As one of the most heavily visited and widely used sites on the web, it’s no surprise that YouTube has quickly become one of the best ways to promote and sell products and services or raise brand awareness. Many big businesses do this through flashy advertising and by putting ads at the beginning of videos to try and target their market. This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to reach an enormous audience in one go but it is also becoming increasingly expensive as the site’s popularity and user base continues to soar. Luckily, there are endless other ways you can use YouTube to benefit your business. Most of them are inexpensive and the potential rewards are considerable.

One way is to demonstrate your products or services by uploading a video. This is a great way to show off your work and entice people to invest in your products or the service you provide. Show them how things work, how to operate them, and so on. You can convey a lot in a short video and it costs nothing to upload it. People have short attention spans these days and are much more likely to watch a clip than read a manual.

Another is to engage and connect with your customers or potential customers through the site. YouTube gives businesses a great opportunity to really give their brand a personality. Get them involved where possible, welcome their input, be responsive and make it fun.

Ultimately, you will get out of YouTube what you put in. While the site isn’t for everyone and isn’t suited to all businesses, most businesses are able to get some benefit from it, with many quickly reaping the rewards.