I will optimistically assume that you (and hopefully every single dealership in the country) have a YouTube channel, but even if you do, are you using it the right way? Are you building a raving fan base? What is your strategy for your channel? Has your channel been set up the right way? What kind of content is on your channel? Who is responsible for content creation, content optimization, and content syndication?
After you figure ALL of this out, an important question follows: Does anyone care? Meaning, do you have subscribers? How about video views, likes, comments, and shares? Even if ALL of that is happening, are your videos translating into leads, conversations, appointments, showroom visits, and sales… and if so, at what cost? Are you paying too much for whatever results you’re getting or are you profitable on your investment of money, time, and any other resources you invest into your YouTube strategy?
Before diving into strategy, let’s explore the opportunity.
YouTube is and has been the most dominant video search engine on the planet and is the second-largest search engine, right behind its parent company Google, with 1.3 billion+ videos and counting. Every single minute there is approximately 400 hours of HD video content uploaded to YouTube. 70% of YouTube traffic is MOBILE! YouTube reaches more 18-to-49-year old’s than ANY TV or cable network. The average time per session spent on YouTube is 40 minutes. Millennials prefer video content uploaded by other people.
Some interesting advances and trends to pay attention to:
- Interbrand’s top 100 brands are collectively uploading a video to YouTube every 18.5 minutes.
- These brands also have two to four channels, which is a different strategy than what I have had for years. My strategy was to put everything on just ONE channel and organize videos through playlists, but I am finding people want hyper-focused content. If you have too much of a variety, and not enough content specific to the viewer’s interest, you might not get them to subscribe to your channel or worse, they may unsubscribe.
- The amount of people searching for how-to videos is growing 70% year after year!
- 65% of people are SPECIFICALLY going to YouTube to look for video content for their homes and cars!
- People spend more time watching videos on YouTube than on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime combined.
- In the U.S., many Americans now have the ability to watch YouTube on the TV itself, and with this, YouTube viewership is growing.
Plus, YouTube is a juggernaut; and an evolving one too. YouTube now has PAID or subscription capabilities as well. My prediction is that YouTube will continue to evolve and crush conventional TV services.
Pro Tip: INFLUENCERS should 100% be on your radar and part of your overall marketing strategy. Influencers are the New Age ‘Rock Stars.’ Kids now DREAM of becoming a professional “YouTuber” like “DanTDM,” who earned almost $17 MILLION in 2017 playing the video game Minecraft. Or my favorite example is of “Ryan ToysReview,” a six-year-old who earned $11 million in 2017. That’s right folks, a 6-year-old became a multi-millionaire reviewing toys on YouTube! Google him, Forbes and the Washington Post have some great details of his success. My point is, YouTube is not a toy, it isn’t entertainment (well for some people it is), but it shouldn’t be for dealers or automotive sales professionals. YouTube is one of the BEST tools for you to get your message out.
There are different strategies for a dealership versus an automotive sales professional. For this article, VIDEO, especially YouTube is literally the #1 resource for everyone in sales. And if everyone is mastering YouTube for themselves at their dealership, then the dealership as a whole will be reaping the benefits too!
Now that I have your attention, here are some steps to get started.
- Create a YouTube Channel. You might have one already (if you have a Google account then you have YouTube), but you might not want to use that particular account.
- Branding. Think about your channel almost like you have your own TV show or even your own network with multiple shows.
- Who are YOU and WHY should anyone care?
- What is your channel going to be about?
- Car Reviews
- How-To Tips
- Video Testimonials /Client Reviews
- Community Engagement
- Funny / Viral Videos
- Concept, name, logo
Examples:
– “JustAskForJeff”
– YourFriendlyCarSales-man”
– “YourHyundaiGuy”
– “MelSellsCars”
You have to figure out your branding. For example, Ford manufacturer is the OEM, Bob Ruth Ford is a franchise of Ford OEM and “JustAskForSean” (not real) at Bob Ruth Ford a FRANCHISE–not literally, but conceptually.
- Graphic Design. You need to have professional graphics created. Hopefully, the dealership can provide resources for you to do this, but if not, there are amazing companies out there like Fivver– very cost effective and used on a project by project basis.
I would suggest that you do some research on other successful automotive sales pros’ YouTube channels as well as professional YouTubers’ channels for inspiration on branding and graphic design.
- Once you have your Branding and Graphics you need to CUSTOMIZE your Channel. That means create a profile picture and banner art for your channel. Use every option available on YouTube for customization, such as description, keywords, etc.
- Create a Channel Trailer Video that explains what your channel is about, what people will get from it. This video should SELL YOUR CHANNEL and include a STRONG call to action for viewers to subscribe to your channel.
- Read or watch Tutorials about the rules and realities of your channel. For example, a new channel at first does not have certain privileges like vanity URL.
- Your channel might start out as something like www.youtube.com/channel/UC_8F–Rn8wSPm3Mnr5OwKW
- But if you get 100 subscribers, YouTube will allow you to create a CUSTOM or vanity URL like www.YouTube.com/PhiladelphiaUsedCars (not a real channel).
Pro Tip: I suggest using a geo-targeted and relevant URL instead of a “vanity” URL like www.YouTube.com/JustAskForSean IF all or the majority of my content is used cars and I am based in Philly. But, if I am going to be doing commentary, reviews, have a YouTube persona, etc., then that strategy will call for a different YouTube URL.
- Content Strategy. Developing a thorough content strategy is essential. My article in last month’s issue of Dealer Magazine (https://digitaldealer.com/people-google-prefer-video-anything/) covered this in detail. If you’d like to learn more on content strategy, I would encourage you to attend my training seminar at Digital Dealer 25 in Las Vegas this month.
- Video SEO. Just because you have a YouTube channel, awesome branding, graphics, and logos, and the best video content on the planet does NOT mean anyone will see or find it. Some people are spending a LOT of money with professional graphics and videos, and/or investing hours and hours of time in YouTube only to end up perplexed when they have practically no views or subscribers. It is quite simple… if you want people to ever see YOUR videos in the pile of 1.3+ billion videos on YouTube, you will need to OPTIMIZE your content — and optimize it the RIGHT WAY.
- Syndication. You need to have a strategy on how you are syndicating your videos, meaning, how you’re getting your videos from your channel to ALL of your platforms, including:
- Blogs
- Personal Website
- Dealership Website
- Dealership’s Social Media Platforms
- Social Media Groups
- Networking Groups
- Other RELEVANT places to your content
- Manage your content efficiently. Tools like Hootsuite allow you to manage all of your social media and YouTube videos in one place. There are also platforms solely designed for YouTube management like TubeBuddy. Both Hootsuite and TubeBuddy are powerful tools that allow you to manage and syndicate your content to all of the major social media and blog platforms. Additionally, you are able to schedule your deployment and syndication via an automated calendar. It is surreal the amount of ability and flexibility you will have especially if you are an army of one as an automotive sales professional.
There is so much more to YouTube for automotive sales professionals and dealerships/dealer groups. If you have any questions about this article or if you would like me to evaluate your YouTube channel (for free), email [email protected].
And lastly, if you are attending DD25 in Las Vegas (Oct. 16-18, 2018 at the Mirage) make sure you attend my in-depth session on the power of video. I will do a live immersion into YouTube! Part 1 of the session will cover video’s impact, as well as the numerous opportunities to leverage video in your dealership, followed by Part 2, which will include the actionable steps to put that knowledge into action. I hope to see you there!