When it comes to trying to sell your product or merchandise online there is no better site than YouTube. With 2.6 billion users there is no shortage of people to target on this platform. YouTube is the biggest video-based website where individuals, organizations, companies, can create content on just about anything and post it for viewers to see, comment on, and share. However, having so many people on one site can be a blessing and a curse. There are users with interests in all kinds of unique content, however it can be hard finding people who want content on your niche.
YouTube is ideal for marketing in today’s environment because people have shorter attention spans and are more likely to watch a short video than they are to read an article about a product. Not only is YouTube a much cheaper alternative than your traditional newspaper, billboard, or TV advertisement but it also reaches 90% of the internet users worldwide (Stukent). If you are someone who is trying to start e-commerce but do not know how to start look no further. YouTube can get our brand in front of more people who are interested in specific niches to whom you are selling but cannot find. In these videos you will create awareness for your brand where people may not have seen it before, then it is your job to make them consider this brand as a buying option over other similar products and then entice them to take action to buying that product.
Target Audience:
One of the hardest parts for someone to start off with selling on YouTube is finding their target audience. Nothing is more wasteful than putting in a ton of work to get your products in front of someone who will never end up buying them. YouTube has so many users and so many videos, it can be hard to try and find the right people to put your product in front of. You need to get your products in front of people who are interested in the specific topic and who need your product to solve a problem for them. When making your channel you need to focus on one specific topic because if you talk about multiple different subjects that your audience is not interested in, they are less likely to come back (How to Find Your Target Audience on YouTube [3 TIPS]). However, if your page is dedicated to one topic that you consistently post about users will return for the content they are looking for.
In order to grow your channel and product you should investigate what similar content channels are doing and make it your own. Looking through their videos and comments will help you see what users like and dislike, allowing you to refine what you produce. A great way for these people to find you is by having key words or phrases in your video title and hashtags. To do this, think about what someone might type into the search bar to find the content you make. For example, if you review shoes, you might want have tags like Sneakerhead, shoe review, or must have shoes of 2022. You can also connect with your competition; many pages that make videos on similar topics will collaborate with each other to expose each other’s subscribers to one another gaining mutual benefit. Another great tip to try is to find keywords you think your target audience would look up and to add these to help users find your content easier. There are hundreds of different ways someone could look up a topic they are interested in so the more of them you have the more likely your video will pop up first when typing it into the search bar.
Merchandise:
A very common way to sell on YouTube is a user (or influencers) selling their merchandise to subscribers which can be extremely profitable. Before you start selling there are a few things to consider to achieve the must revenue from your merchandise.
This is a product for your subscribers not for you, therefore it is important to make sure your product is something they will want to buy. A great way to make sure they will like it is by posting videos of some concepts and asking for feedback in the comments.
Creating a product can also be done through a competition, having your subscribers compete to create the best merchandise design. This is a great way for your fans to engage with you and feel like they are part of something. Your true fans know you pretty well from watching your videos so they might be able to come up with ideas about your brand that you never thought of (tubebuddy.com). People will be much more interested in this rather than just a shirt with your logo or profile picture.
Another very common mistake people make is to release every piece of merchandise at once. If you separate your designs and drop them at different times, you’re much more likely to make more people buy multiple items. It is also important to have a variety of items, you don’t want to be selling only shirts or only hoodies. Think about the kind of content you create, what sort of items would people with that interest have?
Finally use merchandise as an advertising tool when people see your merchandise, they associate it with your page. This also allows your subscribers to recognize one another and can be a conversation start about your channel or brand. To create more sales, you can always give a limited time discount code in one of your videos and this will motivate people to buy your merchandise for the discounted rate.
4 Steps to a Successful Merch Strategy (tubebuddy)
- Don’t Just Create Merch That You Want
- Go Beyond Your Channel Logo
- Don’t Drop All Your Merch All at Once
- Use Merch to Help Build Your Community
YouTube Message:
If you are going to be selling products or merchandise on YouTube it is important how you go about convincing your customer to do so, you want to sell without selling. YouTube users are exposed to many ads while on the site, so it is important to make sure your video does not sound like just another ad. When making content do not just talk about your products right from the jump, you want to start by grabbing their attention on a topic they are interested in. You can then introduce your product by telling a story about how it helped you out or where they might use the product (shopify). This allows the consumer to see the value your product holds without you forcing it down their throat. You can finish by restating the key points of the product and directing them to a landing page through a link in the description if they are interested in finding out more information.
Another strategy to get your product in front of more viewers is by sending your product to other influencers to try reviewing on their pages. If you have ever went to look up a review for a product on YouTube, then you will know that the reviews are not made by the company that created the product. That is because obviously companies are going to say their products are amazing, but if you have an expert on the topic that is popular within that segment talking about how good your product is users are more likely to trust them. For example, say there is a company that makes tents and creates a video telling you how great it works, and how the quality of the product is superior to others. The viewer may not even watch this video because it comes off as an ad which users see plenty of. Now consider there is a channel of a man who explores the world documenting his trips camping in different geographical environments followed by thousands of camping enthusiasts. If this man makes a video and uses your tent in the video saying how warm it kept him and directs them to a link in the description, you’re more likely to get sales. You can connect with these influencers by sharing and interacting with their content to build rapport and networking with their contacts within the industry.
6 tips to get influencers to promote your brand (searchenginejournal)
- 1. Meet The Four Tiers of Influencers
- 2. Look For Brand Mentions & Audience Demographics
- 3. Create Relationships With Influencers
- 4. Understand Different Content Types For Your Influencer Campaign
- 5. Understand Different Payment Models
- 6. Estimate & Track Your Return On Investment
Teaching Social Media 