Many people mistakenly believe that YouTube is simply a way for kids and teenagers to waste time, filled with frivolous, amateurish, and occasionally very funny videos that sometimes “go viral” in a big way. The fact is, though, that YouTube is one of the two or three biggest web properties on Earth, and it can be a valuable tool for lawyers to promote their services and attract new clients.
How YouTube Works
YouTube is a site where people can quickly and easily upload their videos and make them available for viewing by anyone with a high-speed internet connection (that is, over a billion potential viewers worldwide). Videos can be of any length, and can deal with just about any subject matter, subject to some specific restrictions.
Because thousands of people post videos to YouTube every hour, it's easy for new videos to get lost in the mix, garnering a mere handful of views over the ensuing months and years. The real trick to using YouTube successfully is to create a professional, well-lit video with good production value and to accompany this video with search-friendly text descriptions that can be easily picked up by search engines. (It doesn't hurt that YouTube is owned by Google, the world's biggest and most influential search engine, and that posted videos show up in search results almost immediately.)
YouTube by the Numbers
Exactly how big, and how successful, is YouTube? Consider these facts:
- YouTube accounts for almost 85% of all video traffic online, dwarfing the combined market share of its next nine biggest competitors.
- YouTube garners about 60 billion page views every month. In fact, the only site on the Web that receives more traffic is Google itself. It's a bit like comparing apples and oranges, but, in many respects, YouTube has a bigger, wider, more diverse viewership than the big four TV networks combined.
- In its first three years, YouTube grew much, much faster than Facebook. Google also places much fewer restrictions on its users than Facebook does; for example, you don't have to be a “member” to watch videos on this service.
Why Lawyers Need to Use YouTube
If you're asking yourself why you need to promote your law firm on YouTube, the fact is that YouTube, used correctly, is one of the world's cheapest, easiest, and most user-friendly promotion tools, far outclassing television, radio, and newspapers. The marketing experts at Gearshifts will work with you to launch your YouTube promotion campaign and take advantage of this enormously powerful medium.