According to HubSpot’s 2018 State of Inbound report, 48 percent of marketers are planning to add YouTube to their content strategy in the next year. They’re on to something: with 30 million daily visitors to the platform and Cisco predicting that video streaming will make up 80 percent of all global internet traffic by next year, YouTube can be an essential part of any business’s digital marketing strategy.
Starting a channel is no small investment — you’ll need video equipment, editing software and editing skills — but if you have the staff and the means to create and maintain a YouTube channel, it’s more than worth it. To help you envision what a strong channel even looks like, here are three retailers that are using YouTube to their advantage.
1. Lamps Plus
Posting multiple videos each month, Lamps Plus sets a strong example for retailers looking to carve out a niche on YouTube. The company especially excels at how-to videos like “How to Buy Recessed Lighting,” “How to Convert Your Home to LED” and “How to Use Lighting as Art.” Creating informative content that answers questions that consumers are Googling can introduce your brand to a new audience and demonstrate your expertise.
How-to content also tends to perform well. Research from Google last year showed that people are hungry for it, with 86 percent of viewers saying they often use YouTube to learn new things. More than 7 in 10 viewers use the platform for help with a problem they’re having with work, studies or hobbies — which could very well include projects related to their home interiors. When coming up with how-to video ideas, think of the questions you get asked often in your showroom. Chances are there’s a wider audience than you might realize for each of those questions.
2. Walter E. Smithe
Chicago-based home furnishings company Walter E. Smithe’s YouTube channel offers some great lessons on the power of storytelling for your brand. Especially effective are its Smithe Family Makeovers videos, which follow the Smithe sisters as they design spaces for their clients. Through videos like these, you get a strong sense of the business’s point of view and values, the personality of the people who work there, and an entertaining home makeover story, all in one. If design services are a part of what you offer and you want to make that known, videos like these are the perfect way to do it. And if makeover videos aren’t something your business could produce right now, think about other ways you can showcase the personality of your business and give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at how it operates and what makes it special. Anything you can do to humanize your brand and tell a compelling story will make you more memorable.
3. Raymour & Flanigan
Raymour & Flanigan consistently posts strong content ranging from before/after makeover videos that feature its furniture to a series that performs well called Design & Unwind with Amie Freling. In these videos, designer Freling is on camera offering her insight on everything from holiday decorating to designing a master bedroom. These videos are a great example of influencer marketing, where a business partners with a social influencer to get their message across. People follow personalities they love on social media, and if you can partner with successful designers or other influencers, they’ll introduce your brand to their audience, so it’s a win-win. Think about designers or other industry-related professionals you work with in your community and start a conversation about working together to elevate each other’s brands.
What YouTube channels do you look to for inspiration? Let us know in the comments!
Photo: Unsplash user Szabo Viktor
