Tips on how YouTube videos can drive consumers to purchase your product

Your business might have already adopted digital tools to remain competitive in an increasingly competitive market environment. This article outlines ways in which your business should be using YouTube videos to drive consumers to purchase your product.

YouTube – a global video sharing website – was founded in 2005. According to ebizmba it has fast become the second most popular and most used social media network. YouTube has become the go to site where people want to gain valuable information about a number of different topics.

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So how can businesses use YouTube videos to drive consumers to make a purchase on their product? There are 9 tips which can help you do this.

1. Short & simple videos

Keeping the attention of your audience is important; having long videos that are not interesting is going to get the “click next” button. Having short, simple and intriguing videos will ultimately capture the attention of your audience. The trick is to get to the point across as soon as possible. However, it is also important to state the reason for the video in the introduction. This will ultimately be the reason your target audience will continue watching.

2. The benefit of your product

If prospective consumers are not convinced that they need the product you are offering or that it has any value for them, watching a video is not going to help. The video needs to tell the consumer what the ultimate benefit is for purchasing your product

3. Add interactivity to your videos

By including interactivity into your YouTube video you are more likely to keep the attention of your audience. Being able to interact with the audience will keep them engaged for longer and they are more likely to think about purchasing your product. You can do this by adding annotations to your video. By using the spotlight feature it allows you to make a button on the video which then creates a link to a page such as your website in which the viewer can click on. Using annotation also allows you to add text or speech bubbles which can be used for placing your businesses call to action.

4. Advertise with AdWords

Using AdWords for your YouTube videos will ensure that your video is placed where people are searching for – with related or similar content that viewers are looking for. What AdWords essentially does is make sure that your video gets a place in search. In terms of paying for AdWords you only pay when a viewer clicks and watches your video.

The benefit of using AdWords is that your views for the videos will increase and can generate more traffic to your channel. However, you need to understand your audience and use words that will grab their attention. Using AdWords could also mean that your product offering gets more attention.

5. Call to action

Once you have the attention of your target audience on the video, you need to have an effective call to action which will guide the viewer to your landing page, which may display your products. Being able to direct the viewer to your website or to any of the social media pages is important as it means the viewer is interested in the product and they will potentially want to contact you. Which leads to the next point; your contact page needs to be direct and easy to access. It is advisable that in the video description you add where the consumer can find out more information that they may be seeking.

6. Video descriptions

Including a description about the production or content of your video is important as it can also act as a selling point in which the viewer may read first before watching the video. The video description needs to convince the audience that they need your product – it needs to grab the attention of the viewer. This can be achieved by using tags and categories for your video and using keywords as tags.

7. Invest in YouTube SEO

When writing your description, it is important to use keywords in your description as it will improve your SEO, however do not over use keywords. You need to make use of keywords that land up with YouTube results on SERP (search engine results page). Using Google keyword planner can help you identify the best keywords to use. Creating playlists for your videos using keywords will also help improve your SEO. You need to go further and include at least 10 tags for your video to show up on a SERP.

8. Promote inside & outside of YouTube

Your business is most likely to generate more sales through the YouTube video if you promote it inside and outside of YouTube. Promoting your video outside of YouTube can be achieved by sharing your video on various social media platforms that your business has such as, Twitter and Facebook. In order to share your video beyond social platforms contact industry related outlets and share your video with them.

There are niche community forums where your YouTube video can be posted on as well. Promoting your video within YouTube can be achieved through, branding your channel by using your business colours and images. You can also ask your audience to subscribe to your channel at the end or beginning of your video.

9. Solve problems

Consumers shop for things that will solve the problems they have and make their lives simpler. Your video needs to offer solutions to the consumer. If the consumer cannot take something away from your video, the video is not going to be effective and the consumer probably won’t even finish watching the video. If your video can solve the problem the consumer is faced with then they will finish your video and they will want to engage with your business. You’re role and focus should be delivering solutions. The best way to do this is to keep announcing the benefit of the product and how it will enhance the consumer’s life.

Using these 9 tips will drive traffic to your businesses website, which could mean, more sales generated. Your videos need to ultimately serve a purpose for the consumer and offer them a solution. These 9 tips will help you to help the consumer.

This article originally appeared on BWD