Take a moment to let that sink in. After Google, people are searching YouTube for content. Strike that: Over one billion people are searching YouTube for content.
This has raised the eyebrows of content marketers across many industries, including B2B businesses, who recognize the enormous potential for reaching customers through this medium.
If you haven’t considered distributing content through YouTube, you may soon find yourself scrambling to catch up with your competitors who are. For those who don’t know much about YouTube or are clueless about how it can work for business, here are a few basics to get you started.
What is YouTube?
YouTube is a free video-sharing website and social media platform that allows users to view, upload, share, rate, and comment on content. It was launched in 2005 by three former Paypal employees and purchased by Google in 2006. It now operates as a subsidiary of Google.
You do not have to be a registered user to view content, but you must be registered to upload content. Registered users can also subscribe to content providers’ channels to receive updates when something new is available, and can create playlists of favorite videos to view at any time.
In addition to being available on the YouTube website, YouTube videos can be embedded, shared, or uploaded to other sites (such as Facebook).
Why is it good for business?
YouTube has massive potential for businesses. Here are just five reasons to participate.
Users watch around 3.25 billion hours of video every month.
Videos with over 1 billion views: 10,113
80% of views are from outside the U.S.
More than half of views are from mobile devices.
You can navigate YouTube in 76 different languages.
2) Improved search rankings
YouTube videos are included in Google’s search results, ranking above web pages in certain searches. Potential customers searching for products and services like yours will be more likely to find you in such instances.
3) User experience
Video has become so popular for a reason: People like consuming it. By producing content in this medium, you are offering a user experience that is in high demand.
4) Build your brand
Video is the ideal storytelling platform, and it’s also perfect for how-tos, product demonstrations, and other content that demonstrates your company’s expertise. Show your brand personality and engage your audience while building your reputation as a thought leader in your industry.
5) Track performance metrics
YouTube Analytics makes it easy to see who is watching your videos and how they are engaging with them. Run reports on audience demographics, revenue, engagement, traffic sources, and more.
How do I get started?
There are two avenues for businesses who are looking to reach YouTube’s more-than-3-billion users.
For one, businesses can buy ads that run before other videos, beside playing videos, and in search results. Video ads are not covered in this post, but you can learn more about them here.
Secondly, businesses can create their own YouTube channel and upload original content as part of their inbound marketing programs. To get started, you will need to sign into your business’ Google account or create one. Find the sign in button at the top-right corner of the YouTube homepage.
With your account, you will own your very own “channel,” on which you will post your content. Branding your channel is an important step, as this will be the face of your company on this platform. Below are some tips.
Anatomy of a branded YouTube channel
Coyote Logistics, a 3PL provider, has done an excellent job of branding its YouTube channel.
Company Logo
Upload your company’s logo by hovering over the channel icon and clicking the pencil icon when it appears.
Branded Banner
Upload an image that represents your brand and what users will find on your channel. Hover over the channel art, click the “Add channel art” button or the pencil icon in the upper-right corner and select “Edit channel art.” Coyote Logistics makes a bold statement (very representative of its brand personality) here. For the best results on all devices, YouTube recommends uploading a single 2560 x 1440 px image.
Social Icons
Provide links to your other social channels by hovering over the channel art, clicking the pencil icon in the upper-right corner, and selecting “Edit links.” Add the URLs for each of your channels under “Custom links.”
Customize Layout
Click the customize button to create a layout for your channel. You can add up to 10 “sections,” which allow you to group videos in a particular way. For example, you could add sections of recent uploads, popular uploads, playlists, etc.This helps visitors to decide what to watch — and lets you promote content you wish for visitors to see.
About
Navigate to the About section to add a channel description, business email address, country, and social links (if you haven’t already).
Uploading videos
Once you have your channel set, you’re ready to start adding your original content. YouTube Help has a wealth of resources to help you get started, problem-solve, and learn more. The below video offers an introduction to uploading videos in just a few quick steps.
Other terms to know
Playlist: Playlists let you organize your videos into different categories, like interviews, tips, product demonstrations, etc. Learn more.
Channel trailer: A short video, like a movie trailer, that gives visitors an idea of the kinds of videos they’ll find on your channel. Learn more.
YouTube Red: This is the premium subscription option that allows you to view videos without ads, watch videos offline, and more.
Many companies, however, find producing consistent, quality content — essential to a successful content marketing program — very challenging. Most don’t have the resources to make content a first priority, and many are unclear on what kinds of content will work for their business.
Fronetics Strategic Advisors partners with clients to create a content marketing program that drives growth. Handling all aspects from strategy to execution, our team leverages our vast and varied experience to deliver content that will elevate our clients’ brand position within their industry.
Our six-step approach to deliver content for our clients in the supply chain and logistics industries:
Understand
Our first priority is to work with you to create the most effective content marketing strategy for your company. That means fully understanding the specifics of your business — your target customers, your sales cycle, your KPIs, and your competition — in order to create a content strategy individualized for your specific situation and needs.
Analyze
Next, we audit your digital assets: what is in place and how well it is working to produce your desired results. What kinds of content are you producing, how often are you producing it, and what is resonating with your target audience?
Research
We examine who your competitors are and what they are doing well (and not so well), identifying any gaps in the marketplace. We also research keywords that will resonate with your target audience and identify linking opportunities that will direct potential customers to your website.
Plan
We work closely with you to establish strategic priorities. We develop content, social media, and lead-nurturing strategies built on our careful research, understanding of your business goals, and analysis of the marketplace.
Execute
We begin creating, curating, and distributing content for your business. Unlike other firms, we don’t outsource content creation. By keeping it all in-house, we are able to ensure a quality product. Our team can create:
Blog posts
Articles
eBooks
Case studies
White papers
Newsletters
Press releases
Infographics
Social media
Custom content
Measure
Finally, we put metrics on all of these activities, monitor them regularly, and provide you with a monthly marketing report. We identify challenges, trends, and opportunities and take action so that your content marketing program constantly evolves and delivers results.
If you are looking to improve your content marketing to drive meaningful engagement with prospects and customers, speak with us today.
You may think it should be simple: Write, post, get more customers. But content marketing is much more complex, demanding more time, thought, and careful strategy than churning out a few blog posts. First and foremost, what you produce must engage readers. This is, however, the biggest content marketing challenge facing both B2B and B2C marketers.
2016 reports produced by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, and sponsored by Brightcove, found that the number one challenge for B2B and B2C marketers is producing engaging content.
Dull content and the domino effect
Unfortunately, if you lack engaging content, it works like a domino, knocking down all your other marketing efforts.
For one, it is much easier to gain the support of the C-suite, and be granted a reasonable budget, for your content marketing plan if you can show that your strategy is attracting more customers, helping with conversions, and driving sales. But if your content is not producing results, you won’t get the support and resources you need to produce the content, which, in turn, fuels results. It is a vicious cycle.
That being said, lack of engaging, quality content may be indicative of other challenges you may be facing, like the resources to produce content.
Creating engaging content
There are a few basics you must address if you are going to produce engaging content:
Research your customer demographic. You must know who your audience is, what they want to know, how they want to learn it, and where to find them. Use web analytics to learn how your audience interacts with your website, what kinds of posts and emails they are reading, and where improvements can be made.
Do your due diligence and learn how to reach those potential customers with topical information they want and will read. This means conducting a solid analysis of trends in your industry and producing content that offers expert information on these subjects or answers pressing questions potential customers may have about them. You, thus, will establish your organization as a trusted voice for your industry. This leads to dialogue with prospects and customers that want to learn more from you about industry news — or, even better, who are interested in your products or services.
Research your distribution channels. This can affect not only what you post, but where and when you post it. Know your target’s social media habits, when they read emails, and what they are looking for. Research your competition and learn which channels they focus their attention on and why. Read the latest industry publications and influential blogs to uncover what topics work to engage their readers. Look for trends and answer to them.
Look at SEO evaluations and site audits to help identify new middle- and bottom-of-the-funnel opportunities for content.
If creating engaging content has proven to be challenging for your business, consider outsourcing your content creation, or your marketing program all together. According to Social Media Today, lack of marketing staff can make it difficult for organizations to produce enough content to keep up with their competition.
Quality research and consistent creation of engaging, relevant content is time-consuming and requires keen writing skills. Promoting your posts on social media also takes time and requires consistent effort. Some of the most successful organizations put this task in the hands of an expert that can create and leverage content to provide the greatest impact to your brand, lead generation, and new customer conversion rate.
Dear companies in the logistics and supply chain industries,
You have leveraged technology and innovation so that two-day shipping is becoming more of the norm rather than the exception. You have developed processes and standards for IT Asset Disposal (ITAD), which mitigate asset recovery management and increase data security. You have leveraged 3-D printing — disrupting the status quo.
Cathy Morris, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Arrow Electronics, Inc., puts it well: “Products can be made, money can be invested, ideas can be brought to fruition, but without the supply chain everything stops. The supply chain provides routes to market; everything hinges on an effective supply chain.”
In short, logistics and supply chain — you are pretty damn awesome.
Given your awesomeness, I wonder why marketing firms have taken to courting your business by promoting that they do “content marketing for boring industries.” You are not boring (in the least). Why would you choose to partner with someone that finds you boring?
Content marketing can be an effective tool for your business. When aligned with your business objectives, content marketing can:
Build brand awareness
Position your company as a thought leader within the industry
Increase engagement with customers, partners, and stakeholders
Educate and inform customers, partners, and stakeholders
Build trust
Allow you to manage your reputation
Generate leads
Given the impact a successful content marketing strategy can have on your business, doesn’t it just make sense to find a marketing firm that recognizes the value of your industry and of your company; a firm that recognizes your awesomeness?
I lead the digital and content marketing arm of Fronetics Strategic Advisors. Our firm focuses on companies within the logistics and supply chain industries. Why do we do this? We do this because we have deep expertise in these industries, and because we believe in these industries. We stay up to date on industry trends. Phrases like: “Can you believe the capabilities of company x’s new forklifts?” and “Wow, the reverse logistics implications of that are going to be significant,” are daily conversations for us.
I am not saying that you need to choose our firm as your marketing firm, but, please, choose a firm that believes in you. When choosing an outsource partner, evaluate not just the firm’s marketing capabilities, but also their knowledge of your industry.
You do incredible work. Find a partner who recognizes this, not one who finds you boring.
Facebook Live offers businesses a new, creative platform for engaging customers — here’s how to use it.
You may have noticed a sudden flurry of notifications on your Facebook account, alerting you to a new feature called Facebook Live. Facebook has slowly been rolling out Live since August 2015, making it available to all pages and profiles in December. And while it may be reminiscent of platforms like Snapchat and Periscope, which are popular social tools among America’s youngest users, this feature offers invaluable opportunities for businesses to reach customers in new and exciting ways.
Here is what B2B marketers need to know about Facebook Live.
What is Facebook Live?
Facebook Live lets you broadcast in real time for up to 90 minutes at a time. People who have recently engaged (or who frequently engage) with your page will receive a notification that you are streaming live, and they can go to your page to view the video. Viewers can comment and react during the course of your broadcast, allowing you to read their remarks and respond immediately.
After the broadcast ends, the video will post on your timeline so those who missed it can watch it in full at a later time. You can edit or remove it, just like any other post, at any time.
Why is this good for business?
Video content is wildly popular. The number of videos uploaded to Facebook has increased by 94% over the last year, with more than 50% of Americans who use Facebook daily viewing at least one video per day. B2B businesses have caught on to this trend and have leveraged video quite successfully in their marketing efforts in the last year or two.
Facebook is an excellent forum for businesses to engage with customers, and Live can enhance this experience — or, at least, provide another avenue for doing so. There is something about being on air and uncensored that promotes transparency and offers the opportunity to connect with people in a very real way. Your business can showcase its brand personality, as well as its products and services, and offer high-value content to a wide audience through this channel.
Additionally, Live gets higher organic reach than non-live video, giving you a prominent spot in your followers’ feeds (without having to pay for it).
How does it work?
Tap “What’s on your mind” at the top of your News Feed.
Select “Live Video” from the drop-down menu.
Add a description and choose your audience before hitting “Go Live.” You’ll see a three-second countdown before your broadcast begins.
Note: Live is only available for iOS, Android, and Facebook Mentions.
Cool features
Target a very specific audience by choosing location, language, gender or age.
Choose where you broadcast live (other than your timeline) by posting to event pages and Facebook groups.
A very prominent “Follow” button at the bottom of your broadcast allows your viewers to opt in to receive notifications when you go live in the future. Viewers can also invite friends to watch live videos with them.
Edit your video after it posts to your timeline. You can select a thumbnail, select a category, include a URL, and add a call to action (such as Shop Now, Learn More, or Sign Up).
Filters allow you to adjust the quality and color of your video, and soon a drawing tool will allow you to doodle over it.
During your broadcast, you’ll see the number of live viewers, which friends are tuning in, and their comments in real time.
Increase your reach by boosting the post after you’ve concluded your broadcast, or by creating a video ad from your broadcast by using the Ads Manager.
The Live Map shows you where people are broadcasting around the world.
What kinds of content could B2B companies stream live?
Businesses have an incredible opportunity to engage with customers and partners with Facebook Live. Here are some ideas for the kinds of content your company could broadcast using this tool.
1) Behind-the-scenes glances
Show your audience your eco-friendly facilities, your impressive tradeshow set-up, your whiteboard after a strategic planning meeting, the inside of a fully packed delivery truck, a community service event, etc. There are a million creative ways to say something substantial about your business by offering a small glimpse into your day-to-day operations.
2) Q&As and Interviews
Live is an ideal platform for a Q&A-style broadcast. Invite customers to bring their questions or requests to a Live stream with one of your executives. Or, have a top-of-their-field expert offer insight on a particular topic or event.
3) Customer testimonials
Do you have any particularly happy customers who would be willing to speak about their experience working with your business? Or could someone on your team interview them? Not only is this great advertising for your company, it offers exposure for theirs as well.
4) How-tos, product demos, and sneak peeks
Build excitement for a product launch with previews, or demonstrate how to best use your product or service. Share your knowledge on best practices, tutorials, and processes related to your business.
5) Presentations, annual reports, celebrations, special events
Facebook Live offers a fresh way to present information or to share a special occasion with your online audience. Imagine announcing quarterly results this way, or honoring milestone employee anniversaries. This platform gives you a new format for marking such moments.
Speak your boss’ language with metrics, statistics, and facts that articulate content marketing’s impact on customer acquisition and sales.
Garnering C-suite support for your content marketing program can be a challenge. Your team knows that your strategy is working by evaluating a series of metrics (e.g., shares, website traffic, email click-through rates), but executives do not always understand the value of such measures. It is almost like marketers speak another language.
So, how do you articulate the value of content marketing in a way that your executives will understand and support? Think of it this way: It is like that scene in the movie Jerry Maguire, only it is your boss demanding, “Show me the money!” The C-suite wants to know the cost to the company and the dollar amount of the return for any marketing initiative you undertake. Basically, you need to quantify success in terms of customer acquisitions and new sales.
Don’t focus on the secondary results, or “soft” metrics like per-post Facebook engagement. Talk the C-suite’s language, and demonstrate how your content marketing efforts led to new customers and what those customers are worth to the company’s growth and success.
Report these six metrics to win C-suite support
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): This is the total average cost your company spends to acquire a new customer. Basically, what your company spends in marketing costs, divided by the number of new customers it produced.
Marketing Percentage of the CAC: This is the marketing department costs divided the costs of the sales and marketing costs to get the marketing percentage of overall cost per new customer. The figure demonstrates if more is going into the sales team or the marketing team to produce the current result, and the lower the percentage the better.
Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value to CAC: This figure estimates the total value that your company derives from each customer versus what you spend to acquire them.
Time to Payback CAC: This estimate demonstrates how many months it takes for your company to earn back the CAC it spent acquiring your new customers.
Marketing-Originated Customer Percentage: This is where you look at all of the new customers from a set time period and determine what percentage of them started with a lead generated by your marketing team.
Marketing-Influenced Customer Percentage: This figure highlights all of the new customers that marketing interacted with at the time they were still just leads.
Additional selling points for content marketing
Content marketing can make a big impact on your company in terms of spreading brand awareness, growing your audience, and helping form business relationships. Though these benefits are difficult to quantify, try using the following statistics and facts to articulate the value your program could have in a way your executives will understand.
As any business knows, it is essential to be where you customers are, and they are online. Your competitors know this, too. In fact, a recent study indicated that that 77% of companies surveyed, across industries, had plans to increase their digital marketing budgets in the coming year.
Blog content has long-term value, as what you post today may continue attracting traffic months (or years) from now. Your posts last indefinitely, outliving more traditional marketing methods, such as a print advertisement in a magazine.
Consistently publishing quality content can earn your company a reputation as a thought leader in your industry. The public will come to trust your company as a respected source of knowledge, and you’ll begin forming relationships with readers who want to know more about your products and services. People buy from companies that they trust and feel connected to.
Content marketing is a valuable business intelligence tool. By distributing content through social media platforms, you not only engage potential customers, but you get their feedback and learn more about their needs and wants.
Video is not just for funny cats and cover artists anymore — it’s the most popular form of content being consumed online. As such, YouTube has become the second largest search engine in the world, with more than one billion users conducting over 3 billion searches per month. 
Understand
What is Facebook Live?
