What is YouTube?

YouTube is a website that allows users to search, watch, and share videos of pretty much anything (within reason). Every minute over 35 hours of video is added to the site, and 2 billion videos are viewed every day. It is free to have an account and free to share video, whether it’s a family video that you want to share exclusively with other family members, or a music video you made for your mates band!

YouTube is fast becoming a platform that allows users to gain fame. Singers can post their videos of them performing and if things go extremely well, then they can receive millions of views and be picked up by a record label. This shows you just how fundamental social media has become to our everyday lives, it has so much power and possibilities. Interested in finding out more? This article outlines some amazing statistics for YouTube during 2011.

On YouTube you can make your own channel that you post videos to – this keeps them all in one place – and allows people to subscribe to your channel.  This way, they will be sent notifications of any new activity that occurs on your channel.  Additionally to this, every video can be commented on, and you can state whether you like or dislike the video with just a single click of your mouse.

How can YouTube be used for business?

• It is easy to garner respect and approval as a business purely by having a wide social media presence. A lot of businesses have a Facebook page, but not many have several fully integrated social media accounts across the board.
• People are on YouTube, the stats show that. Why would you not want to have a presence on the third most visited website on the planet?!
• It’s free. Pure and simple, a free way to market yourself to millions of people. Would you pay money to make an advert to put on TV? Then, why wouldn’t you pay nothing to place that advert on YouTube too?
• The potentiality of ‘going viral’. ‘Going viral’ seems to be the buzz phrase at the moment. All it means is that the content you create is infectious, people watch your video and then feel they must share (infect) it with others. They then do the same, and before you know it half the world has seen that video you made of your cat playing a keyboard in a jumper; and sales of your home-made cat jumpers go through the roof.
• On social media, the number one rule for many is ‘content is the be-all and end-all’.  Well, video is the best of that content – people love videos.  This is demonstrated perfectly by the success of YouTube as a site.
• Because of YouTube being owned by Google, having a presence on YouTube can be good for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – aka, it helps you get towards the top of Google search results.
• Your content on YouTube is active 24/7, people can watch your videos whenever they want, from wherever they want.
• Having videos on YouTube will give your business a face, and make it seem less stuffy and boring. Good times.

We hope that this post has opened your eyes to YouTube and the endless possibilities that it offers you and your business. If you have any further questions, please feel free to leave a comment below!