Why Your Brand Should Invest in YouTube Marketing (And How to Do It Right)

Posted on May 29, 2025 in Blog

Why YouTube Deserves Budget – The Big Takeaways:

YouTube ranks #1 for daily time spent, and shorts engagement rate is the highest amongst other platforms at 5.91%
SEO, full-funnel capabilities, and audience trust are already built into the platform.
Google’s AI overviews are prioritizing visual and educational content (i.e. YouTube’s specialty).
YouTube Studio makes it easy to reformat, repurpose, and promote content.
Repurposing and optimizing content can boost awareness in-app and on the SERP.
Comprehensive audits can help you unlock opportunities and refine strategy.

To break it to you gently: if you’re not marketing on YouTube, you’re falling behind. With over 2 billion monthly logged-in users and an algorithm designed for discovery, YouTube is where serious digital marketing strategies take shape. Brands across every industry are using YouTube to educate, convert, and retain customers, while feeding their content ecosystems with versatile, evergreen assets. Whether you’re investing in long-form content or capitalizing on YouTube Shorts, the platform supports everything from top-of-funnel awareness to bottom-of-funnel conversions.

In this blog, we’ll explore why YouTube marketing is important, how to align it with your overall social media efforts, and which YouTube marketing strategies actually drive results. Because marketing on YouTube isn’t optional anymore; it’s essential.

Why YouTube Marketing Is Important

YouTube isn’t just a place to rack up views, it’s a powerhouse for SEO, a content repurposing goldmine, and a platform that commands serious audience attention. As AI-driven search evolves and short-form video continues to dominate, brands that take YouTube seriously are going to win bigger and more often. Here’s a deeper dive into why social media marketing on YouTube is so important:

Massive Reach, Zero Guesswork. YouTube is the second-most-used social platform in the world and ranks #1 for daily time spent. Translation: Your audience is there, and they’re staying. With Shorts expanding the reach even further, YouTube offers unmatched potential for growing your audience with both long-form and bite-sized content.
Built-In SEO Power. YouTube is the most SEO-friendly social channel because it’s built on discoverability. Google prioritizes video content in search results, which means optimized titles, descriptions, transcripts, and alt text can all work harder for your visibility, without reinventing your content wheel.
Trust That Drives Conversions. YouTube users don’t just watch, they believe. It’s the go-to platform for educational content and product research, giving brands the perfect space to build credibility and drive conversions. Influencer marketing here is major too, with loyal, niche audiences that have been around forever, and that actually trust the person recommending your product.
Full-Funnel Capability. With YouTube Shopping, native links, and strategic calls to action baked into every part of the experience – from video overlays to channel banners – you’re not just building awareness; you’re creating a funnel that drives clicks, conversions, and revenue.
Next-Level Brand Awareness. YouTube isn’t just for intentional searches, it’s a discovery engine. That means your content can surface in unexpected moments, introducing your brand to new audiences when they’re most engaged and open to learning (and buying).

The Proof Is (in the) Putting Your Audience First

Creating and managing content for a new platform like YouTube can feel daunting, especially if your team is already at capacity. But here’s the thing: success on YouTube doesn’t start with fancy production or a viral video; it starts with your audience.

When you take the time to understand what your audience is searching for, how they consume content, and what motivates them to engage, YouTube becomes far more manageable and far more effective.

Case in Point: Neighborly

That’s exactly what we focused on in our work with Neighborly. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we optimized their existing content and structure with their ideal audience in mind:

Updated channel descriptions with targeted keywords to better align with search intent and help users quickly understand the value of the content.
Organized playlists and channel layout to guide viewers to the most relevant and helpful videos.
Optimized videos with custom thumbnails, keyword-rich titles and descriptions, and strategic backlinking to make them more discoverable.
Introduced new content specifically designed around what their audience was already searching for on YouTube.

By putting their audience first – focusing on how they search, what they want to learn, and how they navigate the platform – we unlocked impressive results in just five months:

+49.4% YoY increase in impressions
+49% YoY increase in video views
+36% YoY increase in watch time
+93% YoY increase in subscribers

A standout success: One well-optimized video, designed to match audience search behavior, boosted channel views by 141% and even outranked a related blog post targeting the same keywords.

YouTube Shorts: Small Format, Big Audience Impact

Short-form content is another way we meet audiences where they are. With attention spans shrinking and mobile usage rising, Shorts offer a fast, engaging way to deliver value and results. Here’s what we saw from our YouTube Shorts posting and cross-posting strategy with other clients:

Five Star Painting: 72K+ views and 129 new subscribers in 9 months
College Hunks: 34.5K views, 47 subscribers in 10 months – Shorts became the #1 traffic source

By understanding what hooks viewers quickly, we used Shorts to drive consistent engagement across diverse audiences. And by cross-posting from other platforms, we captured the same success and reach (if not more), without all the extra work!

Bottom line: YouTube marketing doesn’t require a production studio or a full content overhaul. It requires understanding your audience, what they want, how they search, and how they consume. That’s where the real proof lies.

YouTube’s Growing Role in Search & Short-Form Strategy

YouTube in AI Search & SEO

The role of YouTube in AI-powered search is expanding fast, and brands that adapt early are gaining the advantage.

Since January 2025, YouTube citations in AI-generated search results have surged by 25.21%, with a 36.66% month-over-month increase. This is a reflection of how user behavior and search technology are evolving, and how important video content has become for answering user questions with clarity and credibility.

Google’s AI Overviews are increasingly prioritizing content that’s visual, educational, and direct – categories where YouTube dominates. The breakdown speaks volumes:

Instructional & how-to videos: 35.6%
Visual demos and tutorials: 32.5%
Product verification and reviews: 22.5%
Current events and commentary: 9.4%

These formats aren’t just trending, they’re aligned with what brands are already producing (or should be). If your marketing strategy includes blog posts, FAQs, whitepapers, or product pages, there’s an opportunity to enhance and repurpose that content for YouTube. Not only does this support video SEO, but it also strengthens your brand’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals – an increasingly critical factor in how Google evaluates and ranks content.

More importantly, by hosting this kind of content on YouTube, your brand gains visibility in both traditional Google search and AI-driven results. This dual presence gives you a competitive edge, especially as users start turning to AI tools for faster, more contextual answers.

YouTube Shorts & Cross-Platform Opportunity

With over 70 billion daily views, Shorts have quickly become a core feature on YouTube, extending reach not just on mobile but also on smart TVs, where YouTube now ranks as the most-watched streaming platform in the U.S. That shift opens new doors for brands to capture attention in living rooms, not just on phones.

More than just a TikTok alternative (though Shorts engagement rate is actually higher at 5.91%), Shorts serve as a strategic link between fast-paced, attention-grabbing content and the long-form videos that drive deeper engagement and conversions. In other words, Shorts are the front door to your brand’s larger content strategy.

And the tools to leverage them are only getting better. YouTube Studio now offers direct promotion options for Shorts, making it easier to run vertical video ads and maximize visibility with minimal lift. Whether you’re boosting organic content or layering in paid support, Shorts give you the opportunity to:

Spark top-of-funnel interest
Funnel traffic to long-form content
Build cross-platform consistency (especially if you’re already posting on TikTok and Reels)
Show up in unexpected, high-intent search moments

By positioning Shorts as both a discovery tool and a strategic bridge to SEO-rich content, brands can create a seamless, scalable video strategy that meets users wherever they are, and keeps them moving deeper into your funnel.

Strategy Takeaways & YouTube Marketing Tips

You don’t need to reinvent your entire social strategy to see real results on YouTube. You just need a smarter, more intentional approach. Here are five YouTube marketing strategies to help you show up consistently, drive engagement, and grow your brand with less guesswork.

1. Repurpose What Already Works

Creating content from scratch is exhausting and often unnecessary. Most brands already have high-performing assets across blogs, emails, social posts, or webinars. Repurposing that content for YouTube saves time and increases ROI.

Think of it as giving your best content a second (or third) life, now in video form. You don’t need new ideas every day, you just need to reshape familiar ones for a new format or audience.

Ways to repurpose content effectively:

Turn popular blog posts or LinkedIn articles into long-form YouTube videos
Embed those videos back into your website to boost SEO
Break videos into YouTube Shorts to expand platform reach

2. Crosspost with Intention

With every platform overflowing with content, showing up consistently requires smart distribution. YouTube content shouldn’t live in a silo. When you share it across other social channels, you increase your odds of being discovered and maximize the value of your efforts.

Start building YouTube into your broader content calendar, especially when it comes to short-form video.

Crossposting tips:

Always include Shorts in your rotation alongside TikTok and Instagram Reels
Adjust captions or visuals slightly for platform nuances, but keep the core content consistent
Use links or native previews to drive viewers from one platform to another

3. Get a Strategic YouTube Audit

Even brands with strong video content can miss key optimization opportunities. A professional audit helps you fine-tune performance and make sure your content is working as hard as possible.

An audit isn’t just about fixing what’s broken—it’s about unlocking new opportunities and ensuring YouTube is aligned with your larger goals in SEO, UX, and content marketing.

What to expect from a YouTube audit:

Optimized thumbnails, descriptions, playlists, and CTAs
Insights on how YouTube impacts organic visibility and search rankings
Competitive analysis to help you differentiate and outperform

4. Optimize for Visibility and Quality

Great content needs great presentation. Whether you’re producing Shorts or long-form videos, optimization ensures your videos are discoverable and engaging. Small tweaks can lead to big gains in visibility, watch time, and conversions.

Key content optimizations:

Use keywords naturally in your titles, descriptions, and tags
A/B test thumbnails to find the best-performing visuals
Add captions and subtitles to improve accessibility and increase keyword indexing
Keep video quality consistent with your brand tone and target audience expectations

5. Support Growth with Paid Media

Organic content is powerful, but paid promotion can accelerate results. Investing even a modest budget can push your best content further and help you reach high-intent users faster.

Paid YouTube strategies to consider:

Promote trending or top-performing Shorts to expand reach
Partner with creators or influencers to tap into trusted niche communities
Run highly targeted video ads with personalized messaging to drive conversions

Expand Your Social Media Marketing on YouTube

YouTube isn’t just another social channel, it’s a cornerstone of modern digital strategy. When used intentionally, it becomes a powerful engine for search visibility, brand storytelling, and audience growth. If you’ve ever wondered why build your brand with YouTube, the answer is simple: because it connects the dots between awareness, trust, and conversion – often in one video.

At Oneupweb, we don’t just create content, we craft YouTube and social media marketing strategies that are tailored, measurable, and built for long-term impact. Whether you need a full-funnel YouTube plan, help optimizing what you’ve already got, or just someone to take the reins, we’ve got you.

Let’s build your presence. Let’s build your brand. Let’s talk social strategy.