SMR Information Solutions

You may think a place where people go to watch funny pet videos isn’t the best place to advertise your business. “If I sold pet food, yeah,” I hear you saying. “But I sell auto parts.”

Before I can convince you to use YouTube to market your business, we have to talk about traditional advertising and how social media are changing advertising forever.

Traditional advertising is what Dave Evans, author of Social Media Marketing an Hour a Day, calls “interruptive advertising.” The ad has to “interrupt” you and get your attention. Then — and only then — can it deliver the advertiser’s message.

If you don’t believe me, remember the last time you watched TV? Don’t TV commercials interrupt you? What do you normally do when a commercial comes on? Do you always sit there and watch it?

How about reading the local newspaper? I don’t know about your paper, but my paper’s editors literally cover the bottom half of most pages with ads. And copywriters are taught to grab the reader’s attention within the first five or ten seconds!

In other words, most traditional ads are an “in your face” attempt to get your attention.

Traditional Media Versus Social Media

Compare this to a video ad on YouTube. “A video ad?” I hear you say. “I didn’t even know you could do that!”

I’m guessing there are many things you don’t know about YouTube.

How do you see video ads on YouTube? How would you find most advertising on YouTube?

Only when you actively search for it. Like using Google to search the Internet. Do you see the difference?

No more “interruptive” advertising. You only see ads that you choose to see. Why would you choose to see it? Because you have a problem and you’re looking for a solution.

“But I have to interrupt people, don’t I?” I hear traditional advertisers saying. “How else can I get their attention?

Why would you provide a solution to people who don’t have that particular problem?

Traditional mass media throw a single solution out to millions of people, most of whom don’t need it at that particular moment. Will they remember your commercial when they do?

Social media maintain a searchable archive of millions of solutions, created by people who have successfully solved a particular problem. And most people prefer to get their solutions from people they know and trust. Not Madison Avenue, which they normally distrust.

Advertising on Social Media

So here is how you advertise on YouTube and other social media. You upload your video ad to your Facebook Page or YouTube Channel. Then you rely on people’s natural desire to find a solution to their problem at the time they experience the problem. The first thing they will do is search for a solution.

They may call a friend or neighbor. They may get on the Internet. Or they may use social media to find someone they know who can recommend someone who has a solution to their problem.

Now they are actively seeking a solution to their problem. Do you see the difference between this and a TV commercial?

And they might be thrilled to discover that your company has solved their problem. And if your solution is best described in a video, they would be overjoyed!

After all, who wants to read a boring company report when they can watch a video?

If you want to learn much more about YouTube and how you can use it to market your business, please see my review of the book, YouTube and Video Marketing an Hour a Day by Greg Jarboe on Social Media Examiner.

Copyright 2010, Ruth M. Shipley

SMR Information Solutions

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