Video Marketing On The Rise

Video marketing has become an essential aspect of reaching consumers in all industries. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, by 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic. Many of the automotive YouTube channels have taken advantage of this trend in social media marketing and used it to benefit the industry and its followers.

What makes YouTube an ideal place for this? Simple: it provides such easy access to consumers. The automotive world brings together many people who have the same passion for cars. YouTube channels are a great way for people to learn more about their passions and share their knowledge with others. They provide a way for consumers to get to know and understand various car brands and specific vehicle models in a much more interactive and engaging way than before. Instead of reading an article or viewing pictures of a car, video allows viewers to feel like they are experiencing some of the most exclusive cars in production, firsthand.

Motor Trend is an example of a successful automotive YouTube channel. It is ranked number one on the top one hundred most subscribed autos & vehicles channel rankings list by subscribers. Motor Trend is a well-known name due to the success of their magazine that has been around since 1949. This allowed the company to take their already existing expertise on automobiles and turn car reviews and comparisons into exciting video content.

The number of subscribers has grown at a rapid pace over the last couple years and is now at 3,432,855. In an interview with Motor Trend’s Editor-in-Chief, Ed Loh, it is obvious they have spent a great deal of time figuring out what viewers want to see. “We were trying to sell the reality… we weren’t trying to sell the dream.” He states that their goal with YouTube is to entertain and inform. This has led Motor Trend to focus on higher end vehicles that are categorized as dream cars for many viewers.

Motor Trend is doing an excellent job using YouTube to engage its audience. The company capitalizes on covering their stories on all social media platforms. The consumer can read about a specific story on a certain model in the magazine one month (or on Facebook for example) and then watch a coordinating video on YouTube in order to become more engaged with a particular story or vehicle.

I think it is important to look at the success of the Motor Trend YouTube channel and apply their strategies to more automotive channels. They have made apparent what consumers want to learn about, making it easier to market and connect with viewers through a medium that is becoming more and more popular everyday.