Why Customers Represent Your Best Video Marketing Strategy

“Everybody’s crying mercy, but no one knows the meaning of the word.”

In today’s frothy, “get it while you can” world many marketers are not serving small businesses in any meaningful way.

Today’s social drenched markets are not easy to navigate, especially for under $10M brands with minimal staffing, technical expertise and time.

I see an endless deluge of marketers waxing poetically about the billion dollar upside using video as an example.

There is nothing further from the truth than that statement.

Creating a viable YouTube channel requires heavy lifting. End of story.

Google (“YouTube”)  is forcing brands, businesses and individuals (a la Facebook) to create and integrate personal accounts blending Google+ person and professional, GMail, Google Analytics and more before you can even create a YouTube Channel.

It’s complex. We have clients that can’t keep track of passwords and most of you are no different. We all struggle with today’s complex world.

Back to YouTube/Google.

God help you if you have more than one Gmail account, can’t separate channels (on YouTube) from an actual account or G+ and get confused easily.

And, it’s not enough to just throw up a channel on YouTube: the competition is significant, with 100M hours of Videos Uploaded on YouTube every minute.

But, it’s a high raises all brands market and video usage growing at a blistering pace. See: “smartphones in hand” consumers.

But, should you ignore a platform like YouTube generating 17% of Smartphone Traffic?‘

No, if you have the resources or can muster up a customer driven video marketing strategy you should not ignore video marketing, especially via YouTube.

17% of Mobile Traffic is via YouTube. It’s a must channel strategy for many small businesses.

What’s a Workable Video Strategy for a Small Biz you Ask?

Don’t do it yourself!

Motivate and reward your customers to do it for you.

Milennials love and trust User Generated Content over “brand” created content. (“OMG did you see these new ……….”)

Everybody’s got a smartphone and you can probably “pay” a savvy consumer $25-50. in rewards or credits to create videos about your products or services.

Why this is the Best Way to build Video Love for your Brand (not doing it yourself)?

It’s a hassle trying to create a YouTube Account that’s going to get found on YouTube

Production Costs for YouTube can run the gambit from nothing (shot on your phone, but may look like it) to $500-2K per 1-3 minute video.

A video channel gets stale like any other social media content. You gotta feed this beast all the time moving forward and it’s another “ROI measurement” you have to incorporate with your Google Analytics and Sales Funnel.

Is Hiring Your Nephew a Good Strategy?

Can you hire your “nephew” in college to do this for you? Probably, if they have any decent geek cred and you may get traffic to your site doing this.

But, this kind of DIY method may look your brand look funky in the long run.

Using an SEO or Ad Agency Approach

Don’t try to do it yourself: hire a content marketing firm with some experience with YouTube or an SEO firm that knows the landscape.

Expect to pay $2-5K for a YouTube Account with approx 6-10 videos.

I see prices all over the map, you can find people on Freelance that will do it for $200-300. but, I wouldn’t hire them.

If you can’t afford to do this right then don’t do it.

Remember, you are creating intellectual property that will be archived on the web for a long time. Invest accordingly.

Here is a by no means comprehensive outline.

It’s here just to get you started.

• SEO optimized descriptions for each video with keywords in the title and content body.
• A GMail Account to tile the account back to and then G+ Business Account
• YouTube Account: Profile with About Page/Section, Settings optimized for your brand
• Each Video Should be Keyword Optimized (Title and Description), Added to a Custom Playlist
• Don’t forget about uploading and optimizing each Video via your Pinterest account on Facebook. It’s the inter-connected world we live in rearing it’s ugly head.
• Expect to spend 2-3 hours getting up to speed your new “YouTube Channel”
• Get a couple of quotes, throw out the low and the high bidder and go with the geeks in the middle. Or, throw out the low bidder and go with the higher quote. You are paying for creativity.

Who Should Belly up to the Bar and Embrace Video?

I have no idea why any restaurant from a food truck to a five star Michelin restaurant doesn’t embrace video.

Motivate your customers to share content about anything and everything topical about your restaurant: food, wait staff, facility, booze, wine list, parking lot, the menu, each other: it’s all good: User Generated Content.

Your cost for this type of video marketing is engaging with your customers on as many platforms as you can afford to monitor. It might just be one social channel; there is no silver bullet answer. It’s budget and the size of your staff.

We are moving into a fragmented world and Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat and Tender and some app Google is going to make are where you need to be.

Finally, your staff: get them in the picture and encourage and motivate them to be active representing your business.

They know your a lot about your food and your customers intimately right? Pay them to drive your brand, it may be the best money you ever spent.

Remember, you can’t automate engagement with your customers on the social web.

You need a good community manager and you can share the heavy lifting with a consultant or agency, if you can find one that understands your business, customers and can inject some joy de vivre across your social channels.

#bonnechance