YouTube Marketing: What Not To Do

We've all seen them on the news; those guys who have managed to jack in their day job and simply coin a living on YouTube.

We've all seen them on the news; those guys who have managed to jack in their day job and simply coin a living on YouTube. Whether or not they intended such success is debatable, but few would disagree that they are modern day marketing geniuses.

Unsurprisingly, everyone is trying to follow suit. YouTube's advertising sharing scheme means that it's very much possible to jump on the bandwagon and reap the rewards - although few people actually manage it. Most simply give up after a few months, realising that they're not going to become the big feature of next week's news.

It doesn't matter whether you're promoting a business or a personal video channel - the principles remain very similar. Unfortunately, when it does come to businesses, the same mistakes can be very costly. Therefore, if you are in the midst of creating a digital marketing plan for your business’ YouTube channel, we’ve put together the three common pitfalls that you simply must avoid if you are to promote the chances of success.

Mistake #1: Being Too Commercial

You’ve just launched a new product, so the immediate thought is to release a barrage of technical videos showcasing how it slams down the opposition. While some users might find this approach interesting, the majority will quickly browse away.

The point of YouTube isn’t to replicate your television commercial – users haven’t visited the site for this reason. Instead, it’s to offer something different, perhaps something more personal. Ideally, you should be looking to provoke some reaction from your viewers, which should hopefully result in at least a like or comment to spark more interest in your creations. Humour is obviously the best way to go although whatever option you choose, make sure your brand’s current personality is always in there. Don’t stray away from this at any cost.

Mistake #2: Buying Success

The whole of the digital marketing world seems to be turning against the quick fixes. In the SEO world, buying links is starting to become even less effective, while in terms of video marketing buying views is a definite no-no.

First and foremost, YouTube are getting better at detecting these kinds of ploys. One suggestion is that as soon as you surpass three hundred views, they start to take a closer look at your account. If it's clear that you've manipulated your view count, it's goodbye to those views that you have purchased and perhaps even goodbye to your whole account.

Additionally, this isn't a practice which is going to see you really make the most of social media. Initially, it might attract a few people, but any view that you have bought is highly unlikely to interact with your content which is the sole purpose of conducting digital marketing of this kind.

Mistake #3: Uploading and Forgetting

The third and final mistake we’re going to concentrate on is simply uploading the video and waiting for everything to click into place. It just doesn’t work like this, or it very rarely does anyway.

Instead, you’ve actually got to work to get the content out there. The marketing textbooks are full of equations and we’re pretty sure there’s one out there which highlights what percentage of time should be spent creating a product, and then how much time should be dedicated to marketing. The latter is absolutely huge and in a bid to maximise your online potential, you need to market your uploaded video in any way imaginable. Shove it on your other social media platforms, comment on other videos, and just get a name for yourself.

YouTube can prove to be one of the most effective marketing tools out there, but if you don’t know how to use it efficiently it can also be one of the most pointless. Stay away from the above mistakes and you hopefully won’t waste away your digital marketing strategy.