Brainstorming ways to spread the word about your business? If so, YouTube should definitely be on your to-do list. Unfortunately, many companies, consumer service oriented and otherwise, shy away from the platform. That hesitation usually stems from either concerns about the time and skill commitment making videos would require or from a lack of YouTube content ideas. Regardless of the reason, if your company isn’t on YouTube, you’re missing out!
In this post, we’ll talk about why YouTube is likely an excellent option for your business as well as how to generate YouTube content ideas and come up with ideas for YouTube channels. While we’re primarily focusing on consumer service companies, these concepts can easily be applied to businesses in other industries.
Why YouTube?
YouTube has a lot to offer businesses! Here are three reasons why YouTube should be a part of your digital marketing plan:
YouTube is a twofer.
YouTube isn’t just a social media platform; it’s also a search engine. Yep, people use the site to search for answers to their questions. In fact, YouTube sees 3 billion searches each month, which makes it the second largest search engine in the world, after Google (Source: Forbes).
However, it’s still a social media platform. In fact, YouTube is the homecoming king of social media platforms—it’s the most popular of them all. (Yes, it even beats Facebook.) According to data from Pew Research, 81% of Americans use YouTube while only 69% use Facebook.
Tip: As you start to generate YouTube content ideas, you’ll want to remember that YouTube is both a search engine and a social media platform.
YouTube has a wide reach.
Regardless of what demographic your business would like to reach, you’ll find them on YouTube. (Yes, even the notoriously hard to reach 18-24-year-old bracket.)
Here are some usage stats from HubSpot:
- YouTube has 1.7 billion unique monthly visitors.
- 62% of U.S. visitors access the platform daily.
- 92% of U.S. visitors access the platform weekly.
- 694,000 hours of video are streamed every minute!
There’s room for your business.
Despite how popular YouTube is, as both a search engine and social media platform, most businesses aren’t taking advantage of the platform. In fact, only 9% of small businesses have their own YouTube channel (Source: Shopify)! Yes, only 9%.
That’s fantastic news for your company. It means your videos most likely won’t be drowned out by the competition.
Generating YouTube Content Ideas
Okay, now that we’ve established why you should use YouTube to market your business, let’s tackle one of the obstacles companies encounter—coming up with ideas for YouTube channels and videos. Here are three tips to get you started.
Turn to your FAQs.
Frequently asked questions or consumer issues, especially if they lend themselves to a visual demonstration, can be a treasure trove of YouTube content ideas. You can mine your website’s FAQ section, review call and service logs, and talk to your customer service or field reps to come up with a list of common questions and problems. From there, determine which could pretty easily be turned into a video.
Example 1:
Your auto glass company frequently gets calls about whether a windshield chip can be repaired or if the whole thing will need to be replaced. Obviously, the answer to this will vary by situation. However, you could make a video that shows common things you look for when determining repair vs. replacement.
Use keyword research.
Remember how YouTube is a search engine? Well, when you’re coming up with ideas for YouTube channels and videos, you want to use that fact to your advantage. Perform keyword research, just like you would for a blog post, and make videos around the results.
Example 2:
Your plumbing company may find that there is ample search volume in your area around repairing or troubleshooting water heater pilot lights. Help your potential customers out by making a video that shows how to safely evaluate a water heater that isn’t working. For example, if the pilot light won’t re-light what should they do? When is it time to call in a pro (you)?
Think about social media.
When developing YouTube content ideas, you don’t want to forget that YouTube is also a social media platform. Turn to your other social media accounts for video ideas. For example, what’s performing well on your Facebook or Instagram accounts?
With social media, posts that make people feel something or that highlight the human side of businesses tend to do well. With that in mind, a video that showcases your employees or goes behind the scenes of a community event that you’re sponsoring may prove popular.
Example 3:
A pest control company is sponsoring an insect exhibit at the local zoo or an event at the local conservatory. They could get the venue to agree to a behind-the-scenes tour and turn that footage into a YouTube video.
Psst! Developing YouTube content ideas isn’t much different than coming up with blog post ideas. Check out our blog post on How to Come Up with Restaurant Content Ideas for more tips.
Need help developing YouTube content ideas or ideas for YouTube channels? From keyword research to actual video production, St. Gregory can help. Contact us today for a free consultation.