Small Business Social Media Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]

May 20, 2013 by Infusionsoft Contributor Leave a Comment

How to be Successful on YouTube Through Sharing

Guest post by Christopher Vella-Bone

In part one of this two part series on using YouTube marketing for small business success, we covered the content of videos and using the correct keywords. Keep reading to learn how to implement a sharing strategy.

Now that you have produced a video or two, you need to get people watching them. There is no quick fix to this, unless you have some really high-powered friends. My favorite saying is “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and the same can be said for a successful YouTube channel. You need to put in some real hard work if you want to have millions of people watching your videos and subscribing to your channel.

Here are a few things you should do every time you upload a new video to YouTube:

Share it with everyone you can:

If you are active on social media either on a personal or business level, share your videos with all your friends and followers. This can really help to give your channel that initial social push that it needs and you might get a few subscribers out of it.

You can also contact other YouTubers or bloggers and ask them to share your video with their followers. This type of outreach or exchange can be difficult but also extremely profitable if the right people share the video.

Post on your website:

If you have a website, you can use it as a gateway to your YouTube channel since your visitors are exactly the sort of people you want watching the videos. I don’t just mean creating a small YouTube button that links to your channel. Actually embed a few of your videos into your website so that they stand out and can easily be seen by visitors.

As your videos get more views, comments and subscribers, you will see them rise in YouTube’s search results.

I understand that not all small and medium sized businesses have the time to devote to building a highly successful YouTube channel. So sometimes it’s worth hiring a less expensive Internet marketing company to do the work for you. Either way, YouTube is a fantastic resource of which businesses need to take greater advantage.

For tips on growing your small business, check out “8 Ways to Grow your Small Business.”

Christopher Vella-Bone is a marketer working with Cheap Internet Marketing, a marketing agency that serves small and medium sized business. Christopher graduated from Newcastle University in 2012 and has a passion for all things business and marketing.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: sharing, social media, videos, YouTube

May 13, 2013 by Infusionsoft Contributor Leave a Comment

How to be Successful on YouTube

Guest post by Christopher Vella-Bone

YouTube is one of the most visited website on the Internet and millions of videos are uploaded everyday. Due to this rapid increase in popularity, many companies have made YouTube marketing a key part of their strategy. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a major player in the market to find success on YouTube and the resource presents a real and relatively inexpensive opportunity for many small and medium sized businesses. As a result, I have put together a series of tips that can help you to get a YouTube channel up and running.

Content is key

Anyone who has a remote interest in SEO will know that everyone is placing a great emphasis on having high quality and original content on their websites, and the same goes for YouTube. You have to provide interesting videos that your target audience is going to enjoy and want to see more of.

As a business owner, you should be able to consider yourself an expert in your chosen field, so why not put that knowledge to good use? Let’s say you are a driving instructor. You might upload a series of how to videos that break down the process of completing certain maneuvers and safety checks. When I was taking my driving test I often went to YouTube to brush up on things that my instructor had mentioned. Drive Johnsons was a company that often popped up and they have over 1,000 subscribers as of May 2013.

Additionally, you can also have a look on YouTube to see what videos your competitors are uploading. By performing a simple competitor analysis, you should be able to identify how you can produce videos that provide more value than your competitors’.

Research your keywords

YouTube has its own keyword tool, which is a pain-free way of finding out what keywords people are typing into YouTube. Not only can this resource give you an idea of what keywords should be included in your titles for search purposes, it can also help you to determine what videos you should be producing in accordance to what people are searching. I strongly recommend that you take some time with the keyword tool to ensure that you are making the right videos and tagging and naming them correctly.

In part two of this series, I will discuss sharing and promotional strategy.

To get a sound strategy on your company’s calls to action, check out “Deliver. Satisfy. Repeat.”

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Content, Lead Generation, social media, YouTube

May 8, 2013 by Infusionsoft Contributor Leave a Comment

Ways to Grow Your Business on the Twitter Vine

Guest post by Megan Totka

The latest craze is the use of Instagram as a tool to market small businesses, and Vine has been called Instagram for video. This is a pretty big compliment, and it provides creative marketing ideas for personal brands, but it does prompt the question: Can Twitter Vine be leveraged for business?

Let’s find out some ways to grow your business on the Twitter Vine. But first we have to make our way through the hype and explore what Twitter Vine is actually all about.

The Background

Twitter Vine was unleashed in March and has quickly climbed the charts of popularity and Vine is now the number one free software offering on the App Store. Vine is an app for the iPhone that affords users to record looping videos and boasts an intuitive interface. The six-second-or less videos can easily be shared with followers on Twitter. Major news outlets and well-known brand names have gravitated towards Twitter Vine due to its plethora of offerings.

As mobile video trends evolve to short video snippets and become increasingly social, how can entrepreneurs take advantage of Twitter Vine?

Involve Your Audience

Vine is designed to engage audience members. Its simplicity makes it an ideal way to encourage your audience to participate, thanks to the no-hassle aspect of the app that keeps things fun.

The app makes it simple to run contests. To gain extra attention, you could ask your followers to submit video clips of them utilizing your services or products in a creative way and offer a prize for the most imaginative video. Your Twitter page and business will get attention and you will also re-engage people who are inactive.

Showcase Social Proof

Vine is an ideal platform to highlight video testimonials from real, live people. Showcase your more heartfelt and powerful personal testimonials via the Vine, or create a collection of testimonial clips into a dynamic and fast-paced video to share.

Provide Education

By nature, human beings are curious and like to learn how things work. How-to videos are the most commonly searched of all videos on the Web. Use Vine to make a campaign that involves how-to videos so customers can comprehend how to use your services and products most effectively.

You could also use a series of short videos to show your audience secrets, like the process behind creating your products. This allows you to educate your audience as you simultaneously build your identity.

Establish Identity

Big name companies such as Coca-Cola and Apple are the kings of identity awareness and excel when it came to creating a brand name. Even though you may not be quite in the same ballpark doesn’t mean your image is of lesser importance. Vine is a great tool to develop it.

Utilize your videos to match the tone of your business image. Select the style carefully to best resonate with your target audience and make sure you show humanity. It will work in your favor.

Get Personal

Your company has a face—you’re a compassionate business composed of real people with ideas. Vine is a tool that helps get that message out to people.

Show videos of you and your employees and your work environment. Share clips of your team at events and conferences. These behind-the-scenes videos will show your company culture to your audience.

If your company is made of only a handful of people, show a video of your desk with the photos of your loved ones and the view from your desk. Tell them what you love about your business so your audience gets to know you on a more personal level. It will make their trust in you soar and engage them on a personal level.

Many people are unaware of the big ways Twitter Vine can promote small businesses. The mobile service inspires both creativity and engagement making it a great app for businesses of any size to utilize. Don’t wait too long to enjoy the advantages Twitter Vine can offer you.

Do you use Twitter Vine? What services or products of yours will translate well into videos?

Is your social media strategy in place? You might need a little help and Infusionsoft can help with its e-book, “How to Convert Fans and Followers into Customers.”

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: megan totka, small business marketing ideas, social media, twitter vine, videos