How to use YouTube (and its ads) to help your small business grow

In the last 15 years, YouTube has become an important platform for many small businesses and individuals, as a way to share their content. With over 1 billion users, it's a great way to reach a large audience quickly and easily, but only if you know how to get your brand in front of them in the first place.

In this article, we'll take a look at some of the ways you could use YouTube to help grow your small business.

There are a few key things you can do to ensure your content is seen by as many people as possible on YouTube (note: this advice is also applicable on other video sharing sites, such as Vimeo):

Use keywords in your titles and descriptions

If you want your videos to be found by people searching on YouTube, you need to include relevant keywords in your titles and descriptions. Research which keywords are being used most frequently for the topic you're discussing, and try to work them in, but beware of 'keyword stuffing' — basically overdoing it, as this may be flagged as spamming by the algorithm and bury your video in search results.

Optimise your video thumbnails

One way to make sure that your videos are seen by more people is to optimise your thumbnail image. This is the small image that appears next to the video title in YouTube search results. You can make your thumbnail image more appealing to potential viewers by making it eye-catching and relevant to the video content.

Create transcripts of your videos

This will help your videos show up in search results more often, and it can also help you track how people are interacting with your content. You can use a service like Rev to create transcripts for your videos for a reasonable price or, if you’ve the time, create your own.

Provide value in your content

If visitors to your channel watch a couple of videos and don't take anything away from them, it's unlikely they'll be coming back for more. Now, you don't need to create anything groundbreaking, but as long as whatever you're offering in the title of your video matches up with what's delivered in the content, viewers — and therefore potential customers — won't be left feeling like they've been mis-sold.

And whatever you do, remember to be consistent if you want to build that subscriber count. If you run email marketing campaigns, you'll know people come to expect a certain level of regularity — take the same approach to your YouTube strategy.

Don’t be afraid to ask

Yes, asking for viewers to 'like and subscribe' might feel a little difficult at first, but there's a couple of reasons almost all YouTubers do it: first of all, it works and, secondly, those likes and subscribes are viewed favourably by the algorithm — the more you get, the higher up those search results you'll feature.

Be friendly

At the end of the day, people like to feel seen. So make sure to set aside five minutes or so in schedule to reply to any comments viewers make. Even something as little as 'Thanks for watching!' might seem a little trivial to you, but that personal touch can go a long way to building goodwill with your audience — and who knows where that can lead?

And if you're not getting many comments, consider starting the conversation of with a question to your audience and 'pinning' that to the top of the comments section. Make it relevant to the content and try to think of something your audience might find valuable. Perhaps ask for suggestions on future video content? That's a win-win right there.

The Power of YouTube Ads

Of course, as with any major social media site, there's also the opportunity for brands to utilise YouTube advertising, which is delivered through the Google Ads platform (Google owns YouTube). And of course, we've got some tips to help you run a YouTube advertising campaign that'll hit all your KPIs.

Small businesses can use YouTube advertising to target their audience and convert customers. Through the use of video, small businesses can share their story, connect with customers on a deeper level and drive conversions. Additionally, small businesses should use targeted advertising to ensure their ads are reaching the right people.

To find the right target audience for your YouTube advertising campaign, first consider your goals. What do you want to achieve with your campaign? Do you want to drive brand awareness, website traffic or conversions?

Once you know your goal, consider who your ideal customer is. What are their interests and behaviours? What kind of content do they watch on YouTube? Once you have a good idea of who your target customer is, use that information to create a targeting criteria for your campaign.

Then, use YouTube analytics to determine which demographics and interests are most engaged with your content. Based on this data, you can further refine your targeting criteria.

By using these steps, you can ensure that your YouTube advertising campaign is reaching the right people, and that you're getting the most out of your investment.

One more thing: if you're directing people from your ads to your site, wouldn't it be great if they could shop your products whilst they're on there? Taking payments on your website is easy with our payment gateway. 

John Ford

Copywriter