Self-expression and passion is a major motivation for web designers, developers, and all freelancers. And we’re not talking about the superficial “cheer-squad” excitement. We’re talking about deep, unique, bold passion with a sweet, addictive flavor. Nothing beats the satisfaction of being able to design and develop websites to be proud of.

Another goal is to ensure user satisfaction –  to be able to present the readers what they want, to the highest degree. And ultimately, people want rewards (who doesn’t!) in whatever form whether self-satisfaction, recognition, or yes, yes… financial gain.

A successful person knows these goals of self-expression, user satisfaction, and the rewards that come along with achieving them.

Thinking over it carefully, all these big words…I can only think of one thing –  YouTube.

What is YouTube?

Key Statistics:

• YouTube is monetizing over 2 billion video views per week globally
• 24 hours of video gett uploaded every single minute.
• Average person spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube.
• 70% of YouTube’s traffic comes from outside of the U.S.

See More Numbers

Seriously, who doesn’t know about YouTube? Everybody knows YouTube, unless you’ve been purposely avoiding the internet for the past 5 years!

YouTube is the home for online video, a popular free video sharing website, an online video streaming service that allows anyone to view and share videos that have been uploaded by YouTube members.

That’s all well, but for designers and developers and freelancers alike, you can think of YouTube as a massive collection of opportunities. Looking back at the stats, think of how much traffic a very effective 10 minute video can generate. And not just traffic, we’re talking about traffic that converts! And that’s not all, be creative, there are tons of way to effectively use YouTube.

How to REALLY leverage YouTube?

Maria Andros –  “The Video Marketing Queen” and creator of “The Social Media Traffic Blueprint”, personally feels that video is one of the fastest ways to connect with your target audience and to build good relationships with them and the reason that video is so powerful is because 90% of communication is non-verbal. Furthermore she emphasizes that YouTube is probably the fastest way and one of the most powerful tools in the social media realm. Twitter was number two for her, followed by Facebook.

And I agree with the Queen, there’s a huge difference between videos and articles. If I were a target audience, I’d prefer watching someone demonstrate how to properly train my dog, rather than reading an article about it. Video marketing is definitely advantageous because people can see body language and self-expression.

So here’s a list of just a few ways to really leverage YouTube’s boundless opportunities for starters (and experts).

1. YouTube and Stealth Marketing

Let us think like the average, everyday person. What if someone knocks on your front door and gives you a “sales pitch”, would you be interested in buying the product? Chances are, you won’t be interested in the product once you recognized you’re being “pitched” to.

This is very important in the marketing industry. How can you generate leads if you can’t generate traffic from your videos because people don’t want to watch them because they know it’s a sales pitch? How do we get the audience and potential consumers to voluntarily watch our videos?

The answer’s pretty simple, be stealthy. Make your video so interesting, so funny, and so rewarding that people share it with their friends without them noticing your sales pitch. There have been many attempts at stealth marketing in real life. This, for example, uses stealth marketing in real life.

Same principle applies when it comes to video clips. It needs to be simple and brilliant to work. Funny and cute video clips are more appreciated by the majority of people and tend to be shared on social networks where the audience is very wide. You might have enjoyed a video on YouTube and you’ll never know that you have been sold a product.

2. YouTube and You Too! Recruiting Employees through YouTube

Have you seen Google’s Recruitment Video? (It’s on the list below). YouTube gives opportunities for employers to recruit great employees. Employer’s can recruit very well using YouTube because they can actually present how amazing it is to work for their company instead of just letting  the readers imagine how it would be to work with the company.

YouTube is also a place where you can market yourself. Look at Justin Bieber and other stars who have been discovered through YouTube!

3. 21st Century Market Research

Do you know that there’s a YouTube “Insights: Statistics and Data” feature? Well, rejoice dear marketers. Now you know that you can conduct your own marketing campaign through YouTube! This is one area that many web marketers fail to fully explore and exploit.

Before you spend a dime on your campaigns, YouTube can help you decide whether or not your product is worth spending your time and money creating.

Here’s how it works. Do some keyword research to know what the world is looking for, then make a short 3+ minute video using that keyword.

Putting it simply, YouTube has this Insight feature where you can:

• Test new product ideas.
• Learn what’s the trend right now.
• Learn what portion of your video grabbed the most attention.
• See the demographic profile of your product.
• View the traffic your video is generating over time.
• See which videos are winners and which ones are not.

These are just a few of YouTube’s never ending opportunities. Very handy, especially for start ups in the internet marketing industry that intend on staying in this harsh and competitive age of marketing.

To help young, aspiring internet marketers, here are some channels and videos that have been REALLY using YouTube and have been really successful.

1. The Pepsi Refresh YouTube Channel

For overall campaign, and successful use of graphics for a Pepsi brand, this Pepsi Refresh Campaign is very popular. Plus it is an amazing example of successfully encouraging the audience to comment, share, and subscribe.

2. Google’s Recruitment Video

A very great example and inspiration for young marketers. When recruiting potential employees, all you want to do is to show them what it means to work for your company. And Google has been really successful at that.

3.  The Annoying Orange

Who hasn’t heard of the annoying Orange’s taunting, frequent burping, pestering, puns, and wordplay. Dane Boedegheimer (Daneboe), creator and voice of The Annoying Orange is a beautiful example on how to amass more than 380 million views on YouTube using a comic, absurd (the good kind), and incongruous quality causing amusement.

4. Kevjumba

Try and search in google “kevjumba is” and you’ll find some nasty google suggestions. But then again, go to his page and you’ll find his fans sticking up for him in the comments. This is a great example of how to get subscribers and see how loyal they can be.

5. The Philip DeFranco Show

This guy is successfully using YouTube as he hosts a fun, talking-head commentary show. Gathering 490,912,126 total upload views, Philip DeFranco is a great example for young video marketers.

 

So there you have it, if you’re not marketing using YouTube yet, you might want to reconsider that now.

YouTube’s not just a massive collection of Justin Beiber or Lady GaGa videos. When you have a site, a product, or service that you wish to market on the internet, then you probably know and even used various methods and techniques that would help you boost traffic to your website. A lot of internet marketers invest countless hours on increasing their sites’ ranking around search engines, writing on forums, or even driving traffic through pay-per-click. Then again, successfully using the powers of the biggest video-sharing website, YouTube, is perhaps the best way to market your business and exponentially increase your sales.

Again, Over 2 billion views per day, average person stays 15 minutes a day on YouTube, and 70% of YouTube’s traffic comes from outside of the U.S.

That’s just way too enticing to ignore!