Leadership

4 Ways to Optimize Your Business

Nearly one-third of all people on the Internet are YouTube subscribers, who rack up hundreds of millions of viewership hours daily, according to the site's statistics. YouTube reaches more viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 than any of the cable networks.

As an advertising medium, these statistics are impressive, but the more remarkable fact for marketers is that YouTube is free. However, free doesn't necessarily translate into easy. Research shows that being able to command viewership as a marketer falls under the following four domains.

Entertainment

Doing a Google search to identify what makes an entertaining YouTube video yields millions of results with very little agreement. However, seeing the advertising power, marketing researchers have dug into some of the spheres of youth-generation entertainment.

According to a form of entertainment theory called Affective Disposition Theory, people make moral judgments on the video they are watching. These judgments translate into enjoyment or displeasure. For something to be entertaining, the viewer must see it as justified by characters who morally deserve the plotted outcomes. This is one of the reasons that the good guy needs to win in the end. If the story twists and the villain wins at the end, the viewer would have a moral crisis that would diminish the entertainment value.

Take a look at the Captain Morgan YouTube videos as an example. He is deserving of fun, so it translates as entertainment to the audience.

Informativeness

The ability of a video to inform has repercussions that are greater than viewer appreciation. An informative video commands longer watching periods, greater authority and higher indexing on search engines. AsapScience, for example, has some of the most-watched, informative videos on the Internet. Do a Google search for educational videos, and you'll see that they are among some of the top-ranked videos.

Informative videos need to instruct as well as entertain. However, there needs to be a balance. Ultimately, the viewer will learn something from your video, but they must not be distracted by the humor of the piece. Too much humor will erode your authority as an expert, moving your marketing communication into the comical category. Enjoyable but not belly-laughing funny is the key.

Customization

For the advertising specialist, customization in videos is the same as integrated marketing. Your YouTube video needs to be unique in order to command both viewers and Google rank. YouTube uses channels to package a single producer’s videos. The channel must have its own custom feel, and each video within the channel must be unique, both within the channel and on the Internet as a whole.

If you want a good feel for customization, take a look at Community Channel. This is a young lady who offers her perspective on pretty much everything in an engaging, entertaining manner. Every video is different but has the same brand image throughout the channel. She draws nearly a half-million views per video with her unique mix.

Irritation

Unlike the other three domains that you want to increase, you'll want to reduce irritation, something common in YouTube videos. Irritating videos generally get a peak in viewership in the same way that a truly awful drink is shared among friends before being discarded.

View a video that highlights some of the most irritating YouTube videos. By cleverly packaging the irritating videos together, this video becomes informative without being irritating. It maintains its brand image while minimizing related irritation.

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