'Net Features : youtube

10 Tips for Overnight Web Video Superstardom

Allison Howen — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:30:00 GMT

If you want to spice up your Web presence, it may be time to consider implementing a video strategy.

If you aren't convinced, consider this: A recent comScore study reveals that Americans watched 33 billion online content videos in February alone. Moreover, Invodo research shows that consumers watch video 60 percent of the time when it is available, and that 52 percent of consumers who watch product videos claim the videos make them more confident about their purchases, which helps to reduce return rates.

In addition to those stats, implementing a video strategy can help your enterprise drive site traffic, improve time-on-site and engagement metrics, increase conversion rates and grow its social fan base. That said, producing videos can be a complex and even an intimidating process if you’re just starting out, which is why Website Magazine has compiled 10 tips that will help you become an overnight Web video superstar, just check them out below:

1. Get Good Equipment

While a simple Webcam along with a free online editor is suitable for composing basic videos, you should consider purchasing higher-end equipment if you intend on producing videos on a regular basis. For example, if you are creating product videos that include a lot of detail, you should invest in an HD camera. Also, there is nothing worse than trying to edit a shaky video, and since shooting a steady video with a handheld camcorder is harder than one would think, a sturdy tripod is also a good investment. In addition to those pieces of equipment, some of the Web’s free video editors, such as YouTube or WeVideo, don’t include as many features as you might want, in which case you should purchase a more robust video editing platform, such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro or Adobe’s Premiere Pro. Lastly, if you’re struggling with capturing sound, a microphone will certainly help with this problem.

2. Make a Plan

Before your jump into the production stages, you must first create a plan for your video. For example, what is the goal of your video? It could be to drive more traffic to your website, to inform your audience about a new product or to foster a better relationship with your customers. Once the goal has been identified, you must decide what type of video will allow you to reach this goal, such as a demonstration, an advertisement, a comedy or just a straightforward informative piece. You might still need some inspiration for your content, in which case you should check out TubeRank. This platform enables users to set three conversational triggers in order to view similar videos that have been successful on the Web as inspiration.

3. Write a Script

You may be good at giving off-the-cuff speeches, but that is not the best strategy for video content. This is because online videos have the ability to be seen by millions of people, and you don’t want any flubs to take center-stage over your content. By writing out a script, you can make sure that you include every important piece of information into the video and that your thoughts are organized so that the video isn’t too long and turns your viewers away. Additionally, you might even be able to find a way to fit some quirky or entertaining tidbits into the script that would be harder to implement when improvising. That said, don’t rely so much on your script that you come off as stuffy in your video, because it is important to show your personality in order to be more relatable to your viewers. This is where practice comes into play…

4. Practice Makes Perfect

Before you start shooting, make sure to practice because you need to be confident in the content that you’re selling. While you should practice in front of an audience at least once so that they can give you some tips for improvement, the best way to self-identify areas of improvement is by simply reading the script aloud and recording yourself with a Webcam. This will not only get you familiar with being on camera, but it will also give you an opportunity to analyze your voice (did you pronounce every word correctly?), as well as an opportunity to identify any nervous ticks you might have. Furthermore, by reading the script aloud, you will feel more comfortable with its content and be able to edit areas that don’t sound quite right.

5. Just Do It.

This step is pretty self-explanatory: Just do it. While your first video will most likely end up not being your best in the long run, it will help to give you confidence, which will go a long way in future productions.

6. Put On Your Editing Pants

After your video is shot, it’s editing time. It is important to note, however, that the amount of editing you will have to do depends on your video’s quality, content and purpose. For example, if you’re a skincare line that is shooting a product demonstration, you may want to splice in some close-ups of a model’s skin during a step-by-step demonstration. Conversely, if you’re a pet store that is putting together a video of your customers with their pets, it might be appropriate to use some unique effects, such as custom graphics, or attention-grabbing transitions when switching between photos and videos.

7. Don’t Forget About Audio

While you should certainly make sure your audio is consistent throughout your video during both the shooting and editing processes, you might also want to consider adding background music or sound effects to specific parts of your video. If this is the case, make sure you have permission for any audio you add to the video. YouTube, for example, allows users to access select audio from Creative Commons for their videos.

8. Ask for Feedback

After the video is edited, it is a good idea to show it to colleagues before publishing it to the ’Net. This is because an extra set of eyes and ears might see or hear something that you didn’t, such as a black spot between transitions. Furthermore, outsiders might suggest adding an element that you had previously overlooked, like captions or additional images or video footage.

9. Distribute

Once you are mentally prepared to become an overnight Web video superstar, it is time to start distributing your video across the ’Net. If you are not hosting the video on YouTube, then you will need to use another hosting platform like Vzaar or Brightcove. Once the video is up, it should definitely be featured on your website, but you should also create social and email campaigns around it too. By sending the video to your subscribers and sharing it with your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest fans, you are increasing its audience reach and its chances of going viral.

10. Measure

After your video is published, it is time to start measuring results. While you should definitely evaluate metrics like views, time watched and completion rates, you should also analyze traffic spikes on your site because of the video. It is also important to monitor the devices and channels customers are using to view the videos, as this can help you tailor future video content and promotion strategies based on the audiences who respond best to this type of visual content. Additionally, to measure the popularity of your video across the social Web, you should analyze popular engagement metrics, such as shares, likes, comments, retweets and replies.

YouTube Search Trends in Focus

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:25:00 GMT

Google Trends began adding YouTube search data last month. The change will enable video publishers to more accurately optimize videos for the search engines, but how can marketers use the data?

Researchers will find data to help answer important questions about the naming of videos, the optimal tags, the best descriptions, whether videos should be created for certain target (geographic, demographic) markets, and more. It’s a veritable treasure trove of keyword-level marketing research.

To get started, just head over to Google Trends, enter the keyword and change “Limit to” to YouTube Search. Users are able to see information including the interest over time, the region interest and even related terms. Perhaps the best part is that users can also limit to location, timeframe (the system provides data back to 2008) as well as by category.

Here’s how the “iPhone” and “Android” search terms compare on YouTube (iphone in blue, andriod in red):

Profile Optimization for 2nd-Tier Social Networks

Allison Howen — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:45:00 GMT

For brands, maintaining a social presence on the Web is hard work. Not only do social media managers need to focus on engaging audience members, but they must also stay current with new features, redesigns and updates from social networks.

While most brands tend to focus on maintaining a profile on the Web’s top social platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, they should not forget to stay connected with popular second-tier social networks as well, like Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. In order to do this, brands must first create a profile on these social sites before they can start interacting with their audience.

Earlier this month, Website Magazine published an infographic to help brands optimize their profile design on the Web’s big three social networks. Today, however, we would like to help brands do the same for some of the Web’s most popular second-tier social networks – Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Read below to discover some optimization tips for these social networks, in addition to some design examples of brands that do it right.

Instagram

Instagram finally made its platform available on the Web this week, allowing users to browse and interact with photos from their desktop (although it is still not possible to upload images outside of the mobile app). This is certainly the genesis of this mobile application’s migration to the Web, which means that changes are imminent. However, there are a few ways that social media managers can still optimize their profiles for the Web.

While every photo uploaded to Instagram is cropped to fit the social network’s square proportions, users should make sure that their images will look good when enlarged to 410x410 px, as this is the size of the largest (middle) image on Instagram Web profiles. Moreover, brands should make sure that their profile image (110x110 px) is a good representation of their company and that their bio and website information is correct. It is also important to note that the images displayed on the header of the Web profile pages are currently not customizable, and instead are images from the user's photo stream that are featured at random. This means that brand managers might want to consider uploading images that not only compliment one another, but also consider using filters that look good together so that the profile header is as visually appealing as possible (like Taco Bell's seen below).

YouTube

Once a brand has successfully had its account converted into a brand channel on YouTube, it is time to customize the profile design. Branded channels feature a 970-pixel wide and 150-pixel high channel banner, which support an image map so that areas on the banner are clickable. This aspect of the brand channel is very important because brands can add website links or other pertinent digital properties here. Branded channels also feature a channel navigation bar, which displays the channel title, a subscription button, the number of current subscribers, the number of video views and tabs for navigating to different content pages. Furthermore, there is a custom tab promo unit and sidebar on the right side of branded profile pages, where brands can add information about its channel and links to other social networks.

That being said, brands have a lot of customizable options on YouTube, and nearly every brand channel has a different look. However, the most important part about optimizing a brand channel is to connect it with other digital properties, just as BuzzFeed has done in the example below.

Pinterest

This popular image-based social network launched business pages toward the end of 2012. While these pages have a similar look to regular profile pages, they also come with a verified checkmark and allow brands to leverage new buttons and widgets that can be integrated into websites and content to increase engagement and drive traffic back to a business’s website.

The stand-out element on Pinterest business pages is the profile image, which is 160x165 px. Next to this image, brands need to enter a business description (200 characters or less) and a link to their website. After optimizing this part of the profile, the only thing left to do is create boards and start pinning. While the images within Pinterest vary in size, social media managers should know that the big thumbnail of each board is 222x150 px, with the smaller thumbnail images (featured directly below the bigger image) being 55x55 px. That being said, Pinterest is also a fairly new social network, and social managers should keep an eye out for new profile design features in the future. In the meantime, check out Etsy's profile for some "pinspiration."

Brand Inspiration for Video-Focused Web Retailers in 2013

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:15:00 GMT

In 2013, Web Retailers will focus on many things to achieve success - mobile design, search engine optimization, and the customer experience in general to name but a few. It's important to prioritize those digital efforts accordingly based on the needs of your organization as they are fundamental to generating buzz and profits, but another channel should also be capturing retailers attention in 2013 as well as greater financial investment: it's Video, and the top brands are well aware of the channel's importance.

It's not uncommon however for ecommerce merchants to drag their virtual feet when it comes to video. Sometimes that's because of the associated cost (it's not easy to produce high-quality, share-worthy information or entertainment focused video content) so many just don't try. Fortunately, there are an increasing number of powerful software solutions available which make the process of creation, distribution and analysis far simpler (Side note: Website Magazine Associate Editor Michael Garrity is developing a video editor comparison for the March 2013 issue - Subsribe now and make sure you have access).

Video is a powerful marketing mechanism to propel merchants' online retail efforts to new heights - but the time to get started is now. Often, fortunately, all that's really needed initially is a little inspiration. Take a look at ten of the top ecommerce brands and how they're using video today.

Some things that stood out in our analysis was the use of custom profiles, featured playlists, and the integration of social sharing onto the brand's YouTube pages (the only video destination examined).

Not using Video yet? Check out Website Magazine's YouTube Video Basics for Beginners.

Nordstrom

Eddie Bauer

Coldwater Creek

Victoria's Secret

Gap

HSN

American Eagle

Express

Sears

Lands End

A Lack of Social Media Cohesion

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:50:00 GMT

New research from eCommerce and digital marketing company Acquity Group reveals that more than 75 percent of brands lacked a cohesive social media presence across the major platforms.

Results from the agency’s 2012 Brand eCommerce Audit, which evaluated Interbrand’s 2012 Best Retail Brands on customer engagement across major digital channels, indicated that while every brand on the list (except one) had a Facebook page, and 45 out of 50 are on Twitter, only 12 of the brands had a cohesive presence across all five of the major social networks that were analyzed ( Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.

Twitter had the largest gap between usage and interaction according to the study. Less than 27 percent of brands analyzed actively participated in Twitter conversations with consumers, even though 90 percent of those brands had a presence.

Other highlights from the Acquity study include:

- 80 percent of the brands analyzed leveraged YouTube with an impressive 85 percent engagement rate.
- 56 percent of brands do not yet utilize Instagram, but there is a high level of interaction at 79 percent.
- 60 percent of the brands had adopted Pinterest and interaction rates on the social pin-board were 70 percent.

Acquity Group also profiled 10 brands that scored best overall in social interaction including Target, Home Depot, RadioShack, Bath and Body Works, Nordstrom, Gap, eBay, Coach, American Eagle Outfitters and Banana Republic (in the order of their ranking).

"Although most brands are signed up for the major social networks, many struggle to understand how they fit into their overarching business strategy. As a result, our audit revealed several critical areas of improvement when it comes to actually connecting with consumers across social channels," said Jay Dettling, Executive Vice President at Acquity Group.

"The important take away for brands is to avoid haphazard or sporadic use of social media. When a new social media channel is introduced, brands need to take the time to analyze the potential impact and return, and develop a solid strategy from there."

Focus on Time Watched in YouTube Optimization

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:50:00 GMT

The Web’s interest in leveraging video is accelerating. To maintain its usefulness to marketers however, there will need to be even greater access to "interaction data". The reason? Success on YouTube is no longer solely about the number of views. When it comes to ranking videos today, YouTube takes information including "time watched" and "annotation clicks" into account as well.

Fortunately, earlier this month, YouTube announced several improvements to its YouTube Analytics offering which includes details on meaningful interaction events. While for many it may have slipped under the radar, but if video is within your digital marketing mix, this is one development to monitor closely.

While the number of views (and sometimes clicks) were once deemed the most important variables in getting higher placement, YouTube now pays more attention to the amount of time users spend watching YouTube when suggesting videos to watch. As such, its analytics offering has enhanced the “Views” report to show more time watched data. Video producers are now able to see “Estimated minutes watched” and choose other data options from the “Compare metric” drop-down menu.

Data on its annotations feature are another area of enhanced by YouTube in its recent refresh of its Analytics product. Youtube’s new Annotations report shows data on the performance of the annotations with insights on viewer click and close rates.

Several other changes have been released this month as well which are also worthy of note (most deal with the analytics account interface), including a new date slider, rolling totals (which averages out cyclical data to see overall growth; meaning you’ll see less spikes and troughs), a metadata section which shows lifetime views and video duration at a glance, and a video hovercard which shows a thumbnail of the video and.

“Understanding what your audience likes is key to building a successful YouTube channel, so we've created more tools to help you interpret the performance of your video “ said YouTube Product Manager Ted Hamilton in the post at the YouTube Creator Blog.

Time Watched Reports in YouTube:

YouTube Video Basics for Beginners

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:15:00 GMT

If there is one network that I bet you wish you were more active and popular on, my guess would be YouTube (how did I do?). Unless you’re one of those Web workers that uses video predominantly, then you’re probably just featuring a handful of videos on your brand or personal page. But that's just not enough - video is big (and growing) and deserves more of your attention.

There is no secret to producing successful YouTube videos, but there are some basics. If you ever plan on making dollar one from that digital content, you’ll need to follow some basics.

- It’s All About Views and Subscribers
Engaging content isn’t a myth – you either produce it or you don’t. If you don’t know if you have engaging content or not – look no further than the number of views and subscribers to your channel. If you don’t have any idea on how to create engaging content, ask you existing subscribers, or poach some ideas of the competition (assuming they are generating more views and have more subscribers).

- The Beginning Absolutely Matters
The importance of the first 15-20 seconds that your video makes on the user can not be overstated. This is your opportunity to make a connection with a user. Check out some of the most popular video producers on YouTube and you will consistently find exceedingly short introductions – like in the five to eight second range (if at all).

- Don’t Go It Alone, Collaborate!
Marketing products and services is not unlike marketing anything. When you team up with others – let’s call it collaboration – not only do you capture whatever views that partner was receiving but you’ll likely attract a few new subscribers in the process. Reach out to your existing partners, users and maybe even competitors – but don’t go it alone (at least not always).

- Just Optimize It, Please!
If you want your video to rank in YouTube’s results, you’ll need to do two things – get views and optimize the metadata around that video – including titles, descriptions, keywords (tags), and even geographic data. If you’re not optimizing, chances are good that nobody is viewing.

YouTube needs to be a serious consideration for digital marketers. They are providing all the tools (including most recently translated captions - http://goo.gl/lVpNT) you need to accelerate your success, drive new visits and close more business.

Facing Today's Online Marketing Challenges

Administrator — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:10:00 GMT

As the world becomes more connected, so do consumers. For small businesses, this presents an era of unique challenges. And, although the world of online marketing may appear cumbersome, small businesses should not be so easily dismayed. With the right tools, any business can see increased profits through successful online marketing.

Affordable Online Marketing Solutions

Today, small businesses have a bevy of affordable online marketing tools at their disposal. LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter are among the most popular. Small businesses can cash in on these marketing venues by registering an account and generating "interesting" content. Interesting could mean anything from posts related to a company's niche or insights on industry trends. Additionally, many businesses have blog capabilities built into their website. Although effectiveness depends on a commitment to regular posting, the possibilities that blogs offer are endless.

Whether it's a blog or another platform, the key is to determine which platform suits a business’s needs and then invest in it. Generally, Facebook, Twitter and blogs can be useful for almost any business. However, platforms such as Pinterest or YouTube may have varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the industry. Retailers, for example, may benefit the most from Pinterest. As 'pins' about fall fashion or a more specific pin like the best styles of boots for particular body shapes can become popular quickly on this network. Regardless of industry, all of these customizable, online marketing techniques can establish brand recognition and Web presence, as well as increase user engagement.

Service Providers

Businesses that are interested in investing a little more in marketing should consider online marketing tools that provide services. For example, hiring a graphic designer may be financially daunting for some small businesses. Various online marketing services can help alleviate this budget burden by providing email marketing templates for free or for a small fee. Another useful online marketing tool is aggregate sites that provide no-cost lists of free or low-cost online marketing solutions. For businesses willing to do the research, the amount of marketing information available online is incredible.

Other marketing tools may track and record the various successes and failures of marketing techniques. While there are many free services on the Web, such as Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, there are plenty of online companies that are willing to provide a more customized and tailored analytics service for a fee.

Evaluating Success

In reality, many small businesses do not know how to accurately evaluate their success. As previously discussed, there are numerous analytical programs on the market at a wide variety of costs. The insight provided by the analytics can help to increase the business’s profitability substantially. A simple analysis may show which blog topics generate the most reads, which keywords are the most popular, which posts generate the most shares and which advertisements are leading directly to sales. These analyses can shape a marketing campaign, shed light on ineffective tactics and lead to real-time changes in strategy that lead to maximum profitability.

The Risks of Online Marketing

At the end of the day, these online marketing strategies are not without risks. Taking the most widely used two, email marketing and social media marketing, for example, businesses participating in these kinds of activities should be cautious about content. Potential customers may be turned off by too many Facebook posts or emails, and previously interested customers may be offended by oddly worded posts and content. Businesses should put forth their best efforts to ensure that each and every email, blog post, comment, tweet and video is done with the best of intentions and the upmost care. Additionally, businesses should refrain from setting its expectations too high and counting on overnight success. In the end, the success of online marketing will be a reflection of the work put forth and the product.

About the Author:Sophia Myles is an Email Marketing specialist with the Comm100 Email Marketing Team. When free from work, she loves discovering, writing and sharing just everything about Online Marketing with the rest of the world.

YouTube Now Offering Mobile Ads

Michael Garrity — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT

A lot of people access YouTube and watch videos on their smartphones and tablet devices, and that number increases everyday.

In fact, according to the Google-owned video streaming site, 20 percent of all of its global traffic comes from mobile devices, a number that has tripled since 2011. However, content creators have never been able to make any money off of that traffic, which can quickly add up to mean huge missed revenue opportunities.

Today, the site announced (via Twitter, believe it or not) that it was finally going to start offering ads in videos that are viewed from mobile devices. Advertisements will be viewed as TrueView ads, which means that viewers can skip them after five seconds; these ad types are very successful on YouTube’s main website.

This move indicates that YouTube has been able to fix problems with its mobile API, and it now presents the opportunity for content creators to considerably increase the revenue they can receive from their videos.

YouTube Merch Store Partners with CafePress

Allison Howen — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

CafePress merchants will now be able to bring customized online commerce to their YouTube Merch Store.

This new feature will allow CafePress Shop owners to obtain more conversions by displaying merchandise on their YouTube channels. Inventory can be added with tools that enable retailers to search for and select products from their CafePress shops.

Then, when a fan clicks on a featured product, YouTube will redirect the consumer to CafePress where the products are available for purchase, and a 10 percent sales commission is earned by the CafePress Shop owner.

"CafePress and YouTube have a lot in common; YouTube has an hour of video uploaded every second about almost any topic imaginable, and CafePress has a catalog of over 300 million custom products on every subject imaginable," says Joe Schmidt, CafePress Chief Marketing Officer. "Now, CafePress products are available on YouTube to create a relevant, contextual shopping platform."

Merchants must be a YouTube partner in good standing who has been enabled for the YouTube Merch Store program in order to create a store. However the store feature may not appear immediately because it is gradually being rolled out over the next few months.

When the feature is available, merchants with accounts for both companies will see a “Store” tab, which will enable them to choose the merchandise that they want to showcase to their YouTube fans. Checkout the example below of CafePress merchant and YouTube partner Geek & Sundry, who has already utilized the new feature.

YouTube Algorithm Changes for Recommended Videos

Allison Howen — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The YouTube algorithm that presents suggested and recommended videos to users throughout its site has changed.

Previously, as a way to promote channels, YouTube chose recommended videos based on how many people clicked on a specific video, however this sometimes prevented videos with deeper engagement metrics from being seen.

The new algorithm changes will bump videos that retain longer overall viewing sessions to the top of the recommended video results. This change benefits viewers because they’ll be able to find and watch more enjoyable content, while it could also benefit video creators because it can help build more focused and engaged audiences.

Overall, YouTube claims that this algorithm change will provide higher quality content with a better opportunity to be seen. Furthermore, simply creating longer videos may not improve a creator’s chances of getting their video featured within the recommended video results because the content might not add value, and the viewer’s total watch time is what matters for the algorithm change.

The Usual Suspects Lead Online Video Rankings

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Comscore released data from its Video Metrix service showing that 181 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 40 billion videos in January 2012. As you might imagine, the usual suspects round out the top few spots.

Google Sites, driven primarily by video consumption on YouTube, was the top Web video property in January with 152 million unique viewers, followed by VEVO with 51.5 million, Yahoo! Sites with 49.2 million, Viacom Digital with 48.1 million and Facebook.com with 45.1 million. While this is useful information overall (particularly for media buyers), it might also prove beneficial to see the destinations that are emerging as well – but I digress.

Nearly 40 billion videos views occurred during the month, with Google Sites again generating the highest number at 18.6 billion, followed by Hulu with 877 million and VEVO with 717 million. The average viewer watched 22.6 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7.5 hours) and Hulu (3.2 hours) demonstrating the highest average engagement among the top ten properties. On the whole, if this says anything to you – it should be, “Create more video!”

Comscore also revealed the top video ad properties, and no surprise here, Google again topped the list of video advertising opportunities. One of the many reasons, of course, is its levels of innovation and TrueView Ads is a great example. Google recently surveyed its customers and found some interesting data about the TrueView program offering as it relates to user experience. Eighty percent of viewers preferred TrueView to standard in-stream ads, and 90 percent thought the ads created a better viewing environment.

YouTube Redesign: What You Need to Know

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:38:00 GMT

Youtube is rolling out a redesign today and it is easily the most significant since the site's launch in 2006.

The new design offers a completely new home page experience for users which integrates deeply with Google+ and other third party providers including Twitter and Facebook, emphasizes "channels" - likely in an effort to be the Internet TV provider of choice in the future, and is showcasing to users' their existing channel subscriptions and revealing new and related content.

The home page features an activity stream (see below) that includes video uploads, likes and favorites, comments as well as announcements. With this improved personalization, Youtube hopes to improve upon the 200 million people that visit the homepage everyday already - which are often one-and-done visitors that arrive from destinations like Facebook and Twitter. Users can browser categories, preview a channel's content, subscribe to channels and see the activity from all of their subscriptions.

In related news, this week the video platform announced its YouTube Analytics tool will replace Youtube Insights. Google is touting the tool as a way for account holders to gain more insights into who views their vidoes, where they view it, and for how long. The new analytics offers video producers the ability to access a quick overview and more in-depth reporting through its Audience Builder and Audience Retion Tools. Ultimately, YouTube hopes these more in-depth analytics will lead to video being optimize, and better made.

More Than Laughs: Utilizing YouTube for Social Success

Michael Garrity — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:45:00 GMT

YouTube is, in no uncertain terms, a cultural phenomenon.

The site is visited by millions of visitors from around the world every hour and has become the primary source for sharing video content on the Web for everyone from major global corporations to aspiring singers with nothing more than a webcam and some heart. In fact, it's become so ingrained in our culture that people use the term "YouTube" to mean looking for videos in much the same way we use "Google" to mean performing any sort of online search (which is fitting, since YouTube is owned by Google).

But not only is the video-streaming site a great place to watch "teething English babies" or listen to the "greatest song about a day of the week ever produced", it's also a wonderful social media tool for brands to share content and connect with consumers in the digital world.

Of course, every brand takes a unique approach to the kind of content they share on YouTube and how they present it, so here are five branded YouTube channels and a brief look at how they utilize the site for social media success:

Starbucks
Starbucks has long been famous for its distinctive lack of advertising, mostly letting its coffee speak for itself. However, it has also been one of the companies most willing to embrace the social media boom, and it has helped them develop into a highly successful Web brand. Its YouTube channel is a great example of this, as it takes a unique approach to sharing content that is effective in creating a sense of community and brand loyalty that requires little traditional advertising. For example, the company has long been applauded for its interest in the arts, specifically music, and it appeals to that segment of its customer base by offering videos of special exclusive performances by artists like Jakob Dylan. The channel also hosts a wide variety of videos on topics like the company's charitable campaigns, "behind the scenes" videos about the daily operations of the company that include employee interviews and information about the company and the cultivation and creation of its coffee, all of which is part of the company's goal of creating a distinctive communal relationship with its customers.

Old Spice
When your brand boasts one of the most popular advertising campaigns in years, moving to YouTube is a natural step. Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" video ad series has been a huge viral hit since its inception, and the company has maintained, and probably increased, its popularity on YouTube (after all, humor works in social videos). Not only does the channel host the original television commercials, but it has also included some Internet-exclusive content like the Old Spice Guy's "Mano a Mano in El Baño" voting competition against Fabio, and his video responses to user questions posted on various social networks. While their popular ads made creating a successful YouTube campaign easy for the company, few brands employ YouTube as a supplemental social media source as well as Old Spice, which is what really makes it stand out amongst its peers.

UNICEF USA
One of the industries that has really utilized social video well is the non-profit sector. It makes sense, as YouTube provides a free platform for these companies to share their content and spread their messages to millions of new users every day, which is a great way to garner support for their causes. UNICEF USA, which provides food, healthcare and provisions to those in need, utilizes the site especially well by sharing videos explaining its cause, videos of volunteers in action and celebrity endorsements. What makes UNICEF USA's strategy work so well is that it presents a clear and holistic branding message through the sharing of information, both about the group's goals and what it is doing to achieve them.

Urban Decay
Many social video strategies are, in some way, rooted in traditional advertising models. At the end of the day, these companies are around to sell a product and that is the ultimate focus of their YouTube channels. Makeup company Urban Decay decided to go a different route by presenting a creative model for cultivating social relationships using video content. Rather than ads, the company's YouTube channel hosts a series of videos that give users various tricks and tips on how to best use its products. These tutorials allow the company to show authority and help out users at the same time, which ultimately establishes a strong sense of brand loyalty. It's clear that the company's focus is on creating engaging content that will keep users coming back and increase interest in the products, and that is exactly what brands want their YouTube campaigns to do.

Epitaph Records
The plight of the music industry has been well-documented, and it's safe to say that the majority of its problems come from the rampant accessibility of digital media. And while many major record labels are fighting to maintain the status quo, independent labels are working hard to embrace the future of content consumption. California-based Epitaph Records (and its sister labels) is a great example of using social video strategies to meet the demands of the digital age. Not only does Epitaph share artist music videos, but it also provides great exclusive content like live performance videos, non-single album tracks (which is especially rare for many labels to provide), exclusive behind-the-scenes content, artist interviews and much more. In understanding the way that users want to consume content on the Web, Epitaph was able to craft a social-video strategy that embraces, and builds upon, these new avenues and provides fans with great content to foster brand loyalty and user engagement, which is an ideal strategy for any type of media company these days.

Google+ Updates: Real-Time Search, Hashtags and YouTube

Michael Garrity — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, Google released a video featuring its Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vic Gundotra, announcing that Google+ is going to be getting big updates in both real-time search and hashtag support.

The company's social network, which thus far hasn't exactly found mainstream success, will now feature search results that update instantly (the service just got its own search capabilities last month) and hashtags that are clickable. These clickable tags will then take users to search results for the terms.

"We're trying to make it easier to follow and contribute to live events on Google+," says Gundotra, "Including breaking news, sporting events and many others."

When it comes to search, relevance and punctuality are what drive this new update; now that Google has a unique pool of crowd-created information, it can produce real-time results. In fact, G+ posts have already started being integrated into Web search results. (Maybe that's bad timing after employee Steve Yegge's harsh critique of the social network on Google+ yesterday.)

In other G+ news, Google has made it possible for users to link their YouTube accounts with their Google+ profiles. Now videos shared with you on the social network will be added directly to your YouTube homepage.

Linking the two profiles is a matter of going to the "Sharing" tab in your YouTube account settings; there will be a link prompting you to "manage all your Google connected accounts" and from there you can join the two.

This isn't the first time that Google has incorporated G+ into one of their many other services (or even with YouTube, which has already had Hangouts integration), but it is probably the biggest merger since Plus accounts were linked to Google Docs.