Videos can help with your Marketing

Our recently watched YouTube videos average almost 6,000 views per month, globally. In the UK, there are 300ish views per month (10 views per day). 

One of our videos has been watched just shy of 60,000 times, no doubt helped by being accessible from the front page of a client's website. 

Today we published a quick-fire video, required urgently, as shown here: 

This video comprises a series of stills and messages, rather than shooting a movie with a smart-phone or from a drone. Given more time, that would be our preferred option. However, the pace of the video is critical - too slow may lose your viewers early but too fast means they can't blink or they'll miss something! I prefer faster rather than slow - you can always run it through again.  

Of course, everyone is on YouTube now - and Google is loving it! And you don't have to be a vlogger or podcaster if your primary reason is to market your 'widget' company. It's better for your products or services to be seen a little than be invisible.

If you want more information regarding the property above, visit Alexander Bond in Knebworth or go to the abc properties website.

Increasing your views on YouTube

Here is a YouTube visits chart from the past year, showing new (blue) and returning (green) visitors: 

A good many of the visits originated in India (mostly males, aged 25-40) so I checked and found that this is in line with general YouTube visits: 

 

As much as our target audience is the UK, this is a 'numbers' game therefore any hits could be considered worthwhile.

This is the breakdown by country:

1 year :July 2023 - July 2024

During the past year, there were almost 3,000 visits from the UK to our YouTube channel 

However...

10 years :July 2013 - July 2024

For the past ten years, the average of our UK visits per annum was around 5,550 and the Indian visits - excluding the past 12 months - was negligible, not even an average of 100 visits each year.

So, in fact, our UK average had been about 100% higher in prior years. Why is this? Well, the most popular video (more than 50,000 views) features a currently available product. The next three are not current (uploaded 2013-2015) and have had a combined total of 55,000 views to date. It's also fair to say that we have only uploaded 3 videos in the past 3 years so, yes, our viewing figures were bound to suffer.

So, why else might the YouTube views reduced? The answer is probably Meta. More people than ever are using Facebook, about 500 million more than YouTube. However, Over a billion hours of video are watched on YouTube every day, which is more than most other video media combined. 

If you already have a YouTube channel with existing videos, how can you increase their views? Well,  don't waste time asking Google - all their suggestions involve paying them! Here are our top ten tips for you to consider:

◻ add a watermark 

◻ enable embedding 

◻ include subtitles - videos are often watched silently at work 
◻ make the title interesting, include keywords  

◻ choose or create an interesting thumbnail
◻ create a playlist so that the video following yours is... yours    

◻ consider adding a transcript  

◻ encourage sharing, especially from other blogs and websites   

◻ email your contacts with the embedded video or link

◻ personal preference but, for a silent video, leave it so. Don't add free music!

   

These are the basics just to start you thinking. There is more help all over the internet but, remember, if your video is too long, not to the point (especially if the point is entertainment) or just plain boring, you will lose viewers' interest within seconds. Make a good start and maintain that level throughout.

Lastly, some current facts: Music videos account for more than a third of total YouTube views and, believe it or not, Peppa Pig is currently the UK's most popular video! 

Blogging replaced by Vlogging?

A blogger noticed that views have declined rapidly. Their stats (immediately below, with permission) are for 12 months and total in excess of 6k so let's remove the Singapore views for this exercise and we are left with a total of well over 1,000 views a year.

Total blog views in 30 days (above) = 81

As an ongoing average x 12 months = 972 per year

- OR -

removing Singapore = 8 per month, let's say 100 per year 

(less than 10% of the previous year)

Based in the UK, the blogger is surprised that

THERE ARE NO UK VIEWS DURING THE PAST 30 DAYS. 

Time to check The BPc blogs and see how they compare 

Blog 1 https://thebpcuk.blogspot.com/ 

Over 1,000 views in the past 30 days, almost 13,000 views in the past 12 months - steady average. 

Here's the odd bit - just under 50% of these views came from The Isle of Man!! Really, Google?

Blog 2 https://myportfolioltd.blogspot.com/ 
Over 1,000 views in the past 30 days, almost 23,000 views in the past 12 months - declining average? 
More than 90% of these were almost equally divided between The USA and Singapore.

Other blogging hosts 

Wordpress & Tumblr have not, in the past, been as successful as blogger/blogspot. Indeed, we struggle to make any headway whatsoever with the latter. 

YouTube

The BPc's YouTube channel has had almost 3.5k views in the past 30 days and almost 18k in the past year. This indicates that views have improved and, on further analysis, we see that visits in the second half of the year increased phenomenally: 

Our conclusion is that... we don't know the reasons for any of these fluctuating stats. We'd be delighted if anyone can explain in simple terms. 

Other hosts for social media video include Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Good luck out there!