Let me tell you something you might haven't heard before... YouTube gets 1.7 billion UNIQUE visitors every month!
In fact, it's the largest video-sharing platform on the internet.
These facts say one thing: It’s the perfect medium for building brand awareness and a loyal following for your Shopify store.
But its popularity became a double-edged sword that YouTube marketers and eCommerce business owners have to handle with care.
Because the more attention it gets from its billions of visitors... the more attention it also gets from millions of content creators.
Why? Because there are over 50 million active references in the YouTube database. And it makes it one of the most saturated platforms in cyberspace.
This makes it difficult to cut through the noise and stand out. Not just from your ecommerce competitors, but from the content creators in other genres.
But no worries, because you'll learn how to use YouTube the right way in this blog!
And before getting to the juicy part of this blog, let's talk about...
YouTube statistics you need to know
Because of YouTube's accessibility, the competition is stiffer than ever. Anyone with a smartphone can create and upload videos.
In fact...
- 50% of marketers are incorporating YouTube marketing in their strategies.
- There are 1 billion hours of YouTube videos watched every day.
- YouTube users are more likely to pick a video with better production.
See? These are three important statistics you need to keep in mind! Ready to kickstart your YouTube marketing?
Here are five key tips on how to use ecommerce YouTube marketing the right way for your Shopify store.
How to use YouTube marketing for your eCommerce store?
1. Make sure you have brand consistency
Whether you're uploading a regular YouTube video or YouTube ads... you need to be consistent in how you're presenting your brand.
Your channel should look and feel like an extension of your store and brand as a whole. Potential customers should immediately recognize your logo, color palette, and other basic branding elements.
That's how you can create a strong online presence. Keep in mind that it takes 5-7 brand impressions on average for someone to remember you.
This is why it’s essential to look like the exact same company on every single platform.
You also need to apply these to your YouTube ads because that's what more people will see when they're watching other videos.
You should make sure to check out YouTube’s customization features. This will help you brand your YouTube channel with logos, images, and design elements that match the look of your Shopify store.
And speaking of consistency...
2. Find consistency in your content posting
This is important for YouTube advertising if you want to stay in the minds of your audience.
If you don't want to get lost in the sea of other YouTube channels... You need to post new YouTube video content on a regular schedule. It doesn't mean you have to post every day.
But you need to create a schedule that you can follow so you can continuously upload a YouTube video at least every week.
That's the thing about video marketing.
If you don’t post often enough, your audience will forget about you in the midst of the flood of other YouTube videos.
Keep it in moderation and find what works best for your YouTube ads and regular videos. If you post too much at once, they will feel overwhelmed and unsubscribe.
But if you’re struggling to produce enough content... a hack worth considering is creating some repeatable templates. This will help you produce more posts without having to start from scratch every time.
You should also make sure to figure out the best time to post so that your content doesn’t go by like a whisper.
It will take some trial and error to figure out when your target audience is most likely to be free. But a solid place to start in general is on the weekends.
That’s when most YouTube viewers have the time and are in the mood to curl up in bed with their laptops and enter the colloquial “YouTube rabbit hole.”
Basically, binge-watching YouTube videos. And if you want them to watch yours, make sure to...
3. Create engaging content to build a following
The ultimate goal of your YouTube marketing efforts is to drive traffic to your eCommerce business and make sales. But that’s impossible if you don’t have an audience in the first place.
Who's going to watch your videos, right?
You need to get your subscribers, views, likes, and shares up to generate more brand awareness and build brand credibility.
There are two basic steps to going about this.
First, you need to identify your target audience to figure out how to speak to them.
This includes creating personas of the audience you’re looking to reach.
You can do this by researching demographic and psychographic data... such as location, age, gender, interests/hobbies, career, income level, and relationship status.
Next, you need to infuse storytelling into all your videos.
Remember, excellent video marketing doesn't feel like you're selling to them.
Videos that will make an emotional, authentic connection with your brand instead of feeling like it is just marketing content.
Other examples are how-to videos (aka explainer videos) and product FAQs. These are two of the most effective, engaging, and easy-to-make types of videos you can use to talk about your eCommerce business.
If you teach your target audience how to use your products, they can trust you slowly. Why? Because they will feel more confident in using the products.
And answering their questions before they even ask shows that you're addressing their concerns... which is a great way to make sales because concerns hold them back from buying.
Oh, and it also frees up your customer support for more complex issues.
Pairing up these how-to videos with FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) will help you build consistency in posting.
Then once you make a bunch of these videos, you can create a playlist on your YouTube channel.
When you already have a bunch of customers, you can also create testimonial videos to strengthen your social proof.
The key is to follow the same winning formula when you create content:
Educate, tell a story, and recommend.
Also remember to include subtitles in all your YouTube videos to make them more accessible to those who suffer from hearing impairment, as well as viewers who simply prefer to watch with the sound off.
Another important thing is...
4. Pay attention to SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is important in making eCommerce sales. And SEO is not just exclusive to a blog post!
This is also helpful in your YouTube marketing strategy.
Because as the second-largest search engine in the world, it’s critical to pay attention to SEO when using YouTube marketing for your eCommerce brand.
Let me explain.
The first stage of the sales funnel is "awareness." Your target audience is looking for a solution to their problems. And they search for answers on search engines, like Google.
If you have strong video content that speaks to them, you can slowly turn them into eCommerce sales.
So, it's important that your title and video description are optimized. How to do this?
Once you have identified your target audience personas... the next step is to create a keyword plan.
You can test relevant words and phrases that your potential customers use to find answers. You can also base it on the problem your eCommerce business is solving.
As you research, make sure to take note of the keywords:
- Search volume. How many people are searching for those terms in a month?
- Competition. How many advertisers use those keywords to run their YouTube ads?
Keywords Everywhere and TubeBuddy are two great tools you can consider for keyword research.
The key is to have a good balance between search volume and competitiveness. Then optimize your content for them by including them in your video titles, descriptions, and tags.
Bonus tip: Your videos should have clear, specific, and compelling calls to action (CTAs). It can be in the description or the video itself. This is to drive viewers to your eCommerce store (be it in the beginning, middle, or end).
And lastly...
5. Leverage product reviews from relevant YouTube influencers
Product reviews like Debutify Reviews will help you build strong social proof for your eCommerce brand. They help you build credibility.
And having trusted influencers creating content for you? That's a win!
Through influencer marketing, you can reach more people while gaining the trust of your potential customers.
Why? Because some YouTube influencers have thousands if not millions, of followers who trust their judgment when it comes to certain products.
The first thing you need to do is to research marketing. You need to know:
- The types of influencers.
- The posts or content the influencers can create for you.
- The usual agreements between brands and influencers.
The key is doing some research to ensure you choose influencers compatible with your brand.
Tools like Social Bluebook and Vamp can help you find and connect with the right ones.
You also need to set Key Performance Metrics so you're sure that your influencer marketing strategy is working.
Although such partnerships can be hard to secure... cross-promotion is great for increasing traffic and brand credibility.
Okay, I'm sure you're now asking: What if I don't want to post a regular YouTube video? What if I want to make YouTube ads and advertise on Google ads?
Here's how!
How to set up Google ads for YouTube advertising?
Since video ads are becoming more popular, you should set up your Google ads! Here's how:
- Sign in to ads.google.com and set up your Google Ads account
- Create a new campaign
- Choose your objective
- Select a campaign type and choose Video
- Fill in the necessary details and paste your ad's YouTube link
That's it! Easy, right?
Now you just have to master video marketing to make sure your Google ads and Youtube ads are effective!
Utilize YouTube Marketing For Your eCommerce Store Now!
Video marketing takes a lot of time to be fully good at. It's because the digital landscape is always evolving. And your online business needs to keep up.
But to expand your reach, you can promote your YouTube videos by embedding their links to your email newsletter or blog post.
Doing so will help you make your videos and YouTube channel more discoverable. And to improve your videos, you need to learn more about video marketing! So, here is...
Ricky Hayes
