Improve the results you drive from your videos by adopting these YouTube best practices right away!
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, right after its parent, Google (obviously). Nearly a fifth of all online traffic finds itself on the video search engine, which means that for as valuable as video content is, it can be hard for your audience to find it.
The YouTube best practices outlined here can help you drive better results in a shorter timeframe from your video content on YouTube.
Standardize Your Content
When you’re driving down the street and you see those big, golden arches peaking through a sea of billboards and highrises, you know that you aren’t too far from a McDonald’s. Your videos should be equally recognizable.
Now, this is not to say that you need to have an instantaneously recognizable brand, but your video content should be properly branded and that branding should be consistent. Whether it’s something like an intro, music, or a style of video, people should be able to identify that they are watching one of your videos from the get go.
Create Playlists
Playlists are great tools for organizing your YouTube channel, and they are just another way to categorize and tag your videos, which is hugely beneficial for search.
Again, with so much content being shared on the video engine every second, the more you can do to walk people through what they are seeing and what value the content will bring to them, the better chance you’ll have of getting your videos seen and retaining your audience for a longer watch time.
Commit to Consistency
If you’re going to share a video today, then another one tomorrow, then a third in two months, another a week after that and so on without a clearly consistent production and publishing schedule, it will be hard to build a loyal following, and your YouTube channel will never really get to where you want it to go.
You don’t necessarily need to be creating dozens of videos every month, but you should be at least somewhat consistent in the frequency with which you’re publishing videos. That is especially true if you’re creating videos as part of a series, where your subscribers and series followers are expecting new content every so often.
Properly Tag Your Videos
With options to improve search potential so easily accessible, it’s surprising that there are still marketers who do not take advantage of these elements.
When you have completed a video and are ready to upload it, add in specific tags (it helps if there are some auto-populated based on existing categories) and take advantage of the descriptions, geo-tagging, subtitles (when applicable, or auto-populated), video elements, etc. Every option should be used when it applies, as each of these are categorization and classification elements (just like the playlists discussed above) and can help improve your videos discoverability.
Keep Your Videos Short and Focused
Ideally, your videos are going to be under two minutes in length. The reason is simple: data shows that the average online attention span is roughly 8.25 seconds. So, even your most engaged audience might not be willing to give you more than a couple of minutes of their time. You’ll need to create content that is almost immediately captivating and brief enough that people will stick around until the very end.
The easiest way to go about this is to keep your videos relatively straightforward. You’re not hosting an hour long talk show; this is a small bit of easily digested content that engages your audience and provides value. There is no easier way to do this than to ask a question and use your minute or two to answer it. Pay attention to your analytics, as those will give you an idea of your audience retention, and in turn provide insight into how long your videos should be.
Conclusion
Of course, every marketer and brand will have different uses for a network like YouTube. But, in order to find success with the network, you’ll need to know about some of the best practices, and these five are a good start.
Midway Report: Marketing Trends Predictions Analysis
/by Corey PadveenAt the end of 2015 (and every year before that) marketers all over the world shared their thoughts as to what important marketing trends would shape the industry in 2016. As we approach the halfway point of the year, how many of those are coming true?
Late in 2015, the major focus was largely on the impact of mobile. Considering the already sharp rise mobile had experienced in the two years prior, this was less of a prediction and more of a base from which to make said predictions. Now that we are closing in on the six-month mark of 2016, it’s time to see how many marketing trends predictions are coming true, and what that means for the rest of the year.
Mobile Over Desktop
All signs pointed to mobile overtaking desktop in virtually every regard, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing. Considering its trajectory over the 24 months prior, this was hardly a prediction and more of an understanding. At the very least, it was an easy way to come out of the gate knowing that at least one marketing trends prediction would be correct.
Not even six months into 2016 and mobile has already surpassed desktop in a number of ways. ComScore data has found that the number of smartphone users, the amount of time spent using a mobile device and platform split (between desktop and mobile) all favor mobile. We also know that mobile search surpassed desktop search at the end of 2015, but early in 2016, we saw that mobile ad spend surpassed desktop ad spend for the first time.
Just last week, Google announced several new features being made available in AdWords and Analytics all with mobile-first in mind. As they put it during the presentation, mobile is no longer an option, it is the strategy. That was a fairly obvious notion at the end of 2015 and it has proven to hold true so far this year.
Technology Consolidation
When Salesforce announced that they would be rolling out a business intelligence dashboard that integrated directly with their CRM, a lot of marketers predicted that a new era was upon us whereby the startup world would be consolidated under the giants like Google, Facebook, Salesforce (obviously) and the like. Instead, we’ve seen the market for marketing technologies double (again).
Up until now, the growth of the marketing technology sector seemed like a good thing. (And, for the most part, it was.) Now, as VC wallets tighten and IPO whispers have quieted, an increasingly vast marketing technology landscape is looking a little unstable. In the social media management group alone there are over 200 companies offering similar products. One wonders if there is really enough business out there to keep all of these companies afloat (especially when the huge majority of them are not making enough money to keep the lights on themselves).
The Growth of Content Creation
As products like Snapchat and Facebook Live have picked up momentum and popularity (especially with the coveted millennial market) brands have shifted a lot of their efforts to creating vast amounts of content in-house. There are now more jobs posted than ever before for content creators of channel-specific content (including posts for Snapchat Story creators, which is new to 2016).
Content marketing (as a more concrete, solidified concept) has been a focal point of the marketing world for a few years now, but the slow adoption of new media by a lot of organizations (particularly larger organizations) has meant that content creation has been mixed in with other marketing initiatives, and new media – social in particular – has been fed scraps. Now, brands of all sizes are recognizing the huge potential of developing channel-specific content and are focusing a large amount of resources (not just marketing resources) to getting that done.
And speaking of Facebook Live video…
The Year of Streaming
A common prediction that was circling throughout the latter half of 2015 was that 2016 would be the year that live streaming really took off as a mainstream means of communicating. So far, that has held true. For the last couple of years, rich media types have been at the forefront of hyped communications (images, to video, and now streaming) despite the fact that these media types were nothing new. (Online live video broadcasting, for example, has been around for about two decades.) Now, not only are we shifting our efforts to focus on live streaming, but the market is showing its penchant for engaging with live content.
Conclusion
While some marketing trends predictions have fallen flat, a lot of what we thought would come of 2016 has so far proven to be true. Of course, there is still plenty of time left to see how much of the trending norm is hype and how much is here to stay, and a lot of that will depend on return and measurability. One thing is for certain, however; the market is responding favorably to these new types of content and their respective media, so marketers will surely continue to invest heavily in them.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Selecting Marketing Technology [New eBook]
/by Corey PadveenWith so much on the market, selecting marketing technologies can feel like a daunting task.
Every year, it seems as though the market for marketing tech expands significantly. The reason why it feels that way is pretty simple: it is. Since 2011, the market for marketing technologies has increased roughly thirtyfold! With so much out there, it can feel like choosing the “right” tool is next to impossible.
Our latest eBook covers the process of selecting a piece of marketing tech, and what steps marketers need to take in order to ensure that they are choosing the right piece for their needs. Click on the image below to download the eBook and learn about the steps you need to take in order to select the right tool for your needs!
B2B Social Media Potential in 2016 [Infographic]
/by Corey PadveenThere is a lot to look forward to this coming year with regards to B2B social media.
We often hear that when it comes to new media marketing and advertising, there is no longer a significant difference between B2B and B2C, but there are still some important idiosyncrasies that make the approach to B2B social media somewhat different than B2C.
Among the impressive stats in this infographic from Real Business Rescue, we should take note of the fact that 90% of B2B organizations feel as though social media improves exposure. That is especially important on an increasingly crowded platform. Moreover, 65% of B2B businesses have been able to generate leads as a result of their efforts on social media.
The challenge for B2B has to do with data. According to the findings, only 30% of B2B marketing projects consider their analytics in order to improve results. For a program to be successful, and for results to improve on an ongoing basis, those data need to be analyzed on a regular basis and need to provide the foundation for growth.
Take a look at the infographic below and see all the potential that exists when it comes to B2B social media this year!
5 YouTube Best Practices for Improved Results
/by Corey PadveenImprove the results you drive from your videos by adopting these YouTube best practices right away!
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, right after its parent, Google (obviously). Nearly a fifth of all online traffic finds itself on the video search engine, which means that for as valuable as video content is, it can be hard for your audience to find it.
The YouTube best practices outlined here can help you drive better results in a shorter timeframe from your video content on YouTube.
Standardize Your Content
When you’re driving down the street and you see those big, golden arches peaking through a sea of billboards and highrises, you know that you aren’t too far from a McDonald’s. Your videos should be equally recognizable.
Now, this is not to say that you need to have an instantaneously recognizable brand, but your video content should be properly branded and that branding should be consistent. Whether it’s something like an intro, music, or a style of video, people should be able to identify that they are watching one of your videos from the get go.
Create Playlists
Playlists are great tools for organizing your YouTube channel, and they are just another way to categorize and tag your videos, which is hugely beneficial for search.
Again, with so much content being shared on the video engine every second, the more you can do to walk people through what they are seeing and what value the content will bring to them, the better chance you’ll have of getting your videos seen and retaining your audience for a longer watch time.
Commit to Consistency
If you’re going to share a video today, then another one tomorrow, then a third in two months, another a week after that and so on without a clearly consistent production and publishing schedule, it will be hard to build a loyal following, and your YouTube channel will never really get to where you want it to go.
You don’t necessarily need to be creating dozens of videos every month, but you should be at least somewhat consistent in the frequency with which you’re publishing videos. That is especially true if you’re creating videos as part of a series, where your subscribers and series followers are expecting new content every so often.
Properly Tag Your Videos
With options to improve search potential so easily accessible, it’s surprising that there are still marketers who do not take advantage of these elements.
When you have completed a video and are ready to upload it, add in specific tags (it helps if there are some auto-populated based on existing categories) and take advantage of the descriptions, geo-tagging, subtitles (when applicable, or auto-populated), video elements, etc. Every option should be used when it applies, as each of these are categorization and classification elements (just like the playlists discussed above) and can help improve your videos discoverability.
Keep Your Videos Short and Focused
Ideally, your videos are going to be under two minutes in length. The reason is simple: data shows that the average online attention span is roughly 8.25 seconds. So, even your most engaged audience might not be willing to give you more than a couple of minutes of their time. You’ll need to create content that is almost immediately captivating and brief enough that people will stick around until the very end.
The easiest way to go about this is to keep your videos relatively straightforward. You’re not hosting an hour long talk show; this is a small bit of easily digested content that engages your audience and provides value. There is no easier way to do this than to ask a question and use your minute or two to answer it. Pay attention to your analytics, as those will give you an idea of your audience retention, and in turn provide insight into how long your videos should be.
Conclusion
Of course, every marketer and brand will have different uses for a network like YouTube. But, in order to find success with the network, you’ll need to know about some of the best practices, and these five are a good start.
Attention Spans are Short and Getting Shorter [Infographic]
/by Corey PadveenFor a long time, our attention spans have been getting shorter. That’s a problem for marketers.
How do you capture someone’s attention in only a few seconds? With so much content constantly flooding our various feeds, grabbing the attention of a passer-by has become an increasingly daunting task for marketers. This infographic highlights recent findings that show just how difficult of a task that really is.
How long do you think your attention span is?
6 Social Media Time Saving Tips for Marketers
/by Corey PadveenWhen you find a few social media time saving tips, it can make a world of difference in your day-to-day management techniques.
Managing your social accounts can be a pretty time-heavy task. While auto-piloted processes can work in certain areas, attention needs to be paid to your brand’s online presence in order for it to generate the results you’re hoping for. These social media time saving tips, while useful, won’t mean cutting out the time devoted to social in its entirety, but you will find yourself generating just as much success on social, and less time needed to achieve that.
1. Use a Calendar
Why marketers haven’t all subscribed to the idea of using a content or editorial calendar is a mystery. Not only does it simplify the daunting task of regularly sharing fresh content, but it shaves hours off of your monthly management time. What’s more, with regards to the auto-piloting mentioned above, a calendar makes that easier (and limits any potential harm that may come from the practice).
A carefully laid out calendar provides marketers with a roadmap that can be closely followed (or loosely adhered to) over the course of a month and allows for more time to focus on other priority tasks within or out of the social sphere.
2. Scheduling
Whether you are using Hootsuite, SocialOomph, Sprout Social, another tool or Facebook itself, a calendar means scheduling (pretty far ahead of time) is a much more viable option.
Scheduling your content around a contest or event is easy, but day-to-day content and recycled material can be a little trickier. As noted above, once you have a calendar in place, you can begin scheduling your content accordingly, thereby saving you time once again.
3. Standard Reporting
Virtually every tool or technology (from free to enterprise) provides some sort of reporting capability. Reporting not only highlights your performance, but it is also a useful way to identify what items need your attention, and how to prioritize those items.
Automated reports (weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc.) are a great way to save yourself some time. If you’re using a piece of technology (see below) then having reports automatically emailed to you will allow you to create a management schedule to address issues as they come up (if they come up).
4. Take Advantage of Technology
Let me start off by saying that there is no one perfect tool for all marketers. Your ideal piece of technology will depend entirely on the objectives you’ve assigned to your efforts on social media. Once you have those, evaluate different tools in order to determine which one (or ones) will help you operate at maximum efficiency while saving time.
Every one of these technologies is referred to as a solution. That is because they have been designed to solve a problem. Know your problem areas, then find the solution that’s right for you.
5. Create Third Party Lists
Creating original content can be hard. With so much in circulation, it is only a matter of time before you start to feel like your content is going stale. In order to avoid that from happening, you’ll want to keep a list of third party resources from which you can borrow or share content on a regular basis. Of course, that is not to say that you should plagiarize anything, ever. But these resources can be used as sources of inspiration for new content, or you can share content from these parties directly from the source.
This is a major time saver and helps showcase to your audience that there is no bias for your content over someone else’s – you simply want to provide value to your readers.
6. Track Your Content Performance
Just as with those third parties, you’ll want to pay attention to your highest performing content. Why? Again, it will help in the optimization of your content creation process. As you see the content that outperforms the rest, you’ll be able to create (and re-share) that specific or affiliated content and avoid spending time on content that does not generate the results you are looking for.
Conclusion
There is no question that time will need to be devoted to your social efforts. There is no Amazon magic button or quick fix to drop your management time down to zero. But by following these tips and paying attention to the details, you’ll find that managing your social media does not need to be a full time commitment, and that you can generate great results with slightly less time devotion.
The Most Important News from Facebook’s F8 Keynote
/by Corey PadveenThere is a lot to look forward to in Facebook’s future, as evidenced by the Facebook F8 keynote.
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg delivered the keynote address at the Facebook F8 summit and shed some light on what the future has in store for the social networking giant. (It should be noted that at this point Facebook is a giant in many – if not most – respects, and not only when it comes to social networking.)
The Age of Spiritual Machines
So maybe we haven’t yet reached that fateful period that Ray Kurzweil has prophesied, but Facebook has certainly taken a step in that direction by embracing bots (and a form of artificial intelligence) when it comes to brand engagement on Messenger.
The idea behind automated interaction like this is to improve the distribution and engagement with brand content (and other content from around the web). At first – as with all things that are unfamiliar to us – it will likely feel like an intrusion. As these bots adapt to your tastes and mold to your Facebook engagement habits (not to mention the improvements that will surely come) it will certainly reach a point where it passes a Turing Test.
Following the announcement, two big content distributors – Business Insider and The Wall Street Journal – announced the launch of their bots, and those brands using this service has only increased since then. We can surely expect to see brands (of all sizes) start to embrace this service in the near future, if for no other reason than to test its capabilities.
Sharing Text Just Got Easier
You’re reading a book, you see a quote that inspires you, it’s time to share. Now, that process (which was pretty easy to begin with) just got easier.
Now when you see text in an integrated app (Amazon Kindle will feature this soon) that you would like to share, you can simply highlight it and choose to share it to Facebook. Sure, the aesthetics of a beautiful sunset setting the backdrop for some inspirational text might still be preferable, but who knows where this option might go from a creative angle. That might be phase two.
For now, sharing text is a click away.
Streaming Coming Up in a Big Way
Facebook is making an even bigger play in live streaming content. In their ten year roadmap, their connectivity focus includes plenty of drone, 3D, 360 and live streaming elements.
There has been a lot of excitement and hype around the live streaming space. That’s exacerbated by the fact that Facebook has been putting plenty of weight on content that is live streamed in its News Feed algorithm. But if we were to imagine live streaming on the Gartner Hype Cycle (shown below) where would it fall?
Realistically, we would probably see live streaming between the Peak of Inflated Expectations and the Trough of Disillusionment. Yes, there are undoubtedly applications and yes it is an exciting new field as far as content delivery goes, but it still has yet to find a balance. That said, it is easy to understand why Facebook is putting a lot of weight behind it.
Better Bookmarking
Lastly (at least lastly for this article, but there is plenty more to catch up on) Facebook is venturing into the bookmarking space in a more robust way. Every day, more and more people are using Facebook to digest news content. A lot of what was discussed in Facebook’s F8 keynote was news-related.
Bookmarking is another way that Facebook is trying to extend its value to consumers. Bookmarking and better segmenting the content you see is an area where Facebook offers little right now. That’s going to change as they extend how bookmarking on the platform works, and what benefits there are to using it.
Conclusion
A lot was announced by Facebook, which is nothing new. Every day, there are plenty of great innovations coming out of the social networking behemoth. It’ll be exciting to watch how they approach (and adhere to) their ten year roadmap.
Understanding Attribution Models in Google Analytics
/by Corey PadveenGet a better understanding of attribution models in your Google Analytics dashboard.
As a marketer, one of the most important parts of the job is knowing what channels and media are leading to conversions on your website. Attribution models in Google Analytics make that job a whole lot easier.
In the latest video in our Google Analytics series in conjunction with the Social Media Strategies Summit, we cover the different types of attribution models that exist within your Google Analytics dashboard. We could easily spend a significant amount of time going over the intricacies of this component, and we will certainly be covering this topic in more detail, but in this first video we simply cover the basics of the system.
Enjoy!
Facebook is Strong and Getting Stronger [New Marketing Data]
/by Corey PadveencomScore recently released new marketing data reports identifying the strength of Facebook and the increasing growth of Snapchat.
It’s official: we spend 20% of our digital time on a social network. Take into account email and instant messaging, and we’re nearing a third of our time devoted to engaging with others in the digital world. As the report points out, “The strength of this [social networking], along with Email and IM, highlights that one of digital’s primary functions is for communication – now more so than ever with the rise of mobile.”
With so much time spent engaging on social media, marketers are left to wonder where exactly audiences are spending the majority of their time, and how best to reach them. Some of the more interesting data in this report has to do with the (still) unstoppable juggernaut that is Facebook, and how earlier rumors of its demise were quite exaggerated.
Facebook is Still in Charge
For quite some time, people have been talking about the ‘death of Facebook’ and claiming that younger audience (read ‘millennials’) are ‘fleeing’ from the network. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, there has been plenty of expansion onto other networks. Snapchat has risen through the ranks quickly to become a fan favorite. (Though its value as a marketing tool remains to be seen.) But users spreading their time across multiple networks does not mean that the incumbent powerhouse is falling from grace.
As you can see in the two charts above, the comScore marketing data shows that in terms of reach, not a single player comes even close to Facebook. What’s more, the more narrow age breakdowns see Facebook holding a strong distribution. With a global audience hovering around 1.5 billion users, that means that you can find an audience for virtually any business on Facebook. While the same can’t be said about (virtually) anyone else, Snapchat does have something going for it in terms of audience makeup.
The Value of Snapchat
Again, we come back to the conversation about millennials. Prior to getting into the conversation about Snapchat’s hold on this coveted market, it should be noted that there are far too many misconceptions about the term ‘millennials’. Marketers think about the age demographic as moving in unison like a herd of buffalo. In order to effectively reach and activate this demographic, marketers need to think about them from the perspective of a personality, regardless of age. There are certain traits that define the term millennial that extend far beyond the age range. That said, what does this report uncover about Snapchat?
Of the 100 million+ daily active users on Snapchat, 76% of them are between 18-34 years old. In terms of the younger side of that group – namely audience members between 18 and 24 – 46.8% of Snapchat users fall into this age group.
There is clearly opportunity in terms of tapping the audience available on Snapchat, but whether or not that is an opportunity that will be afforded to the masses (and whether or not a tangible return can be calculated from this opportunity) remains to be seen.
Conclusion
The long and short of the story is that Facebook is continuing to see growth and dominance in the social networking (and mobile) markets, and it is still a very, very viable play for marketers. Snapchat still has quite a ways to go in terms of providing economic (calculable) value to marketers, but no one can doubt that there is something there.
There is lots of great information in this report, and it is certainly worth a read. You can download a copy of your own here.
There Are More Marketing Technologies Than Ever!
/by Corey PadveenThis article originally appeared on CoreyPadveen.com.
Every year (since 2011) Scott Brinker of ChiefMarTec.com releases the marketing technology landscape supergraphic, and this year was the most impressive one yet.
In 2011, there were about 150 marketing technologies categorized by Scott Brinker’s supergraphic. A lot has changed in the last five years. Now, as you can see below, there are over 3,500. That’s almost double what we saw last year (~1,800) and a market that has grown more than twentyfold since Brinker and his team started taking stock of what’s available on the market.
One of the more popular questions I am asked by clients and at conferences (and one of the questions I hear most often when sitting in on a session or webinar) has to do with these marketing technologies. More specifically, “What is the best tool for [INSERT TASK HERE]?” I always answer that question the same way: There is no one perfect tool. Simply put, the perfect tool(s) for you will depend on your objectives and whole host of other variables.
With a market that has grown as significantly as the marketing technologies space, you would think that by now, one of these clouds or suites would do it all. That couldn’t be further from the truth. As more of these technologies sprout up and claim to solve the last of your problems, the more difficult it becomes to identify the diamonds in the ever-expanding rough.
Some Positive Realities
It is encouraging to see that the largest categories in terms of available technologies (by volume) are also the ones related to the hottest topics of the day:
We’re seeing data make its way to the top of everyone’s must-have list, and the tech market is responding accordingly. No longer are these tools reserved for the largest of the large, and the richest of the rich. Data and business intelligence are crucial to businesses of all sizes, and the supply is starting to catch up to the demand.
Another bright spot is the fact that we are starting to see a trend of openness, as opposed to the Oracle model, which has long aimed to close off its acquired technologies to other Oracle products alone. Now, technologies are being built with the pseudo- or custom-cloud in mind, whereby marketers develop their own suite of tools as opposed to relying on the Salesforces and Microsofts of the world. So while the perfect savior tool might not yet be available, marketers can now have an easier time building a version of their perfect tool, once again rooted in their needs, capital and time.
The Future of the Industry
In a market where the number of active players has nearly doubled in a single year, watching tech stocks face valuation slashes (see my articles on LinkedIn and Snapchat) can’t be something anyone is too excited about. And while there are plenty of categories from which to choose, anyone can tell you that in the next few years (my estimates put it within 24 months) there won’t be enough room for 186 social media marketing companies, for example.
Every one of these spaces is becoming increasingly crowded. Most of them, at this point, are probably already overflowing with waste. It won’t be long before we start to see significantly more consolidation (something we have already started to see) and significantly more of these houses closing shop. The good ones (for the most part) will stick around, as they so often do, but as the market starts to balance, the best will be absorbed while the rest are extinguished.
So, while I would strongly advise testing and piloting everything that you think might be the perfect product for your needs, now is a time to approach newcomers cautiously, as you’d hate to invest your resources (time and money) into a product that only has a few months or a year on the market.