The Future of Web Video – Candid Camera for Everyone

Courtesy of Piqsels

By Carl Weiss


If you were born in the 50s, you remember the TV show Candid Camera. It always had funny clips of people doing crazy stuff of saying funny things. It was an immensely popular show. TV continued to evolve through the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but when the 90s rolled around, something new happened: the Internet. At first, video was not big on the Internet because connections speeds were too slow. However, by 2000, speed was no longer and issues and video started to take off. 

Being the smart and the forward-looking company Google is, it purchased a relatively small startup called YouTube and have nurtured it into a powerhouse of the Internet today.  What do I mean by powerhouse? YouTube is the second-most used search engine on the Internet. It is also a huge Social Media network and garners the third position on most visited property on the World Wide Web. The economy has been tough for some time now and as we are always being asked by clients, What can we do that’s really cost-effective? How can we prosper with condition are tight?  Here are my answers to this timely question:

English: Google Logo officially released 
on May 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Or so the story goes. When it comes to getting going in a tough economy, any advantage you can employ that can boost your business’ visibility would be worth its weight in gold. Particularly if the advantage costs little to produce and nothing to deploy, this is one marketing proposition that should be a no-brainer for every business owner on the planet. What is this magical commodity that can literally transform your business overnight? It’s not the boob tube. It’s YouTube.

Can 800 Million Viewers Really Be Wrong?

Having just turned seven years old, you wouldn’t think that a fledgling video portal would wield much clout. And you would be dead wrong. Far from trailing the pack in terms of viewership when compared to television networks that have been around for more than sixty years, YouTube is the most-watched channel on the planet, having a worldwide audience in excess of 800 million. And unlike television networks that charge exorbitant fees to air commercials on the air, YouTube not only doesn’t charge a fee for airtime, in many cases they pay their advertisers a fee for providing compelling content to the masses.

Online video traffic (Photo credit: niallkennedy)

   
Check out these 2012 YouTube Stats from 35 Mind Numbing Facts, Figures and Statistics

• 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second. 
• Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day 
• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month 
• Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube 
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years 
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US 
• YouTube is localized in 39 countries and across 54 languages 
• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views 
• In 2011 there were almost 140 views for every person on Earth 

With free advertising to be had, why isn’t every business in the US broadcasting videos by the boatload? Good question. Some businesses lament the fact that they can’t afford the production costs. However, when you consider the fact that every business owner in the US either has access to a webcam or Smartphone, there is no reason why every business shouldn’t sport at least an elevator pitch video and several video testimonials on their website. If you are concerned with production value, there are numerous video production companies there that can help shape and shoot a professional video for a reasonable fee. We’re not talking thousands of dollars a pop any more.

What’s even better is the fact that once produced, a YouTube video can be used to put every other form of

marketing you are currently employing on steroids. Have a blog. Embed the video. Want to tune up your tweets? Link your YouTube video to Twitter at the click of a mouse. Want to break out of the box? Literally every piece of print advertising and literature that you currently employ for business purposes can be enhanced by the addition of one square inch of ink known as a QR code.

But the best reason to use YouTube because the portal is owned and operated by the world’s most popular search engine, Google. Just like websites, properly optimized videos can jump onto Page One of Google. Do you think that would help your business prosper? You better believe it. In fact, it has been shown that people are five times as likely to click on a video as a website. Add to this the fact that since there are only one or two videos displayed on a Google search, owning one gives your business the kind of online advantage that's hard to beat.

YouTube is Headed for the Boob Tube!

Speaking of television, are you aware that YouTube announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that it’ll be creating Mobile / TV partnerships with Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio, Western Digital and other manufacturers of televisions. This means that in addition to easy access to every PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone on the planet, your business could soon make the leap from YouTube to the boob tube.

So when you add up all the variables, including low cost of entry, huge audience, enhanced SEO, and cross-platform viewership, this is one corporate bailout that every business in the country needs to take advantage of right away. 

If you would like to find more articles like this type in your key phrase in the search box at the top left of this blog. If you found this article useful, share it with your friends, families and co-works. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the comment sections below.  If you would like a free copy of our book, "Internet Marketing Tips for the 21st Century", fill out the form below.




Since 1995, Carl Weiss has been helping clients succeed online.  He owns and operates several online marketing businesses, including Working the Web to Win and Jacksonville Video Production. He also co-hosts the weekly radio show, "Working the Web to Win," every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio.com.

Related articles

• The Most Viewed YouTube Videos in 2012 India
• The Curious Case of Sony and Universal's Missing YouTube Views
• Watch The Top 9 YouTube Videos Of The Week
• YouTube Wipes 2 Billion Video Fake Views From Stats
• Which YouTube Original Channels Will Get 'Renewed'?
• 100 social media stats