With over 100 million monthly visitors in the US alone, YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the internet. With all of these visitors, there is so much potential for businesses. There are three main ways that companies could use YouTube to advertise and promote their company:
Make YouTube videos:
Businesses can upload as many videos as they want to the site, whether its an advertisement or a video that gives more information about the company. The biggest benefit of this is that it is FREE. However, the traffic of the video will probably be fairly low, as the only way viewers would come across the video is if they typed in the exact title or listed keywords into the search bar.
Buy Border Advertisements:
Companies can buy space on the site to show their logo, a title and description, or even a simple animation. These advertisements will get a lot of traffic, and also they can be set to appear with relevant searches. For example, when I type in “Line skis,” there are advertisements for ski helmets and cheap Alaskan ski vacations. The drawback to this type of advertising is the fact that it is very expensive.
Buy Video Advertisements:
For the fellow YouTube users out there, you may have noticed that when you click on some videos, you have to watch an ad before viewing the intended video. This is great advertising for a business, but from a customers standpoint, I get really annoyed with these adds, and usually end up hitting ‘back’ and finding an unsponsored video.
There are many ways to advertise and promote a business on the internet, and YouTube is by far one of the greatest ways to do so.
We are a different class of college students every Spring. Together we explore what it means to do business in a "Web 2.0" world. Technology, new businesses, cutting-edge trends, we cover them all! 
