YouTube Videos Play a Huge Role in Social Media Marketing 

Below this super trend of social media as a global news and collective power is a sub-trend of how the online world is taken over by images, not just words. Videos in particular.  We see tens of thousands of companies coming through the system, and almost 100% of those set up their accounts with a traditional website URL a year ago. However, over the past year, we have seen a growing number of “entities” using YouTube channels as their “homepage” or main URL.  YouTube (and other visual channels such as Instagram) clearly plays an increasingly important role in social media, especially if you target consumers. And frankly, when you target consumers aged 15 to 35, it should be an integral part of your marketing strategy.  Now, let’s take a look behind these videos at the YouTube channels and see what we can learn about best practices in engagement and social media. 

Take a Multi-Channel Social Approach 

These YouTube stars don’t just use YouTube to reach out to their followers and build a strong community. As we can see below, on at least four other social networks, each of these outlets also has a presence. We track six networks at LinkedIn is the only place the YouTube stars don’t have a profile.   If you are a business-to-business (B2B) agency, it is important to note that the company must have a Linkedin.  

Prioritize the Social Networks Based on Your Target Community 

While these users may be present on all five of these networks, they are not likely to have an equivalent presence or level of activity on all of them. The truth is that it is difficult to do well with 5 or 6 social networks. Prioritize platforms based on where the rivals and culture are already interacting. 

Post Consistently on Your Top Priority Channels 

It’s not enough to just “show up” on these social networks, you need to make sure you are posting content consistently. As we can see in this Social Activity chart for the past 30 days, top trend makers on Youtube are posting frequently on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. 

Create and Post Engaging Content 

Obviously, trend makers and top pages on Youtube have learned how to create extremely engaging content on YouTube, but what are they doing to connect with their audiences on the other social networks? 

Use content to adapt to every social channel  

One of the fundamental mistakes that companies or individuals make is not to utilize content across different social networks and making it meaningful and appropriate for each network or platform.  For instance, we already know that the Top channels have been awesome for their video content on YouTube. They promote such videos on other platforms to win that dedication on YouTube. But they also create unique, relevant content for each network. 

Your Turn to Be a YouTube Celebrity 

But you and your organizations can learn not only how to create amazing video content that gets your audience’s attention, but also how to extend it to other social networks. Creating a splash on social media doesn’t take a ton of cash. All of these profiles, however, I’m sure would tell you that it takes hard work, consistency, and constant outreach to your fan base. 

Take Away 

Do your strategic analysis and market research, set up your social strategy, build some good initial content and start!  Then learn from what you and others are doing to preserve and grow your social presence and contribution to the community.