THE YOUTUBE ADVANTAGE FOR YOUR BUSINESS

One would hardly think business when YouTube is mentioned. The picture that usually comes
to mind is of song playlists, videos of toddlers (and cats and dogs) frolicking around and
videos watched by toddlers! It might look like YouTube has been overtaken by domesticity
but, in reality, this giant of a website presents a great opportunity for businesses willing to
look beyond tumbling cats.

The figures speak for themselves

Consider these statistics: YouTube has over 1 billion active users and is the second largest
social media website today on the Internet. People from more than 50 countries post content
in more than 60 languages on the site and nearly 17 per cent of Internet traffic in a day flows
through YouTube. Moreover, YouTubes accessibility over a range of devices is considered to
be among the best. With such figures to back up its successes, it would indeed be a shame if
companies do not engage with the website in a more concentrated and involved manner.
Already, many businesses have woken up to this fact. They are taking advantage of the
websites marketing outreach and gaining new consumers in return; their revenue streams are
flowing upward as well aided by the low-cost advertising. The best way to gain the benefits
of these factors and convert them into financial assets is to create a branded channel.
Why create a branded channel?
Setting up a branded channel on YouTube just for the sake of it will not yield much result.
Once a clear business strategy is in place and you have specific goals in mind, a branded

channel (and appropriate videos in that channel) will go a long way. YouTube, just like any
business, is keen about success both its own and of the people who use its services.
YouTubes services are catered to up your digital and social marketing campaign they
understand what a company needs to take its agenda forward. Which is why they provide data
analytics and extensive user statistics on how your videos are faring. You can track your
videos likes and dislikes, viewer comments and even which part of the video is watched
most. This information is crucial to build a company, understand your consumer and convert
views into assets. More often than not, such information is obtained through expensive
software or extensive data mining and research. But the good news is YouTube provides it all
for free especially so in the case of a branded channel where a deeper set of metrics are
provided that helps analyse exactly why a video is appealing and why another isnt.
Benefits of a YouTube channel
As you can see, creating a strong presence on YouTube has several advantages. Let us
examine some of them in detail.
1. A reliable home for your customers: A branded channel means personalisation; you
can give the channel the look and feel that is appropriate for your business with
supporting images and banners. A channel also allows you to customise your content
and thus build a sense of consistency and sturdiness into your online presence. This
will also provide greater visibility to your marketing campaign and will assist in
optimising your branding efforts.
2. Stand out from the crowd: Every business worth its salt is building a strong social
presence on the web today and the question on everybodys lips is how to be ahead of
the curve. Branded YouTube pages give your business a push in this direction. By
constantly updating your channel with new and relevant content and showcasing your
brand through its images and logos (which can be displayed very prominently on the
channel pages), you can give your business greater visibility than before and increase
your social outreach immensely.

3. Tool for cross-promotion: Social media marketing today is all about having an
integrated business strategy that takes into consideration all channels of advertising
and marketing and keeps in mind how to keep the communication channels between

these platforms open and accessible. With YouTube, this is as easy as it comes. Since
YouTube integrates seamlessly with several other social media platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest etc., the links to these platforms can be easily
displayed in your branded channel and users can be directed to proceed there for
additional content or feedback.
Time then to sift through the cats and babies and do some real business!