YouTube is the largest video sharing platform and has also become one of the largest repositories for educational materials on the Web. While there are a large number of articles available for users, videos are able to convey content in ways that are difficult or impossible to convey through text.
For example, instructional articles that show processes have to rely on clear and careful descriptions to help users understand how they get from point A to point B. Many software programs are not intuitive, but they can become much easier to understand when users can see how the instructional video shows every step of the process. Users will suddenly know where to click and what boxes to checkmark. Businesses can use YouTube as an instructional tool to guide their employees on how to use software programs owned by the company. Creating videos can be very easy with desktop recording software.
Besides having instructional benefits, Youtube videos also benefit businesses by allowing them to examine the marketing strategies used by the company regardless of if the marketing efforts are online or through traditional means such as TV spots. Many businesses place advertisements on their personal YouTube channels offering businesses a prime opportunity to scope out the competition. YouTube also has many online marketing videos that can serve as models for businesses to determine how they will implement their own online marketing strategies.
Given that branding methods are highly visual in nature, YouTube is an excellent resource for businesses that wish to study how their competitors market their brands and the emotional effects that branding can have on the consumer. Businesses can look at how business YouTubers present their companies and the visual cues that businesses use to increase brand recognition.
For professionals who are already following online gurus, the best thing to do is to determine if that brand already has a YouTube channel. For example, the Reputation.com YouTube Channel provides interviews and also analyzes how news events affect the reputation of celebrities. Looking at the analysis provided by vice chairman Howard Bragman, businesses can develop a better sense of how news events might affect their reputations.
