The YouTube Search Engine Revolution

You may think of YouTube as just a place to host your longer videos, but if we look under the hood, it’s actually a well-oiled search engine. 
 
That also makes YouTube an incredibly powerful lead generation and business growth tool, albeit vastly underutilized these days (so there’s a bigger opportunity for you).
 
I truly believe that the average Realtor, mortgage lender, or business owner can start using YouTube for business and see results after 30 days, with significant ROI (or, ROT: Return on Time), within three months or less.
 
Oh, and it’s also easy, free, and requires no special knowledge or equipment. 
 
I’ll break it all down for you in this article, but to start, we have to talk about a different company: Google.
 
By far the most popular search engine in the U.S. (and the western world), Google now accounts for 73% of all internet searches.

Next on down the list of traditional search engines you’ll see Bing second with 7.91% of internet queries. They’re followed by Yahoo with 3.95%, Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves) with 0.42%, and AOL (which wouldn’t even be notable save for their prominence in the early days of the internet) with 0.06% market share.
 
If we add it to that list, YouTube is a far bigger search engine than Yahoo, Bing, Ask and AOL – combined! 

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Thinking of YouTube as a search engine – not just a video platform
 
YouTube isn’t widely used as a search engine yet, but that’s exactly what it does, syncing seamlessly with Google to produce one of the most powerful and effective search engines in the world. (Notice that they ask you for a Google account or Gmail address to log in?) 
 
Just by posting enough quality content with the right headlines, descriptions, tags, and links, you can vault your content to the top of the search engines. That will allow you to rank highly for important key words and search equerries, reaching your potential audience en masse like never before.
 
It’s within easy reach for the average Realtor, mortgage lender, or small business owner to rank high on YouTube, whereas ranking #1 or even on the first page of Google can take a whole lot of SEO and money. 
 
Here are some quick stats on YouTube, particularly as a search engine:
 
YouTube by the numbers
 

• YouTube now has 5 billion videos watched per day around the world, 
• And 2 billion active users each month, 
• Including 3 billion unique searches monthly.
• To date, more than 5 billion videos have been uploaded to YouTube, with 500 hours of new video uploaded every single minute.
• Collectively, we’re watching 6 billion hours of video every month, or 72 billion hours annually (wow!).
• About 70% of all YouTube hours are watched on smart phones and mobile devices, with 1 billion+ mobile video views per day.​

And YouTube is still growing
 

• Not only are those stats mind boggling, but YouTube has also seen a 50% increase in viewing hours since just last year.  

• It seems that YouTube’s growth hasn’t even come close to its peak. It’s estimated that by 2022, 82 percent of all internet traffic will be video.

• Already, YouTube is the second-most visited site in existence (Facebook is the first).

 
The YouTube youth movement…and seniors, too?
 

• 1 out of every 2 internet users are active on YouTube, and it especially appeals to the younger segment of consumers.

• In fact, YouTube reaches more U.S. adults between 18-34 than any single cable TV network. And YouTube reaches 96% of the 18-to 24-year old demographic.

• They also lean heavily on YouTube for advice, instruction, and learning, as 70 percent of Millennial YouTubers used it as a How-To tool last year.

• Sure, there aren’t many 18-year-olds buying houses or taking out home loans (yet), but there really isn’t a generation that isn’t universally using the video platform. 

• In fact, about 50% of all internet users aged 75 and up are on YouTube! 

 
An audience that is looking for YOUR content, not the other way around
 
Most Facebook and Instagram users scroll, post, and comment for entertainment’s sake (or messaging, sharing photos, etc.).
 
But YouTube viewers are specifically looking for information, reviews, guides, video experiences, and How-To’s. 
 
In fact, the average YouTube viewer spends 8 minutes and 41 seconds on the site each day.
 
YouTube instruction is so prevalent, that the term, “University of YouTube” was coined for DIY learning, and one US mother built her own house from the ground up just off of instructional videos – with no previous building experience! 
 
In fact, the three times as many people prefer to watch a How-To video on YouTube instead of reading an instruction manual.
 
That’s a big paradigm shift – and the key to how YouTube can completely revolutionize your marketing.
 
YouTube as a lead generation tool and sales magnet 
 
With one simple video, a Realtor, mortgage lender, or business owner can reach tens of thousands of viewers (or way more) in your local who are actively searching for that kind of content. 
 
Don’t get me wrong: Facebook or Instagram are important tools as well. 
 
But, when someone scrolls through their newsfeed on FB or IG, they aren’t actively looking or searching for your content (usually). You can only hope to capture their attention for a second or two – usually by paying for ad placement or boosting a post – before they scroll on. 
 
That’s like placing a billboard under an airport and expecting air passengers to see it as they zoom on by!
 
Conversely, YouTube is much more efficient for getting your message across to a larger and more appreciative audience – on their own terms.
 
It’s as if they park their car under that same billboard and look up. 
 
It’s also an ideal way to initiate your marketing funnel.
 
(YouTube > Subscribe > Giveaway > Email List > Website or Blog > Social Media > etc.). 
 
But, like everything, the key is being consistent with your branding, messages, and frequency of posts while always focusing on adding value. 
 
I’ll talk a lot more about best practices for using YouTube as a lead generation engine and sales magnet in future articles, but we’ve established that YouTube is a kick-ass search engine and WAY underutilized among real estate agents, mortgage pros, and other business owners.
 
Contact me if you’d like to chat more about how YouTube could help your business.
 
-Norm  :-)