YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the internet.
Many of your potential customers are probably there right now searching for products, watching videos, and being led away to other eCommerce sites.
Let’s look at the facts:
- YouTube is the second most visited site in the world behind Google
- It has over 2 billion active monthly users and over 30 million daily active users
- YouTube generates over 40,000 search queries per second, making it the second-largest search engine on the web.
If you’re not using YouTube to showcase your products, then you’re missing out on one of the best marketing channels for an Amazon or eCommerce site.
It’s a platform where you can inform and exhibit your product line and drive customers to your site with hard sells and direct calls-to-action. And if you’re struggling to generate buzz for your site, then it’s time to take advantage.
Read on and we’ll tell you how to use YouTube to grow your online store.
Video Content Marketing is More Than a Trend
YouTube is a must-have for content marketers. And as you know, the content type is limited to video. If you’re used to traditional marketing formats and reluctant to use video content, it’s time to rethink your strategy, especially if you’re a small business.
While many eCommerce stores understand the importance of social media, many don’t take the time to create quality video content. And even if their content is good, many don’t know how to use SEO and other tools of the platform to make it visible.
The beauty of YouTube is that all you need is a phone with a decent camera, or even just still-pictures. Then you can use a free video editor like Resolve to create professional titles, transitions, and text.
The question is: How does a business do this concretely on a regular basis?
Let’s start with your goals. You can have many sub-goals, but start with:
Goal 1: Raise awareness about your products or services
Goal 2: Convince people to buy them
It’s that simple.
Goal 1: Raise Awareness
A simple way to raise awareness is to provide useful content. ‘How-to’ guides and tutorials are very popular because they answer a need.
An eCommerce business based in Washington that specializes in electronics repair uses this type of content to educate their customers on basic repairs for headphones, cellphones, and gaming systems.
Their marketing strategy was the inspiration behind hundreds of videos and it helped drive their business from scratch to a seven figure revenue stream according to an article from UpFlip.
Here’s a hypothetical example of how-to content:
A business that sells office furniture could create a video series about ‘How to Set Up Your Home Office in 2021.’ It’s a simple two step-ticket that could showcase a product and provide useful information to customers.
Use an FAQ and Keyword Search for SEO
If you’re still having a hard time thinking of content ideas, look at your own pool of customer questions and identify an FAQ. Phrase the questions in a way that people would type into a search engine.
Then, find a quality pool of keywords from a reliable source like Ahrefs. You can focus your keyword search specifically to YouTube.
Another way to source content ideas is to search for popular blog posts in your industry or niche and base your videos on that content.
Remember: At this stage, try not to be too pushy as viewers are not even leads yet and merely discovering your store.
Goal 2: Convince People To Buy
If you’ve met Goal 1, some of your viewers will become potential customers. They already know your store. They’re interested in your offer and probably comparing it to competitors. Now is the time to convince them you’re the one to buy from.
As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” So imagine what a video can do!
Going back to our home office example: Now showcase what the multi-functional desk in your Goal 1 video can do! Show viewers how easy it is to fold and put away, or how it occupies a small amount of space in the room. You can feature the storage compartments.
If your product isn’t visually stimulating, it’s not a deal breaker. Testimonial videos are a great idea that put a face to your product.
Partnerships
If you’re not set on creating your own content, businesses can also promote on YouTube through strategic partnerships with other channels on the platform (commonly known as “influencer marketing“).
With this strategy, be sure to choose relevant channels. Or select channels with similar audiences who are not competitors. It may seem like a stretch, but it’s possible.
Returning our home office scenario: you could partner with a channel promoting work-from-home tips as the pandemic has transformed the modern workplace.
Alternatively, partner with an interior designer who is keen on your product line. They could feature your products in one of their videos and draw viewers to your channel.
Remember, it’s all about views!
Cross-promotion by mentioning each other’s brand is the value exchange in this scenario. But you may need a little more incentive if you want to approach YouTube influencers with thousands (or millions) of viewers.
Try offering free samples, discounts at your store, sponsorships, or a visit of your factory (for content creation) if that’s an option.
Paid Ads
If you want to fast-track your YouTube efforts and have a small marketing budget, then YouTube Ads are the way to go.
Optimize your marketing campaign by defining a specific target, for example, based on geographic location or demographics.
Don’t worry about the fear of overspending as the platform allows you to set daily or monthly spending limits. If you’re already using Google Ads for your store, you won’t have a learning curve. But you can also hire a qualified YouTube Ads expert through a freelancing site like Upwork.
YouTube offers two places where you can show your ads:
- YouTube Instream Ads (They show directly on a video on YouTube. Intrusive: best for Goal 2).
- YouTube Search Ads (They appear in Google video search results. Less intrusive: best for Goal 1)
YouTube Instream Ads
The challenge is quickly drawing the attention of viewers as you only have a small window of opportunity. These ads can be frustrating if not desirable, as they prevent a viewer from seeing the content they clicked to see. Therefore, it’s more risky.
Revisiting our office furniture example, this isn’t the place to start with the technical features of your multi-functional desk. You’ll need something quirky and catchy to entice viewers away from their intended content.
YouTube Search Ads
These ads are simplistic, as the viewer has already searched for something related to your content. It’s an opportunity to entice customers with powerful calls-to-action and drive them to your video products page.
Test Your Site
Whatever format you choose and before you spend any money, test and retest your store. This includes testing all links and the full purchase process. Ask friends to test your store from external browsers and to test the usability of your site.
Even if your site is running perfectly, you must repeat the tests daily. Unfortunately, links crash and websites can go down, especially if you have an increase in traffic because of your amazing content!
If you’re not doing paid ads and your website crashes, it’s bad. But if you pay for ads and your website crashes, then you’re throwing money out of the window!
Driving YouTube Traffic to Amazon
If your online store is on Amazon, you’ll want to do things a little differently than if you’re sending traffic to your own self-hosted site.
That’s because Amazon is kind of a black hole, meaning you lose the chance to track and communicate with your customers (or potential customers) once they reach Amazon.
Ideally, if someone shows enough interest to click through from your YouTube channel, or paid ads, you want to be able to build on this interest for audience building, retargeting and more marketing in the future.
With this in mind, here are some ways to get more out of your YouTube promotion than using a plain link to Amazon:
- Use retargeting links to track clicks, and build retargeting audiences
- Add Amazon Attribution tags to your links to track customers’ activity on Amazon
- Send people to a landing page to warm customers, and capture emails.
A landing page is often the best way to go for Amazon sellers. You can use this opportunity to give a small discount code to your YouTube audience if their opt in to your email list, giving you a really valuable marketing asset you can use for future promotions or launches.
Get more tips and ideal tactics to drive traffic to Amazon in this guide.
Conclusion
By using YouTube to grow your eCommerce store, you’re using one of the world’s biggest media platforms to tap into a massive audience.
Video is a great medium for connecting with your customers, building brand awareness, and getting people excited about your products. It’s also strongly underutilized, which means putting these tactics and techniques into action gives you a strong competitive advantage.
If you want a new and powerful way to grow your business, look no further than YouTube.
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