THE POWER OF THE PLATFORM: VISUAL STORYTELLING ON SOCIAL NETWORKS 71 limited to YouTube only, so they can become part of your main website, which can be a great option for SEO and viewers’ discovery of your main company website. YouTube can enhance a brand’s global position in a way that could take millions of dollars in a standard advertising budget, and it can help a brand connect with hard-to-reach groups, such as 16- to 25-year-olds. A successful television commercial that goes viral on YouTube, such as VW’s The Force (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0) or Evian’s Baby and Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfxB5ut-KTs), could expect to get tens of millions of views worldwide. Since YouTube’s launch, many brands have been quick to explore the marketing potential of video content from video blogging to educational videos, conference talks, and new advertisements. Successful brands mix in a variety of content on their brand channel to maximize customer engagement and show their audience different aspects of their business. When you are setting up and managing your YouTube content, it’s worth keeping in mind your marketing strategy: just what are you trying to achieve with this material? If you are try- ing to drive traffic to your website, make sure you include prominent links on your video’s description as well as on Consumers who are in the 18- your channel’s home page. You can add banners or text to to 34-year-old age bracket are a video to give a call to action or remind viewers of your twice as likely to use video to mailing list or a promotion. determine which company to You can use YouTube like a kind of video catalog, purchase from, and 38% are which cuts out the steps between more traditional adver- likely to visit a store that sells tising and purchasing. There is a growing trend among the apparel item after watching millennials in particular to use video to make purchasing a video, while 34% of apparel decisions. By embedding ads in the video content, you can shoppers are more likely to pur- encourage viewers to click straight through to your store chase an item after viewing an and purchase through the video. online video ad, compared to Video content specialist Adjust Your Set created a 16% who did so after watching series of click-to-buy videos for lastminute.com’s YouTube an ad on television.47 channel, launched in the run-up to the holiday season.