Online Marketing Blog from Interactive Return

News on the U.S. Presidential election spreads fast, but it seems that news travels even faster on YouTube. During the 2004 election, being in Ireland and away from the States during crunch time may have meant I was out of the political loop. Well, not anymore, as the 2008 election has been renamed by many as the first “YouTube Election.” Noting how YouTube has revolutionised the US presidential race displays the power of YouTube as a communications tool. Whether you are looking to use YouTube to market your business or spread the word about the latest trend, there is no doubt that there is an audience on YouTube that will listen and respond with comments or videos of their own.

Search for “sarah palin” on Google, and you can be sure to find videos in the results, some of which Sarah would most likely want to forget.  The same can be said for John McCain, Barack Obama, or any of the earlier candidates in the presidential race. An article in the Irish Independent outlined this topic earlier in the month, and noted how “the World Wide Web has transformed how candidates speak to voters, revolutionised fundraising and ended the domination of traditional media.” Voters have been given a voice, and are engaging with the presidential election more than ever.

Likewise, presidential candidates have been given a different voice, based on how they are interacting on the internet.  It’s not news that Barack Obama has built his image on a powerful marketing strategy, but the engagement between voters and the election goes far beyond he or McCain’s marketing efforts alone. Ryan Lizza from the New York Times also wrote about the “YouTube election,” outlining how politicians will need to become aware that their every move (or mistake) may be documented and shared with the World Wide Web on YouTube. He asks, “Will YouTube democratise politics or destroy it?”  I’d be confident in saying that the YouTube community is a democracy, where users have just as much of a voice as the presidential candidates themselves.

That said, it will be important for businesses to remember that as much power you have over your brand, your customers have the same amount. For this reason, if you haven’t considered using YouTube as a tool to promote yourself or your online content, you really should give it some thought. Robin Good of “RobinGood TV” outlines some great tips for using YouTube as a promotional tool. Creating your own YouTube channel gives you the ability to arrange your own videos and others’ content in a single location, link back to your website URL, and bring together your recommendations for valuable content all in one place.

Barack Obama and John McCain have done this by creating their own channels, which are actively followed by the public. Similarly, the YouTube election’s home is at YouChoose, and user-generated videos from the public are featured on the page for all to see. The videos come from the top down, from political parties and candidates; but also go from the bottom up, with ordinary voters and political activists around the world, posting their own content. The key to being found among the mix of videos is not set in stone, Robin Good also pointed out. But he says that your best chance for creating a highly-viewed video is to make sure your running time is around the five minute mark or less. Additionally, tag and categorise your videos so that the right people will find your video.

Additionally, we musn’t forget that YouTube is a social community, and like any of the others, you have to participate in it if you want to develop a following. Make your own playlists of related industry videos or interest. Leave video responses on other videos and Join or Create YouTube groups in order to make connections with other YouTube members.

My fellow marketers and I at Interactive Return are actively engaging with the YouTube community, with our channel, Online Marketing Ireland. While we’re not raising millions of donations for ourselves like the presidential candidates, we are contributing to the community that so many of us engage with each and every day.  For the same reason, we encourage our clients to consider the value of YouTube as a marketing tool to engage with their customers at a deeper level.

Andrew Rasiej of the Personal Democracy Forum put it best when he told the Independent, “YouTube should be declared the winner in this election because it has single-handedly become the primary platform for political discourse.”

Emer Lawn, Online Marketing Executive, Interactive Return