It’s no secret that YouTube is a great branding tool. Consumers are already digesting hours of YouTube content every day, with recent statistics showing that the number of hours spent watching YouTube videos per month is about 3.25 billion. With this level of consumption, it’s only natural that consumer brands would try to become part of that network. But what about B2B brands?

YouTube is usually associated with entertainment, but it’s also a great opportunity for business. Now that YouTube is making live streaming even easier, could it be time to seriously consider a B2B YouTube strategy? Here are our top benefits of a B2B YouTube channel for you to consider.

Better SEO

When you make a B2B video, the goals are very different from a B2C video. In order to increase your SEO ranking, you need to focus your content on the product or service your company delivers, rather than the company brand. The brand can, of course, be present, but the goal is to be the top pick for the product or service that you provide on a Google search.

In many cases, a user will watch a B2B video because it offers the answer to a question they have themselves asked. B2C videos, on the other hand, need to draw audiences in and then hook them to maintain their interest. What this means is that a corporate video doesn’t necessarily need heavy production values and can pace itself in a way that delivers information at the convenience of the viewer, rather than getting the elevator pitch done in the first three seconds. This doesn’t just apply to pacing, either, but the content of the video itself – are you giving a demonstration? A review? An update? These are all relevant examples of content that could assist a customer in their research, even if they aren’t especially exciting for the average YouTube consumer. By making sure your video is what audiences are expecting and needing when they arrive at your youtube page, Google’s algorithms will consider your video user-friendly and be more favourable to you in their search engine results page.

The best way to increase your SEO is to research what your prospective customers are searching for, listen to what questions they are asking, and provide an answer in a way they want to digest. Just make sure the tone of the video is in sync with your brand language. For instance, if you want to be seen as disciplined, leading experts in a field, a comedy slapstick video is not the correct approach. Don’t underestimate the value of the YouTube search, because YouTube has recently replaced Yahoo as the second most popular search engine (behind Google, who also own YouTube).

You can measure your YouTube marketing

YouTube comes with some handy analytics tools, like YouTube Insight, that allow brands to see the effectiveness of their video, as well as if it’s reaching its target audience. You can also use Google Analytics to get more insight on your YouTube channel page. Here are a few metrics you might consider key to your strategy:

  • Traffic Sources – Where are your views coming from? If people are being redirected largely from a particular area, then that is a good area to promote your video.
  • Audience retention – It’s often assumed that the number of views is a reliable measure of YouTube success, but this is not necessarily the case. If a viewer clicks off the page within the first 15 seconds then you can consider that view ineligible. Depending on the point at which your audience is leaving the video, you can make assessments on the causes. For instance, if nearly all of the viewers are coming from a particular source and leaving very quickly, that source is probably not where you should be promoting your video. Alternatively, if people are leaving halfway through, it could be that your video is the problem – likely that it doesn’t get to its point quickly enough, or doesn’t have enough content to fill out its play time. This is valuable feedback for your next video.
  • Engagement – YouTube comes with its own active community, which is excellent for engagement and the measuring thereof. With these metrics, you can calculate how interested your customers are in your video. You can analyse likes and shares, and also look through the optional comments section where you could find some constructive criticism (although, if you’re sifting through YouTube comments, you may need to hire a moderator with a cast-iron stomach).

It’s a great advertising opportunity

Three-fifths of consumers watch a video about a product before they make a purchase, and B2B customers are equally if not more meticulous about their purchases. That means that a video about your product has a market on YouTube that is looking for exactly your kind of video. There are several ways to advertise on YouTube nowadays, from pre-roll ads on videos to banner ads to promoted videos, and these draw potential clients to your brand’s YouTube page. You could, of course, advertise to draw consumers to your company website instead, but an ad will come off less aggressive if it doesn’t immediately take the user to an entirely new location. Besides, your branded YouTube channel has all your video content, which is what the user who clicked on the ad was looking for.

Because YouTube and Google cosy it up so close these days, you can promote your videos through Adwords for Video, where you can define your daily budget and the audiences you want to reach. Google’s convenient analytics system will help to make sure your content is shown to the correct audience, so you can be sure you’re maximising return on your investment.

Video content is now expected of leading brands, and this also applies to B2B companies. Those researching your product or service will be looking at everything associated with your brand to get to know you (because emotional connections are just as important with B2Bs as B2Cs) and video examples of your product or an introduction/demonstration of your service will bring increased confidence in your brand.

However, it’s not quite enough to have a video, you also need to make sure your video is being watched. This is why perfecting SEO is essential. At time of writing, when I google ‘Financial Services Solutions’, a page of websites comes up. However, if I google ‘Vertical Lift Conveyor’ a video from a conveyor manufacturer is in tenth place on the first page. The video has no sound and fills only a portion of the frame (hence the black bars on both the top and sides of the video), but it still has over 50,000 views, and 54 likes to 3 dislikes. With a little SEO optimisation, a Financial Services Solutions video could take one of the top spots on a search engine results page, too.

If you’d like to know more about B2B videos and their potential, please feel free to get in touch via our contact page.