Research has shown that Google values video content very highly. So, how do you use YouTube to generate traffic and leads as part of your B2B marketing strategy?
As any good digital marketer knows, eyes on your website often translate to leads into your sales funnel. However, the most difficult work often lies in the first step of this process: how do you get more visitors to your website?
There are many proposed solutions to this problem from regular blogging, updating content and key-word research, and we’ve written about a fair amount of content surrounding these topics. There is, however, one topic that is not talked about enough— video marketing.
Research shows that Google values video content and incorporates it into their search results rank. In fact, YouTube is the number two most used search engine in the entire world after Google. It goes without saying then, that if you want an effective digital marketing strategy for your B2B business, it should include video marketing and YouTube.
Video power
Before we get into some of the best ways you can utilise YouTube and video marketing, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with why video marketing is an important aspect of your overall digital marketing strategy.
Here are a few quick points to take into consideration.
- 80% of total consumer internet traffic will be video traffic by the end of 2019 (Cisco VNI Forecast and Methodology, 2015-2020)
- 97% increase in intent to purchase when a consumer enjoys a video advert (Unruly, Social AD Effectiveness, February 2012)
- 70% of viewers who experience a strong emotional response to an advert are likely to buy the product (Unruly Sharerank data (February 2013 to March 2015)
- It has been shown that adding video to your email correspondence with prospects “can boost your click-through rates by 200-300%.” (vidyard.com)
- Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year. (Aberdeen)
- YouTube has over a billion users, almost one-third of total internet users (YouTube)
As you can probably tell, video marketing is here to stay and will only go from strength to strength in the coming years. Digital marketers would be wise to learn how best to use this medium to its fullest potential in the B2B space.
Here are some tips and tricks you can use for your own B2B video marketing strategy on YouTube.
Best practices for B2B video Marketing
Like all content, B2B video marketing requires a different approach than B2C due to the people you are targeting and the approach you adopt. When it comes to video marketing for a B2B audience it’s best to keep the videos concise, informative and located where a B2B customer will likely come across it. With regards to the content of the video itself, there are a few resources that you can take advantage of and make into a shareable video.
Best Practices for Implementation
How you implement your video marketing is just as important as the content of the video itself. Here are some tips to take into consideration when implementing your video marketing.
Building your YouTube channel
Even though you are a B2B company, you will have to treat YouTube marketing the same way a B2C company would. Part of that is creating and supporting a YouTube channel.
While it is not difficult to set up your own channel, there are a few best practices to ensure that you maximise the potential of this medium.
Ensure banners and icons are consistent and on-brand
Branded banners and icons help solidify your image in the minds of your viewers and should create a connection with your company no matter where your viewers interact with it.
Write a compelling channel description
The ‘About’ section on your YouTube channel can be used to maximise your chances of reaching the widest possible audience. By using relevant keywords and hashtags to boost SEO, you will appear in both Google and YouTube search results.
Your description should be short, to the point and link back to your website.
Organise your videos
If you’re going to be uploading a lot of content, it’s always best to organise your videos into categories to help your viewers find what they’re looking for. YouTube allows you to easily do this by creating custom playlists by topic.
Post vlogs with your blogs
If you’re a B2B company that takes content marketing seriously, you most likely have a company blog and update it regularly. This is a great opportunity to supplement those blog posts with a vlog—a short video that is relevant to the topic you’re discussing in the blog post.
In these videos you should expand upon the topic or summarise the blog in some manner and then upload them to your YouTube channel. This will not only boost the performance of your blog and get views on your YouTube video, but also increase your Google search rank for both your blog and your website in general.
Supplement your content with YouTube advertising
If your videos are engaging and you post regularly, you should be building a pretty solid audience over time. With a large audience, it’s a good idea to include call-to-actions wherever you can without diluting your content too much. YouTube ads help incorporate those call to actions on your videos and others through display ads, overlay ads, skippable ads and non-skippable ads to name a few.
Of course, as a B2B business you will have to select the kinds of videos your ads appear on carefully, according to your industry and other relevant considerations. However, the type of ad is just as important.
Skippable ads have the added benefit of the only kind of advert to appear on all devices, and you only pay for the ad once the viewer reaches 30 seconds into the advertisement. That means, though, that you will have to create an advert that will hook viewers quickly and keep them watching until it ends.
Best practices for content
Content is king, and when it comes to videos, it’s often the most important aspect. Here are some tips for smart B2B YouTube content.
Vlog content
As mentioned above, you should be posting vlogs as much as you post blogs. While these vlogs should be relevant to the blog in question, sometimes the topic does not lend itself to the video format. However, there are a few ways to get around this by making a vlog surrounding the topic instead of dealing with the topic directly.
For example, you can make a vlog based on:
- Interviews
- Group panel discussions
- Customer testimonials
- How-to tutorials
- Explainer videos
- Sneak peaks
As long as your content is relevant and valuable, it will be engaging to the right audience.
Upload product demos and trade shows
As a B2B company you will most likely be hosting many product demos and be visiting trade shows. These are ideal opportunities for your video marketing and YouTube channel.
In-person events have always been one of the top channels for generating B2B leads, and setting up a booth at a trade show or giving product demos is a great way to generate leads, build relationships and network. You can maximise this impact by recording these events and uploading the footage to your YouTube channel. This way you’re both generating leads in person and digitally.
Another great opportunity lies in explainer videos and webinars, which are usually recorded anyway.
Ultimately, once you experiment with what you record and what brings in the best results, you will find what works and what doesn’t. The key is to always be on the lookout for opportunities to hit record.
Brand storytelling
Storytelling is not often used or thought of in the B2B area, but as omnichannel sales continue to trend, brand storytelling has started to become more relevant to B2B companies.
Everyone enjoys narrative structure as a means of entertainment, and escapism is ingrained in all of us as human beings. By producing and uploading engaging stories about your brand you will be able to tap into this fact and get your brand known.
Microsoft did a great job at this with this YouTube video and they continue to engage with storytelling as a form of marketing. Here’s some ideas you can use to humanise your brand and get into storytelling.
- Corporate responsibilities
- Case studies
- Staff references
- Community outreach
Hit record
Now that you know some of the best tips for video and YouTube marketing, it’s time to get out there, record and upload your videos. As long as you focus on content that is interesting, valuable and engaging, you will find your audience whether you’re a B2C or B2B company.
If you’d like more information on YouTube advertising or would just like some guidance for digital marketing in general, why not try Demodia? Demodia is a full-service digital marketing consultancy that specialises in generating leads through the latest innovations in the industry. Contact Demodia today and find out what your digital marketing campaign is capable of.
