YouTube

YouTube?

YouTube is a video-sharing website that was actually created by three former PayPal employees, if you are familiar with that online system. YouTube is a fairly simple idea and has turned into a staple in our society today. As a user, you upload any videos that you want and they can be publicized or kept private, depending on preference. These videos can be viewed by other users of the site simply by searching for a the title of the video or similar videos that will fuel the search engine based on the tags that come along with the video. YouTube has also actually provided a platform for many people to do what they love to do. Essentially, you could create your own show about whatever you felt like as long as there is not any violation of policy or copyright issues. There are even cases of performers and others getting famous through the publicity of YouTube.

Purpose-Problem Solving

The purpose of YouTube for businesses is obvious at an initial glance, but becomes more applicable as you think deeper about the possibilities. The general idea is that as a business you can place your own videos or commercials or whatever the case may be, for a much cheaper price tag then going the route of putting advertisements on cable television. The overarching purpose of YouTube is to have a platform to post videos and interact with customers in that sense. 

When we get into the discussion of what problem this solves for a business there are really endless options. You can place ads not only on the site, but YouTube now has advertisements for almost every video you watch. In essence, it may be even more impactful to be advertising on YouTube rather than trying to get an ad on the television. The audience can have multiple opportunities to see the advertisements and its not seen as intrusive as many other social media outlets. So when you talk about exposure and awareness, this problem is solved for the business.

Use of the Site

Once you make your account on YouTube you can next move into the phase of creating your own channel. On this channel is where all of your videos are stored. This is basically the timeline version of YouTube, except unless the video becomes extremely popular then people won't see it unless they specifically search for it. All you have to do to upload the video is have the file on your computer and drag it to the upload screen, and the link is in the top right corner of the screen. 

Features on the Site

As i was clicking around on the site i noticed on the left hand side a link called YouTube Red. What this service does is allows the users to have uninterrupted music, ad-free videos, and more. I think that this is a great business idea for YouTube in order to get additional revenue for those who want to pay the reoccurring monthly payments to not have to deal with the hassle of ads and that sort of thing.

Evaluation

So i want to stay on the topic of YouTube Red and its potential impact. I obviously believe that this is a smart decision for YouTube. However, earlier in this blog I said that having advertisements on YouTube should trump having them on cable or television. With the new information about this new service I think it would be beneficial for a firm to research how many people are using this service vs how many people use the standard service. If you want to place your ads on YouTube and you are not getting as many views as you thought, RED may be your answer to why there has been no increase in awareness. Also, this may even qualify as a negotiation tool for your firm to get a better price on placing your ads on the site, depending on your working relationship with YouTube.