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Archived in Oh, poor old Gordon Brown. He tries to experiment with a new tool for engaging with voters and it gets attention for all the wrong reasons. Perhaps someone should have told him that YouTube isn’t just another platform for pushing your message (and not to rely on cue cards to be reminded when to smile).
In Gordon’s defence, he simply made the same mistake many brands are guilty of: using new tools, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, for shallow self promotion, rather than offering people content they actually want.
Authenticity is the key to social media marketing
Whilst most of the criticism has focused on Gordon’s awkward impression of a Cheshire cat, the underlying problem with his foray into YouTube is that the video offered nothing of real value to viewers, and he made the marketing sin of not understanding his audience. In the world of social media, authenticity is the key.
Instead of trying to genuinely engage with voters’ concerns, Gordon used YouTube as a virtual soapbox to try and boost his popularity with empty gestures. Even the comments were turned off, which is another social media faux pas.
How Gordon should have used YouTube
When used properly, YouTube can be an effective marketing tool. By providing useful videos that answer people’s questions, offer industry insight or show how your product solves a problem, you can build an affinity with your brand.
Or if you’re feeling brave, you could try creating branded entertainment in which your product is the star. Blendtec’s ‘Will it Blend’ channel is YouTube’s poster child of how this can be done.
So the key thing to remember is that you shouldn’t use YouTube to simply push your message. Creating TV style commercials in which you vainly praise your company isn’t how you’ll win friends and influence people in the world of social media.
Publish and promote
Once you’ve created your ‘How To’ clip or video offering industry insight, make sure you don’t just upload it, sit back and hope for exposure to grow on its own. With 150,000 videos uploaded everyday, it’s going to have a lot of competition.
Integrate your YouTube campaign with the rest of your marketing. Add a link in your email signatures, paste the video onto your home page and add it to your email marketing campaigns. If your video is interesting enough then it might even spread virally through the power of Twitter and other online networks.
So remember, when marketing on YouTube your video must offer content that’s of value to viewers for it to be effective. People like to do business with those they’ve got to know and trust, so be authentic and don’t use YouTube simply to push your message.
Shame nobody told that to Gordon.
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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:21 am
[...] What Nobody Told Gordon Brown about YouTube and Social Media [...]
August 18th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
[...] Minister Gordon Brown was ridiculed for his use of Youtube recently (there’s a nice summary here). Although Brown failed to make the impact he intended, it was an example of part of a lengthy [...]
August 19th, 2009 at 5:28 am
[...] Minister Gordon Brown was ridiculed for his use of Youtube recently (there’s a nice summary here). Although Brown failed to make the impact he intended, it was an example of part of a lengthy [...]