- Getting the Lay of the Land
- Make Friends with Facebook
- Direct Your Action on YouTube
- Twitter Your Business
- ...And The Rest
- The Last Word
Direct Your Action on YouTube
With few exceptions, most social media sites have a narrow way of enabling user communication and sharing. But “narrow” doesn’t mean “limited,” as you will plainly see.
YouTube is a great example of how diverse a single line of communication can be. Launched in 2005, YouTube provides users with an easy way to upload and store their personal or professional videos for all the world to see.
The site became (and has remained) a huge success for many reasons, partly due to the simplicity of its function and partly because video capture technology has become so widely available. Dedicated video cameras are relatively inexpensive, and it’s impossible these days to find a cell phone without a video camera. Couple that with an easy-to-use site, and it’s easy to see there’s your instant hit.
The business implications of YouTube are very strong and have many benefits: imagine creating marketing materials and uploading them to the video-hosting site. But it can go further than that because videos can be used to educate customers on how to use products or connect customers to staff members, store locations, or special promotions.
You can also plug YouTube functionality into your website, letting your website visitors see and even upload videos directly to your company’s YouTube channel. This feature gives your business the capability of running things like video contests from within YouTube or from your own website.