Known for bringing viewers clips of adorable snoozing kittens, waiting-to-be-discovered singers and dancers and embarrassing stunts and accidents, videos on YouTube and other social media outlets are increasingly being used as a marketing tool by companies and organizations that are trying to tell their story in 15 minutes or less.
Founded just six years ago, YouTube was created by three ex-PayPal employees. Since its inception, hundreds of millions of users around the world have taken advantage of it. More than 24 hours of video are uploaded to the site each minute, making it impossible to pinpoint the exact number of videos available.
Fortunately, users can cut through the clutter by using keyword searches, and companies that are uploading information often use search engine optimization (SEO) to put their videos front and center.
That’s one of the strategies being used by the Maine Office of Tourism (MOT) in Augusta, Maine, which started posting videos about the state and its seafood on YouTube about three years ago. Steve Lyons, MOT’s director of marketing, says lobster “is one of the iconic images of Maine” and appears often in the state’s advertising, website and videos.
Click here to read the rest of this feature, which appeared in the September issue of SeaFood Business magazine.
