The Pew Research Center released their Social Media Use in 2018 report in which Youtube was reported to be one of the largest social media networks among Americans. The number of American adults that use Youtube rose to 73%, while Facebook reached 68% of American adults. Instagram came in third place after 35% of American adults reported their usage. These results are from more than 2000 American adults who were asked about their social media habits in January 2018.

However, YouTube’s massive user base of more than a billion active users is not the only reason to include the platform in your social media marketing strategy. Hubspot conducted a study in which 43% of all interviewees reported branded video content to be the most memorable content posted by a company or brand over the past month. 54% of the same group wished to see more video content from brands compared to other mediums such as emails or images. Using video content has become a must for small businesses to stand out from their competition.

YouTube has its own ad platform with a cost per view (CPV) model. This means you will only pay for the ads that were watched for at least 30 seconds or were clicked on by viewers. YouTube’s TrueView ads can be targeted by demographic factors like age, gender, income or parental status or by other factors such as location and interests. Within their ads system, there are three different types:

1) In-stream ads are placed right before the main video
2) Discovery ads are placed on the Youtube Homepage or directly above search results 3) Bumpers, which last for 6 seconds and can be used instead of or in addition to TrueView ads

35% of people research options online before they make a purchase. YouTube can be the perfect platform to influence popular opinions about your company or product as well as raise general awareness. Video marketing for small businesses may seem complicated, but partnering with YouTube creators makes it simple. According to Think with Google, partnering with creators on YouTube can be even more effective than celebrity endorsements.

The most difficult part of the whole process is to find the right match. But, there are a lot of websites that exist to match brands and companies with online influencers. Among YouTube creators, FameBit is probably the most well-known. FameBit is a website that allows brands to start an influencer campaign with YouTube creators starting at $100. Brands are guaranteed to reach a larger audience since the minimum of follower count for creators signing up is 5000 followers on their platform of choice (Youtube Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook). Brands submit an outline of what kind of content they are looking for and can search for influencers based on reach and engagement metrics as well as their audience’s demographics.

YouTube is one of the best platforms to create deep, meaningful, and strong bonds between your brand and consumers. Do you think YouTube will become an important part of your social media marketing strategy? If you would like to try video marketing for small businesses on YouTube, reach out to the BusySeed team, we can help you get started!

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