YouTube is a robust and powerful video hosting site with massive servers that ensure your video is always available. It’s widely accepted for embedding throughout the Internet. It’s a free and easy way to host videos you create to promote your site, products and services. There’s just one question; where do you promote your video once it’s hosted?
- Your Blog
The first and most obvious place to share your video is on your own website and blog. If it’s not embedded in one of these locations, why did you host it? Write an article based on the video and post it to your blog. As an added bonus, you can post the transcript for maximum SEO power.
The largest social network available, Facebook is a no-brainer location to share your video. Give it a brief caption and call for your users to share it if they like it. With a little luck, your video can go viral and spread throughout the Internet.
- Google+
Google owns YouTube, so posting a video on Google+ is an easy decision. You have many of the same benefits as you do with Facebook. Additionally, Google+ will help you get the associated blog post indexed with the search engine. Google+ should be one of the first places you share anything.
- Your Newsletter
Your email newsletter is an audience already interested in the content you produce. Sending out your video to this audience is going to have a high click rate. Encourage them to share your video, which will help you get it started in the social circles.
- Tumblr
Tumblr is an often overlooked social blogging platform that few businesses use effectively. Posting your video on a Tumblr account has the potential to bring in thousands of reblogs and shares. Tumblr is also cyclical, in that often old videos will come back and hit a new burst of popularity months after their initial posting.
Places-to-Share-Your-YouTube-Video
Twitter goes along with Facebook and Google+ as one of the instant shares. Post your video on your blog, and then share that blog post with Twitter. You can also share the link to the video directly, assuming you have optimized the video itself for calls to action.
- Instructables
If your video is a how-to guide or tutorial, you may be able to share it effectively on Instructables. The site is geared towards DIYers and those who take projects into their own hands. Only a certain type of content is acceptable on the site, but if yours fits, it’s a great place with an interested audience.
- Wimp
Wimp.com is a simple, bare-bones site that embeds interesting videos from around the Internet. Many users visit the site simply to click through random videos looking for something to watch. Posting your video on the site adds it to that database, which gives it additional free exposure.
You might like:
How to Make a Facebook Video Go ViralHow to Make a Facebook Video Go Viral I like to think of the phenomenon of…
LinkedIn is another one of the big social sharing sites for your video. Videos are a key indicator of an actively used LinkedIn profile, as well. Your video will see benefits from active LinkedIn users, and your LinkedIn profile will benefit from posting your video. It’s a win/win scenario.
- Partner Blogs
If you have partners in your industry, you should talk to them about promoting your video on their blogs. If you don’t have such partners, you should take the time to investigate developing these partnerships. Keeping the industry at arms length is not a good way to participate in the social aspects of modern commerce.
- Press Releases
Many of the larger blog networks, such as Gawker, do not accept randomly posted videos on their blogs. You need to contact them with a press release and hope they find your video worthy of publication. In most cases, you will be passed over for one of their blog slots. Occasionally you will find a place, and instantly access an audience of millions.
- Print Ads
Only a few videos are viable for promotion via print. These videos need to be relatively timeless. The risk is that a user will find a print link to your video only to find the information it contains is out of date. If you have timeless advertisements and guides, you can circulate shortened links and QR codes through print media.
- StumbleUpon
Submitting a video to StumbleUpon is as easy as installing the toolbar and clicking the thumbs-up button on your video’s page. This adds your video to the database of content used by the Stumble toolbar. From that point on, whenever a user clicks the stumble button and their interests coincide with the categories of your video, they may arrive and see your content.
sharing-youtube-videos-in-instagramYou won’t be able to embed your video through Instagram, as they prefer shorter videos. You can, however, create an image that links to your blog post or video page. A collage of video scenes, if they are suitably dynamic, can be effective. Otherwise, an interestingly designed cover for the video works as well.
Pinning a video on Pinterest is an incredibly easy procedure, and it adds your video to the active list of pins. Encourage your users to pin your video themselves, to increase its exposure throughout the Internet. If you don’t already have a Pinterest button on your social sharing menu, you should add it.
- Affiliate Sites
If you have affiliates in the industry, encourage them to promote your video. After all, it’s what they exist to do, isn’t it? Affiliate networks can be powerful promoting tools, when used properly.
Reddit is a unique forum on the Internet with millions of users and almost as many subreddits. The basic video subreddit can be a good place to submit your video, if you think it’s interesting enough to pass muster. There are also undoubtedly subreddits dedicated to your industry and niche, if you can find them. They will be better places to post your video if you want it in the top comments, though the average base of users is smaller.
- Digg
Digg had a rocky few years while other social bookmarking sites surpassed it, but its newest designs have put it back among the top dogs of social sharing. Submit your site to Digg and encourage your tech-savvy readers to promote it.
Sharing your YouTube video around the Internet will put it into the minds of as many people as possible. Eventually, it will reach a saturation point among your audience. Then it’s time to move on to the next piece of content.