All About YouTube Marketing By James Chapman- 2012

Promoting a business can be extremely taxing, especially
when you're just getting started. If you're into checking
out marketing blogs, you've probably come across some
information about YouTube marketing. This form of
advertising falls under the umbrella of video advertising,
which falls under the even larger umbrella of Internet
marketing. Take a look at some specifics of this business
strategy to deepen your understanding about its importance
and utilize it to help popularize your products or
services.

Why Online Video Advertising?
Video marketing is one of the leading advertising
platforms on the Internet. People of all ages and from
different backgrounds are taking advantage of this
promotional opportunity in an effort to maximize the
visibility of their business. It falls under the concept
of showing rather than telling and continues to draw an
abundance of viewers if done correctly. There are several
types of video marketing. The primary kinds include
article video marketing, viral video marketing and social
video marketing. Individuals can utilize one or multiple
forms according to their specific needs and intentions. If
you're not certain about how to implement videos, it's a
good idea to consult with a professional or consider audio
production schools in your area that'll provide thorough
instruction:

Article Video Marketing
This type of video marketing typically interests those who
prefer the less time-consuming practice of watching
informational videos rather than reading articles. Video
marketing involves businesses or individuals developing
numerous short clips that display the contents of articles
written beforehand. Most videos are between two and five
minutes and cover a wide range of topics. After the videos
are created, they're uploaded onto popular video-sharing
websites to target an audience.

Articles can be converted into videos in a number of ways.
One of the most popular ways is to turn the written pieces
into a PowerPoint presentation or animated slideshow.
Pictures and a voiceover narration are usually added to
the presentation before it's recorded via screen capture
software and put on the Internet for viewing pleasure. An
alternative involves recording an article and saving it as
an MP3 file. Afterwards, video layout software is used to
change the audio to a video. The finished product is then
exported and uploaded to relevant websites for exposure.

Viral Video Marketing
Another form of online video advertising is viral video
marketing which contains humorous events, eyewitness
incidents or clips from comedy sketches on television.
Many clips are shot by amateurs on mobile devices and
edited with the use of economical tools and software
before being published on video sharing sites, social
networking sites and personal websites.

Most viral videos are created as a dialogue and shared
with the intention of entertaining family and friends,
although many people use it as a way to engage prospective
customers. This option has benefited word-of-mouth
marketing and was preceded by email-sharing. These videos
continue to increase in popularity in a variety of
sectors, including education and music. However, fans of
this concept must be careful not to violate copyright
laws, as this has been a major downside to viral
video-making and has been the result of several problems
within the entertainment industry.

Social Video Marketing
This choice is equally significant. Social video marketing
(SVM) is similar to viral video marketing in that it
engages a wide audience through the distribution of video.
However, the notion of self-expression tends to be more
evident. This form of video marketing relies heavily on
social theory, consumer culture theory, and economic theory.

SVM also intends to leave a deeper contextual message,
rather than simply being a pass-along model between sender
and recipient. In other words, a more individualistic
approach is taken and the finished product tends to have
more depth as it forms solid relationships and builds
trust between publishers and viewers.

Introducing YouTube
Despite the kind of video marketing used, many advertisers
can attest to the benefits of sharing their clips on
YouTube. This video-sharing site attracts millions of
visitors on a regular basis and contains a large host of
products, including music videos, TV clips, movie clips,
video blogs, and original clips. Although mostly
individuals upload videos on the site, several major
corporations have been known to make contributions as
well.

Content is constantly investigated by YouTube's employees.
Explicit or offensive material can only be viewed by
registered users. This group also has the privilege of
uploading videos, as well as watching them. Unregistered
users, on the other hand, solely have the right to view
distributed clips.

Besides uploading, YouTube also contains other valuable
features. Playback is a major attribute on the site and
enables users to view finished products if an Adobe Flash
Player plug-in is installed on their computer. Browsers
that support specific HTML5 versions, such as advanced
video coding and WebM, also afford individuals the
opportunity to view videos, although some clips are still
inaccessible with this alternative. Additional features
include 3D videos, various platforms and a new
localization system.

How it All Began
At the beginning of 2005, YouTube was established by three
former PayPal employees. The entire concept of the
video-sharing website was developed over the course of a
few months and started out as a technology start-up
company. Its headquarters were initially located in San
Mateo, California.

After its inception, the site grew faster than
anticipated. By the summer of 2006, it was reported that
thousands of videos were being uploaded every day and
millions of viewers were watching clips per day. Numbers
continued to increase and moved into the billions by 2010.
Since then, YouTube has embarked on several new concepts,
such as the ability to upload full-length videos and the
free streaming of specific content. A new design was also
launched to provide additional benefits to users.

Today, YouTube is headquartered in San Bruno, California.
After being acquired by Google, the Google+ social
networking site was integrated with YouTube which allow
the site's videos to be viewed from Google's interface.
YouTube is a dominant force in the online business market
in the United States and it also ranks relatively high in
other regions, including the United Kingdom. As of 2012,
more than 4 billion videos are streamed per day.