So says Grant Hinds, YouTube marketer, professional geek and gaming guru.

I cannot emphasise enough how much YouTube can benefit brands wanting to reach any market, young or old. YouTube has no age group or age parameter. Whether you’re watching cute, fuzzy kittens or How To videos, you’re on YouTube. Having a YouTube channel doesn’t automatically infer that your brand is only appealing to a younger audience. Quite the contrary.

Having said that, the top two YouTube channel searches are noted as being music and gaming-related in first and second place respectively, but then even music is not exclusively reserved for younger target markets, nor is gaming. The average age of a South African gamer is 35, and 40% of that figure is female. It’s time to dispel the misconceptions and really delve into what YouTube as a marketing tool can offer all brands across all ages, genders and races.”

With over one billion unique visitors each month, YouTube is an effective social media marketing tool that any small or large brand should consider in its cache. Just as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google+ are now incorporated into marketing strategies, YouTube can add value by showcasing relevant content and facilitate real and engaging conversation with consumers.

When it comes to creating content for YouTube be creative, invest in good quality video content, keep it short, be consistent and be professional. Your YouTube channel is also an extension of your brand and should therefore be treated with as much respect as any other marketing tool you currently use, so hire professionals to create quality content.

After Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet. That means that every day people are searching for answers to problems or questions they may have around your brand. Having a dedicated YouTube channel can be used to showcase your products and services, offer tutorials, promote specials or campaigns, show your expertise in your industry, showcase customer testimonials and even offer behind the scenes peeks into how your organisation ticks.

Collaboration is one key ingredient to many successful YouTube campaigns let alone careers that have flourished from early tomfoolery into fully-fledged businesses and careers. It’s no secret that collaborating with the right influencer does add credibility to YouTube content. However, the best way to ensure credibility is to involve the influencer from the very inception of a campaign in order to capture that which the influencer’s followers naturally gravitate towards. This may be their wit, charm, expertise or simply their notoriety.

About Grant Hinds

Grant Hinds works, lives and plays in Cape Town. His YouTube channel recently reached one million views – an accolade only a mere handful of South Africans have achieved. Hinds uses his gaming channel to demonstrate how a brand can utilise the platform as a social media marketing tool.

Connect with Grant Hinds via Facebook and Twitter.