The YouTube Marketing Scene
Moving merchandise through moving pictures
If you’re feeling as if virtually everyone wants your business, you’re not wrong. Scads of entities are putting their heads together, attempting to formulate ways to take advantage of the growing ecommerce sector. Shop-from-home habits are a mainstay. But here’s one you may not have expected: YouTube.
The decades-old platform known mostly for music and video content has figured out there are dollars to be made by leveraging their assets and inviting sellers to show off their wares. YouTube Vice President for Shopping (yes, there is such a title) put it succinctly: “YouTube has an enormous shopping opportunity.”
He may be right, and you may be interested. The trendy site once catering to a younger set was acquired by Alphabet Inc., parent company of Google, in 2006, and since then has explored opportunities for maximizing its reach. At one time YouTube’s sole source of revenues came from advertisements, but that is no longer the case. Offering subscription services, live television content, and much more, YouTube is gaming the system. Now they’re targeting commerce. The Covid-19 pandemic left no corner untouched, and it certainly drove YouTube to consider entering the shopping scene.
YouTube is focused on dipping its toe into the water of being a full-fledged shopping platform, connecting with merchants and even delivery systems. YouTube channels already represent a nicely partitioned set of subsets, making the foray much easier. Relying on Google’s commerce system, they are ahead of the game.
Another no-brainer for this expansion? Google’s existing online retail presence. Newly partnered with big players such as Shopify and Square, YouTube’s parent company has created a path for success. And because YouTube regulars with massive channels are already entering into commercial agreements, the conversion could be seamless.
Shoppers who become interested in products pitched over YouTube have been moving to physical stores to purchase, which may quickly become a thing of the past once this newfangled approach gets up and running.
Look for social media rivals such as Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat to explore ways to join in this new video-driven commerce scene. Competition is almost always a positive, so soon you may find yourself with new marketing opportunities you’d never anticipated.