Consumer Youtube channels -- various industries

I've been reviewing YouTube channels of various companies and industries that need to reach consumers. I'm looking for inspirations particularly outside of traditional pharmaceuticals, to industries where consumers need information on how to use products, before making a purchase decision: consider automobiles, cosmetics, and consumer electronics.

The spectrum of channels seems to range from advertising outposts to true peer to peer experiences. At the one end, Honda channels are predominantly commercials, and a few public service corporate videos. Apple's channel is in between in that it delivers instructional videos, but they are delivered in the official corporate messaging and video quality: see this iPad2 video on Apple channel.

Two companies for me have channels exemplifying more of the peer to peer, instructional nature taht consumers in the acquisition stage of CRM really need: http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthey must understand how to use the product. See for example The Mercedes channel, with sample start ups. Video quality less slick but authentic, nad I learn something about the dashboards, engine noise, etc. Then there is Destination Beauty by L'Oreal Paris. Sure, cosmetics firms make plenty of slick commercials with movie stars. But rather than show those, this YouTube portal is a series of tutorial videos by consumer-friendly "artists" that present peer to peer instructions on hos to use the products for face, or hair.

The more authentic, and the more helpful, the YouTube videos, the more influential on CRM conversion they will be.

Youtube: unbranded health video channels on demand

The increased usage of healthcare videos on Youtube is rampant, it is taking on many forms, official and non, and is as complex a network as the whole Internet itself. The YouTube growth is surprisingly prevalent among both among consumersand heathcare professionals.

A 2010 study of Manhattan Research study reported in Med Ad News notes that "the majority of physicians visit YouTube ... nearly 2 in 3 physicians are using this website for personal or professional reasons."

Youtube healthcare videos include the polished, consumer unbranded health content from the Johnson & Johnson health channel. I get my leads for this channel from promotion by a Twitter feed from Robert Halper

Both consumer and professionals benefit from YouTube channels of major medical institutions like the Mayo Clinic Youtube channel.

More purely professionally oriented videos covering the latest studies and medical conventions are found on the Insider Medicine Channel
and The MD Conference Channel. What is most striking among these are the high volumes of views yet low number of memberships. The metrics are about viewing and downloading.

While there are channels for professional associations like American Society of Plastic Surgeons and American College of Rheumatology, content streams are by no means standardized. There can be:

* association announcements
* clinical cases
* training videos
* career advice
* information for pateints.

Then, aside from all of these "official" channels are thousands of independent healthcare professionals and interest groups generating content they deem valuable for others. Any Youtube search will show you that. For example, many professional journals are not quite on YouTube, but a search for "New England Journal of Medicine" will demonstrate the wide variety of posters.

What is the implication of all this?

* Professionals are on YouTube, posting and downloading videos, but in non-predictable ways.
* Search here is as important as elsewhere on the web.
* The situation will continue to evolve, perhaps consoliating, or remaining de-centralized.
* Advertising models still seem to be forming; some of these links have ads or sponsored links, others not.


Stay tuned.