitter.”

Another YouTube proselytizer is Jeffrey Harmon, chief marketing officer for Orabrush, a Provo, Utah oral care brand that recently parlayed a series of successful YouTube videos into a national distribution deal at Walmart. Original Skateboards, which joined YouTube in 2005 and Orabrush, which dropped its first YouTube video in 2009, were clearly ahead of the curve, but YouTube is still a great place to launch or grow a brand.

Below are some tips from entrepreneurs who have thrived on YouTube, plus some from Lane Shackleton, product manager for YouTube and, yes, a distant relative of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.

1. Don’t Expect Your Video to go Viral

Are you ready to become the next Orabrush? Maybe it’s time to reset your expectations. Harmon helpfully points out that 48 hours of video are loaded to YouTube every minute, so you’re probably better off playing Powerball than waiting for your clip to take off. “Anyone who thinks they’re going to have a video go crazy on YouTube is dreaming,” says Harmon. “Think base hits, not home runs.” Raw numbers aren’t as important as reaching the right customers, so don’t freak out if you’re nowhere near a million views.


2. Buy Some Ads

Since your video is probably not going to go viral on its own (or at all), you should consider buying some ads on YouTube. Fortunately, rates are pretty good compared to AdWords. Harmon says that right now search ads on YouTube are going for 50 cents per click vs. $1.50 per click on AdWords. That said, you don’t have to sink a fortune into it. In Orabrush’s early days, the company spent $30 a day on YouTube search ads. Though Orabrush got a lot more bang for its buck back then, Harmon says you can still do pretty well today buying Promoted Videos, the ads that pop up when you do a YouTube search. However, no matter what you spend on ads, make sure the content is relevant to the search term. Google will base the ad’s position on that relevance.

Lire la suite : http://mashable.com/2011/11/05/youtube-small-biz-tips/

Source : Mashable, by Todd Wasserman