YouTube

Over 50 percent of executives watch work-related YouTube videos at least once a week. While YouTube is typically associated with singing cat videos or montages of the newest dance fad, it is also a very useful online tool when it comes to business-to-business (B2B) communication and marketing. Currently the largest online video sharing network, YouTube houses many professional videos relating to current events, politics, business and more, and can be extremely advantageous when used by B2B marketers for the following reasons.

1) YouTube is owned by Google.

YouTube being owned by the world’s largest search engine, Google, cannot be overlooked. On Google searches, as elsewhere, videos often appear on the first page of search engines and have been proven to show up at the top at the top of the search results page. Making sure variables like your video title, its description and associated tags are easy-to-control elements to increase video visibility for search.

2) More than Half of Executives Watch Work-Related YouTube Videos at Least Weekly

A Forbes Insights study titled “Video in the C-Suite: Executives Embrace the Non-text Web” found that 52% of executives watch work-related YouTube videos at least once a week. If just one of these executives finds your company’s video on YouTube and likes what he/she sees, you could have a new client.

Other YouTube-related statistics include:

  • YouTube is the second most popular search engine (next to Google)
  • Every month, YouTube has over 1 billion unique visitors
  • Every week, 100 million users take a social action on YouTube (share a video, comment on a video, like a video etc.)
  • Every day, YouTube videos receive more than 4 billion views

These numbers indicate how popular and widely used YouTube is. It’s right up there with Facebook and Twitter, and shouldn’t be ignored when it comes to B2B communication through social media.

3) Video Keeps Prospects Engaged

Many potential clients would prefer to watch a brief informational video about your business’s product or service rather than read lengthy descriptions on a website: video is inherently more engaging. Busy professionals have busy schedules: engaging them with a two-minute (the recommended maximum time for a business video) video – found on your website or on YouTube – makes sense. And if prospects are interested by the first video, there’s a good chance they’ll watch another and continue to engage more and more with your brand, especially if you use plenty of quality research to support your conclusions.

Video is Content Development at Its Best

Don’t let the “Gangnam Style” videos fool you; YouTube has powerful marketing potential when it comes to B2B interactions.

 


By Valerie Pilossof, Jennifer Connelly Public Relations Intern