YouTube

[Tim Wilson]

There’s no reason not to put anything on YouTube. It’s cheap, it’s fun, and you can send your link to all your pals who send you videos of a kitten in a cup, Gnarls Barkley and “My Bubby wishing you a Happy New Year.” (I got those from YouTube’s front page today, btw.)

I really am curious if anybody here has come up with an actual strategy that’s best implemented via YouTube. I genuinely hope so. But I haven’t heard it yet.

[George Socka]

Therein lies the rub. You CAN direct people you KNOW to your own web site. The rest of the world, however, will never find you. But Youtube exposes you – and more importantly your client’s message to millions.

Obviously, the Youtube demographics may not be for all products and services. But by dismissing it out of hand, you close off this part of the world to your message,

[Tim Wilson]

[George Socka] “You CAN direct people you KNOW to your own web site. The rest of the world, however, will never find you. But Youtube exposes you – and more importantly your client’s message to millions.”

Actually, search engines are one tool among many to direct the world to my website. 🙂 Far better than YouTube’s blunt search tools ever could. I also know what I expect to achieve once people DO find my web page…like pick up the phone. Click to send me an email.

Compare this to YouTube. Blunt search tools at best — much better optimized to browse. Best case scenario: I post the perfect video, and tons of people see it. What then? There’s no link back. I can include a URL at the end of the video, but I have to hope someobody remembers to type it in before they get distracted by that clip of a baby panda sneezing. (Hilarious, by the way. Check it out.)

Go back to the analogy I first raised, to the web ten years ago. Hey, I hear the internet’s hot! Let’s get a home page!

Anybody can do that. The value that we add for our clients is a way to turn that web page into money. Here are a few guidelines for site design….for getting seen by search engines…for getting links from other sites….here’s the part of your message that can work best on the web….here’s what won’t work on the web…. You get the picture.

I’m not dismissing YouTube at all. I’m just waiting for the rest of the story about how to actually use it to drive business to my client’s door. I’ve yet to hear anyone describe a strategy that includes YouTube other than, “hey, that YouTube thing sure is popular!” I see how YouTube can turn that into money. But what about my client? What can my real-world client (not Nike, not Saturday Night Live) expect to accomplish with YouTube? How do I help them do that?