YouTube

YouTube is the most popular video platform on the Internet. The social network was founded in 2005, but already in 2006 it was bought by Google (YouTube). Thanks to constant growth and development, in 2019 there were about 1.68 billion registered users, of which 62% are men. YouTube is most popular among young people who use the platform daily for entertainment and news purposes (Statista 2020). YouTube is also used to create, download and watch videos. Such videos contain recommendations, musical, educational and organizational content (Alias, N. et al. 2013). Formerly used as an entertainment and video sharing site, today it also includes TV shows, promotions, product reviews, interviews, and live events. YouTube is widespread among students and schoolchildren who use it for educational purposes, and channels with incredible recipes can also be found there (Jarboe, G.

2011). It should be noted that one of the biggest advantages of YouTube is that the platform provides people from all over the world with free access to videos. Thus, people can watch, upload, comment and rate the video (Jong, D. D. 2019).

The social network is used by people not only for inspiration and communication, but also for creating and distributing entertaining content for advertisers (Jarboe, G. 2011). Well-known brands use the platform as a message to their customers (YouTube 2017). The main reason is that the social network is the second largest search engine, followed by Google (Google 2017).

Companies use celebrities and influencers to talk about and give feedback on a product, thereby driving brand awareness and consumer engagement. In addition, companies insert promotional videos at the beginning or during viewing, which last about 30 seconds and most of them cannot be missed. Also, many brands upload their promotional videos for consumers to watch in their free time (Duffett, R. 2020).

YouTube is considered the fastest growing platform today. The number of users is expected to reach over 3 billion by 2026. It is the second most popular social network in the world, followed by Facebook (Statista 2020). 80% are users aged 18 - 49 years. Another equally important fact is that about 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute (HubSpot 2020). It’s worth noting that 5 billion videos are viewed daily. Due to its worldwide popularity, the social network is represented in 91 countries of the world and is available in 80 languages (Rutnik, M. 2019).

3.3.1. Marketing activity on YouTube

One of the distinguishing features of YouTube is that all content is presented in the form of video, while other social networks such as Instagram, Vkontake, Facebook, as well as traditional TV and radio media are focused on text-based communication (Fitriani, WR, Mulyono, AB, Hidayanto, AN, & Munajat, Q. 2020). YouTube is considered an important tool in modern marketing as people spend one third of their time watching videos. Therefore, YouTube allows marketers to create unique content on their platform that is interesting to viewers (HubSpot 2020). However, it is shouldn't expect all the videos are posted to be entertaining. The main rule is to create quality content that will be updated regularly. After all, regularity creates a rhythm for the audience. Thus, people will constantly come back and check the channels (Agrawal, A. 2017).

As mentioned above, the main goal of companies is to create not viral, but interesting and high-quality content that attracts attention. People should find answers and solutions to their questions in the video. In addition, potential clients should not spend a lot of time and effort searching for the desired video, everything should be accessible and simple. Therefore, companies must put their keywords correctly. Also, it is necessarily to promote the distribution of videos through other social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, Vkontakte, blogs, this will increase traffic and engagement. Each video is an opportunity to attract new customers and turn them into loyal ones (BarCharts, Inc. 2013).

According to Smart Insights, in 2020, 93% of marketers found video to be an important part of marketing. This decision was based on the fact that 83% of companies are confident their customers came from videos posted on social networks (Chaffey, D. 2020). Another statistic shows that 85% of consumers (18 to 34 years old) decide to purchase a product after watching a video (Brightcove 2018). Therefore, large companies such as Lego, Disney, BMW, Nike have an average of 2.5 channels and use YouTube in addition to their marketing strategy (Shayon, S. 2015; Moreno, L. 2019).

Today, more and more people are turning to videos related to product review. According to statistics, 80% of people watch these videos before making a purchase (Cooper, P. 2019). The most popular category is product unboxing, where Youtubers talk about the main advantages and disadvantages of the product. More often than not, companies team up with influencers and provide them with a product that needs to be presented to the audience. At the same time, the level of trust of the influencer is higher than that of the brand, because it is important for people to hear an independent opinion. People turn to YouTube influencers because they are trusted and satisfied (Sponsokit 2018).

Moreover, YouTube can generate revenue through the AdSense program. Videos with a high number of views are more likely to be included in ad campaigns. Therefore, one of the main reasons for using YouTube marketing is the ability to reach as large an audience as possible (Edmondson, B. 2019). Despite the number, YouTube provides an unmistakable bond between company and customer. Consumers can leave an honest review and rating on the video they watch, which will allow them to evaluate the quality of the content being created and the user reaction. In addition, non-standard videos get more attention and traffic (Previte, J. 2018).

However, after watching a certain video, videos with similar themes appear, and users unwittingly watch them. Thus, marketing on YouTube has pitfalls in the form of competitors, whose behavior cannot be controlled because companies cannot choose advertising for their video (Edmondson, B. 2019).

Fleerackers describes some tactics that will improve channel promotion (Fleerackers, A. 2019):

Keywords: the right keywords provide insight into the content of the video. Keywords can be determined using the Google Keyword Planner or you can pick them based on the content.

Brief descriptive titles: the headline makes the first impression. Therefore, it is very important that it be short, but at the same time meaningful. Users don't pay attention to huge text, they focus on the beginning of the sentence. Thus, it is very important to engage and evoke emotion before watching the video.

Offer real value: as stated earlier, high-quality content can attract more people. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to appearance and ideas.

Create high quality videos: no one likes to watch low quality videos. Thus, it is important to understand that the content you post looks professional. Details matter: light, sound, and editing quality. The length of the video is also important, it must correspond to the preferences of the audience, most often 3-4 minutes.

Users interaction: all comments and feedback must be taken into account. An active presence is very important and provides two-way communication. Responding to other people's comments and commenting on channels can attract new customers to your own.

Contests: one of the most effective ways to attract an audience. They provide an opportunity to attract new subscribers, as well as monitor their activity. However, such contests should be well thought out in terms of the gift. He must be desired.

Q&A session: the audience should feel needed. It's very important to ask what the viewer is interested in. This will not only keep their interest, but also provide an idea for content creation.

Cross-channel promotion: it is needed to think wider and promote your channel with other social media. It can be a link, email or blog information on popular platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Vkontakte (Fleerackers, A. 2019; Edmondson, B. 2019).

Thus, we can conclude that marketing on YouTube is attractive for business not only in the world, but also in Russia. In Russia, the monthly audience is more than 40 million people, which is about 70% of all Internet users. Therefore, by placing advertisements, companies get more audience engagement and return (Vasilyeva, Y. 2019). Therefore, marketers are confident that they will continue to use YouTube for marketing purposes (HubSpot 2018).