Will the Story Format Work on YouTube?

  • March 14, 2019·
  • 5047  Views·

In 2013, Snapchat introduced a new way to share one’s moments to the world. It was called Snapchat Stories. This “story format” became so popular that other social media sites made their own versions. In 2016, we got Instagram Stories. Then, in 2017, WhatsApp Statuses, Facebook Stories, and Skype Highlights were born.

Later in 2017, YouTube joined the story format bandwagon; the video-sharing website released YouTube Reels. However, critics and naysayers have questioned this move. To them, Reels represented YouTube’s cheap attempt to mimic Snapchat and Instagram’s success.

What is story format?

In a nutshell, the story format is a narrative collection of short posts, photos, or videos. The stories are viewed in sequence, either through a programmed delay or by manually moving to the next one.

Why did the story format become such a hit? Popular with young users, stories let people share life moments in snippets. The stories are short—they don’t exceed 30 seconds, and they only stay online for 24 hours. While stories expire after a day, it’s enough time for posters to preserve moments they deem worthy of being shared and for their friends to check the stories multiple times.

YouTube Reels

YouTube Reels signaled YouTube’s foray into the story format. In 2017, the Reels were initially launched on a limited release. They feature brief, rough videos of up to 30 seconds long. Like in Snapchat and Instagram, users can put stickers, filters, and music.

YouTube Reels’ advantages

However, unlike that of other platforms where the story appears on top of the app, Reels are viewed in a separate tab, making Reels less obtrusive. Also, users have the choice to view (or not to view) Reels of other users. Moreover, a Reel lasts more than 24 hours, a welcome feature for posters who want extended exposure for their stories.

YouTube Reels’ disadvantages

YouTube Reels suffer several drawbacks.

  1. The Reels have a flawed design where users can only comment with images and short videos. Not only does this feature reduces engagement, but it’s also inconvenient for users. Moreover, there are no options to swipe up or do video linking.
  2. As YouTube narrowed down Reels to content creators with at least 10,00 subscribers, YouTube missed the opportunity to boost Reels’ popularity. This is unlike other platforms who have their story formats available for general users. While acquiring 10,000 subscribers isn’t that hard, new users and small channels will have a hard time making their presence on a site as crowded as YouTube.
  3. Lastly, since YouTube has higher production values than other sites, expect content creators to have a slow upload on their stories.

At best, Reels is just a filler for YouTubers to engage followers between uploads of standard content. At this time, YouTubers should pay close attention to their analytics and see if they are being helped more by YouTube Reels, or another story format on a different platform when it comes to driving views and engagement.

Is the story format for YouTube?

The story format doesn’t fit with YouTube’s core brand. What really made YouTube so popular is that it has an exemplary collection of video content. That’s the YouTube brand—people go to it either to watch videos or to host their own. Name me one video sharing site that is as prominent as YouTube; probably, you’ll come up with maybe one or two.

Compare that to Instagram who is now ruling the story format space (it has overtaken Snapchat). It’s the go-to platform for light videos, sneak peeks, and never-before-seen footage. It’s successful in achieving the core purpose of the story format, that is, to engage and connect with users.

So for YouTube to try to compete with Instagram in the story format arena, it looks like the move is a big gamble. Though feasible, short-form videos are not what drives people to go to YouTube. Whether YouTube decides to move forward with the story format (through YouTube Reels) or to focus efforts on its core brand remains to be seen.

Facebook expands ad breaks while YouTube has new ad extension

  • March 2, 2019·
  • 4825  Views·

Facebook expands ad breaks while YouTube has new ad extensionIn this digital age, change is constant. That is why it is not surprising to find out that social media giants such as Facebook and YouTube are upgrading and expanding some of its features. And advertisers are the ones that will be affected by these new features.

Here are some of the upgrades that you need to know from these two social media giants.

Facebook Ad Break Expansion

Facebook continues to dominate when it comes to ads. Over the years, it has improved its ad system to better help marketers find their customers as well as for customers to only see ads that they want to see. Facebook’s technique and strategy proved to be effective as many brands and services continue to use Facebook advertising as one of their digital marketing strategies.

But despite the good things about Facebook’s ad system, there is still a lot to improve. And Facebook itself knows that. That is why it keeps on testing new features to better serve marketers. One of the features that they have been testing out is their Facebook Ad Breaks on videos.

Facebook has been encouraging advertisers to focus more on producing ad videos. This is because videos are more visual and engaging as compared to 2D images and other graphics and plain text content. Aside from that, videos are easy to consume. In just one click on the video, you get to see everything.

Facebook ad break is a good way to encourage advertisers and even Facebook users to produce more videos for the platform because Ad break is the process of earning money from videos. Videos will play and a break from the video will occur to give way to a short ad. Ad breaks are automatically added to Facebook videos you recently uploaded.

Facebook ad break is only available in certain countries. And now that they see its effectiveness, Facebook decided to open it to other countries. Now, Facebook added 14 more countries that will benefit from the ad break.

These 14 countries are Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates.

The History of Facebook Ad Breaks

You will be surprised that Facebook has over 75 million daily watch visitors. With this engagement, it is only right to use this opportunity for advertisement. People are watching so you need to use this to promote brands and services. That is why Facebook decided to test ad breaks in February of 2017.

Then, they expanded, and in August of that same year, they tried testing it on Facebook pages. However, not all Facebook pages get to experience ad break. Only Facebook pages with over 10,000 followers and that have generated over 30,000 one-minute video view. This is reasonable since some Facebook pages do not have videos that Facebook can put an ad break on.

Also, the ad break was only available in five countries before. The first five countries to experience ad break are the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia.

Then, to be able to gauge its effectivity, they introduced ad break to more countries in different continents such as in Europe, Central and South America, and Asia. There were 21 countries in these continents that get to experience ad break that happened in September 2017. And now, Facebook decided to open it to more countries.

Why do you need to care about this? If you are an advertiser, it is a clear indication that Facebook wants advertisers to produce more videos.

YouTube: Ditching Call-to-Action Overlays

YouTube is still the king when it comes to videos. It’s also one of the social media giants that get tons of advertisements just by putting ads on most watched videos. But YouTube is not just about putting ad videos at the start of the video. It also has other ways for advertisers to market their product.

One of the traditional promotional strategies of YouTube is the call-to-action overlays that have been with the platform since 2009. These calls-to-action overlays pop in the corner of every YouTube video. While people are watching they can see these overlays and they can click it to see the website or the product being promoted.

And now, YouTube is ditching this ad feature and replacing it with a more engaging and clickable ad feature.

You won’t see any overlay on YouTube videos now, but instead, you will see a solid ad banner below the video with a call-to-action button. The new ad feature contains a logo, a title, a subtitle, and a call-to-action button. Advertisers can be creative in thinking of the best call-to-action button, to ensure that viewers will check out their website or their products.

However, this new ad extension will only be available for the TrueView in-stream ads. YouTube will soon apply it on bumper ads and discover ads.

This new ad extension is a good opportunity for advertisers and marketers. Because this new ad extension is said to have a higher conversion click.

This change may be a minor one and won’t really affect your overall YouTube or digital marketing strategy. However, this change can be a way to more upgrades and features when it comes to the advertising system of YouTube. And YouTube users and creators should watch out for more upgrades on the platform.

These are just some of the minor social media changes that you need to know. Whether you are a user. an advertiser,  or marketer, these new features and upgrades, minor or not, can affect your overall digital marketing strategy. That is why it is only right to check your digital marketing strategy every now and then to see if it will be affected by the new changes from these social media. Also, whether you like to use it or not, it is not up to us. Rather, Facebook and YouTube have the power to change their platform whenever they want and however they deemed it to be.

So if you are a marketer, better to watch out for these social media updates to make necessary changes to your digital marketing strategy or your social media plan.

 

Ryan’s Toy Review Hailed YouTube Top Earner for 2018 with $22 Million

  • February 8, 2019·
  • 4484  Views·

Ryan’s Toy Review Hailed YouTube Top Earner for 2018Forbes has recently revealed its list of the highest-paid YouTube stars for 2018 which was an interesting mix of creatives who were most sought after and viewed and followed by millions for uploading unique content in the video sharing website. This could be anywhere from giving feisty or funny video game commentaries, fun makeup tutorials, unboxing and product reviews, or just being a happy little boy playing with toys like Ryan of Ryan’s Toy Review, which, by the way, is YouTube’s top earner for 2018.

Ryan’s Toy Review

To unbox shiny new toys, get famous, and rake in millions of dollars, isn’t that the ultimate dream? 7-year-old Ryan of Ryan’s Toy Review on YouTube is living that dream for all us.

 

The concept of most of his YouTube videos is simple. Ryan plays with the toys, whether it is a train, a Disney character, or building something with his favorite Legos in front of the camera and his parents upload it on YouTube. Sometimes his sisters or his parents star in the YouTube videos, too. The short videos spanning more or less than 10 minutes in length is always a hit.

 

As a matter of fact, since the launch of Ryan’s Toy Review on YouTube in March 2015, the channel has gained a massive following of 17.3 million followers and has been viewed a total of almost 26 billion times. Unsurprisingly, he was announced as 2018’s YouTube top earner for 2018, making 22 million U.S. dollars in the 12 months up to June 1, 2018, according to Forbes.

Where do all his earnings come from?

A huge chunk of Ryan’s million-dollar earnings comes from pre-roll advertising on his YouTube channels, Ryan ToysReview, and Ryan’s Family Review. The higher the views of the videos, the bigger the earnings become as well. Ryan has the biggest clout and viewership with other top contenders on YouTube’s highest-paid list for 2018.

 

When it comes to sponsored posts, Ryan gets 1 million U.S. dollars, which is significantly low compared to what other YouTube stars are receiving. This is primarily due to his specific demographic, which are mainly young children who don’t have their own shopping money, and because Ryan’s family can be picky when it comes to the kind of deals they accept.

 

What is his Secret?

“I’m entertaining and I’m funny,” Ryan, whose family still refuse to reveal his last name, revealed in a recent NBC interview when asked about what could have led to his instant fame on YouTube and his millions at such a young age.

 

While this is also definitely true, experts explain that this is also because of the widely popular unboxing video trend on YouTube, which many, if not all, of Ryan’s Toy Reviews most popular videos, are a part of. In these type unboxing videos, YouTube content creators are filmed while literally opening the box of merchandise, whether it is an electronic gadget, a consumer good like makeup, or new toys in the case of Ryan’s Toy Review.

 

According to experts, unboxing videos are extremely popular because they virtually share the experience of opening and exploring a product that the users want to have in real life. Others could be using it as some sort of a first-impression type of product review that they need to see before making an actual purchase.

 

Getting the most out of his YouTube fame, Ryan has a lot of new partnerships, including his own show that will be distributed on Hulu and Amazon. He has also launched Ryan’s World in August, which is his signature line of toys and apparel exclusive sold Walmart. These big-ticket partnerships have not yet been added to Ryan’s total 2018 earnings.

Other Highest-Paid YouTube Stars

Forbes’ list of top money-making YouTube celebrities calculated the sum of their earnings from June 1, 2017, through June 1, 2018. Aside from Ryan of Ryan’s Toy Review, other YouTube celebrities who made into Forbes list include the following:

 

  • Jake Paul with 21.5 million U.S. dollars

    Jake Paul is an American actor whose first claim to fame was on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark where he played the role of Dirk Mann, the lead star of Dare Me Bro who takes on dare requests. He has more than 17 million subscribers on YouTube and his rap songs and prank videos have been viewed 3.5 billion times.

  • Dude Perfect with 20 million U.S. dollars

    This channel specializes in amazing trick shots created by five friends Coby and Cory Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and Tyler Toney. They have more than 37 million YouTube subscribers and one of their most viral videos gained a jaw-dropping 175 million views. This involved throwing Ping-Pong balls to trigger the collapse of a domino of Oreos.

  • DanTDM with 18.5 million U.S. dollars

    Dethroned from last year’s top spot, electric-blue-haired DanTDM or Daniel Middleton ranks number three for 2018. The gaming enthusiast from Britain has been playing online games, such as Minecraft and Pokemon in front of the camera for six years now and has attracted over 20 million subscribers on YouTube.

  • Jeffree Star with 18 million U.S. dollars

    Professional makeup artist and cosmetic creator, Jeffree Star, has been Internet famous since the days of Myspace. He currently has more than 11.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and sells more than 100 million dollars worth of his own makeup products every year.

  • Markiplier with 17.5 million U.S. dollars

    Mark Edward Fischbach,a.k.a. Markiplier on YouTube, entertain his 22 million YouTube subscribers with funny gaming videos, original comedy sketches, animated parodies. The Hawaii native toured North America this year and has signed big-ticket, seven-figure deals with high-end brands.

     

    Other notable YouTube celebrities on Forbes top 10 lists are Vanoss Gaming (17 million U.S. dollars), Jacksepticeye (16 million U.S. dollars), PewDiePie (15 million U.S. dollars), and Logan Paul (14.5 million U.S. dollars) who was infamously kicked out of YouTube’s Google Preferred program after filming a grotesque video in Japan showing a body of someone hanging from a tree who committed suicide.

     

Free YouTube Subscribers: 7 Alternative Methods

  • January 17, 2019·
  • 4727  Views·

The myth that free YouTube subscribers will help grow your YouTube videos is an idea that you should not believe. When you get free subscribers from third-party services, most of these websites are considered a scam by those who fell victim in the past. The reason is that the subscribers that they provide are either fake or simply uninterested in what you are promoting. Let us say you are selling products or service, your videos will appear fishy and actually depressing to other subscribers because you may have a large number of subscribers but your videos are not getting any engagement. They will not get comments, likes, and all the other requirements that YouTube needs to rank your channel high on its search engine. If you wish to do things the right way, here are 7 alternative methods that will build your YouTube channel slowly but surely.

 

Free YouTube Subscribers- 7 Alternative Methods

Do Your Due Diligence by Researching Target Audiences Carefully

 

There are many reasons why people watch YouTube videos. One of these is because they are recommended by friends and family. Another is because viewers want to seek entertainment by watching music videos, documentaries, and standup comedy to name a few. Finally, viewers choose YouTube when they search for information on a certain subject or to be educated.

To ensure that your YouTube is successful, you must take the time to research who your target audience is and how your videos will affect those individuals. In addition, you need to know the activity of those individuals outside of YouTube. This will help you determine how to get your audience interested in your video content as well as your channel.

 

Focus on the Content of Your Videos

 

With the number of videos being uploaded to YouTube on an hourly basis, it is a challenge for content creators to get their videos noticed in a viral manner. This is especially true when your niche market is a very crowded category. To outperform your competition, it is essential that your videos are composed of the highest quality. It is also useful that your videos are clear and concise in delivering your message to your target audiences. Keep in mind that you must create videos that provide a different perspective than those that are already out there.

 

Publish Videos Consistently

 

The secret to growing your YouTube channel the right way is to publish videos consistently. If you do not publish at least one video per week, the chances that you get the desired amount of subscribers will be minimal at best.

YouTube has reported that roughly 300 hours of videos get posted each minute. This means videos rank higher or lower every minute and the only way to truly stand out is to produce original videos regularly. Focus your efforts in both quantity and quality because producing average videos will only get your channel lost in all the noise. If your videos are consistently good, they will do the promoting on their own as people will appreciate the videos, subscribe to the content, and even go as far as sharing your videos with friends and family.

 

Free YouTube Subscribers

Boost Audience Retention

 

Keeping the retention of your audience is extremely crucial in growing your YouTube channel. For those new to the idea of audience retention on YouTube, this refers to the percentage of your videos that get viewed by people. An example is if you publish a 4-minute video and people tend to watch only 2 minutes before clicking away, this means that audience retention is 50%. The blueprint to video success is to create videos that get close to 100% retention as possible because this means that viewers are watching your videos from beginning to end. Videos that receive consistently high audience retention and watch time have the potential to show up more consistently on YouTube’s search engine. Even better is your video also shows up regularly on the website’s suggested videos feature that appears after every video. The retention issue is why people get themselves in interesting places when they buy YouTube views on their YouTube videos.

 

Consider Adding more Pattern Interrupts on Your Videos

 

Pattern Interrupts are dimensions that you can add to your videos to keep your audiences interested. These dimensions are features that improve your videos. Pattern Interrupts can be a change in camera angle or adding text to the screen. It can even be more drastic as they can be visual effects and other types of enhancements that you use to stimulate the mind of your viewers. With Pattern Interrupts, your videos automatically stand out when compared to other videos in your similar niche market. They lend a certain level of professionalism to your videos that your audience will definitely appreciate.

 

 

Optimize Your Videos after Uploading them

 

Optimizing videos after uploading them is a great way of administering quality control on your videos. This practice involves uploading a video in private, where no one can see that it has been uploaded. Next, take time to optimize the video by composing a good title, your description, and tags. You may also want to transcribe the video and do a custom thumbnail that really catches peoples’ attention. Once you have completed these, you can move forward and set the video to public where everyone can begin viewing it.  

 

 

Always Engage Comments

 

When viewers watch your videos and become subscribers, a good number of these individuals will engage your videos by liking and leaving comments. This activity really helps the ranking of your videos because YouTube values videos that receive viewer engagement. When you reply to each comment individually, you are bringing more activity to your videos, which boost them on YouTube’s search rankings, and helps increase your YouTube Subscribers. Additionally, when you reply to the comments immediately, you show each audience that you appreciate their time and that you value their input. Even when comments are negative, replying will show that you are willing to accept their views. This will translate into more subscribers who will watch each and every video you upload.

 

How To Use YouTube’s Community Tab To Increase Engagement

  • December 10, 2018·
  • 5878  Views·

Thinking of ways on how to encourage your YouTube subscribers to like or interact on your channel? How about knowing what your audience is thinking? Don’t know what topic to create next on your video? Then you must check out YouTube’s community tab.

YouTube’s community tab allows creators to create activities or posts for their subscribers and visitors that they can interact with. Some of the activities that they can do are post updates, create polls, share some photos and GIFs. It replaces the old discussion tab. You can access your community tab by visiting your channel and below your channel art, the community tab is located in place of the discussion tab.

In the discussion tab, creators are only allowed to post text-based updates. Whilst in the community tab, you can be as creative as posting a GIF, images, links, and texts. Visitors and subscribers can reply text-based comment on your post.

How To Use YouTube’s Community Tab To Increase Engagement

How To Use YouTube’s Community Tab

Community tab is enabled on some verified and non-verified YouTube channels with over 100,000 subscribers. It is like a mini-experiment that will be implemented soon for everyone.

If you want to know what content to post on your community tab, it is better to check out the community tab or subscriptions tab on YouTube App of the channels you follow.

But if you want more tips on how to create the kind of content for community tab and how to maximize it to increase your subscribers and visitors, here are some tips that you should consider.

  1. Create a video about your community tab

Your subscribers are expecting videos from your channel, so what better way to introduce your community tab is to create a video about it.

Under the video description of your video, include your community tab link. Share also the video on your community to ensure that first-time viewers or subscribers can know how to engage and interact with your channel.

  1. Enable notifications

In the introductory video, you will be creating about your community tab. Encourage your subscribers or viewers to enable notifications so they can be notified for any latest activities in your channel. In getting notifications, they simply click the bell icon beside the subscribed button.

  1. Explain the purpose of your community tab

Why do you need it? What is it for?

In your first post, explain to your viewers and subscribers what is the community tab for. It is also the best place to welcome them. YouTube is recommending creators to also create a creed or house rules on how to use the community tab.

  1. Promote your products

One of the things that you can take advantage of the community tab is promoting your products. You can create a post or an update about your product or a link to your product’s page. You can also include discounts to further encourage your subscribers or viewers to check out your page. It is also catchy if you will include an image in your post.

  1. Market your latest video

It is also a smart move to promote your latest video on your community tab so that your viewers and subscribers will know that you have a new video on the channel. Good thing, YouTube will give a little preview of your video link with an image, title, number of views and age of your video.

  1. Sneak peek

Another way to create content on your community channel is to provide some sneak peek preview of the video that you are currently creating. This teaser will pique their interest and make them excited about your coming video.

It is also a smart way to promote old videos for the convenience of your new visitors or new subscribers.

  1. Use poll

One of the most effective ways to engage in interaction with your community tab is by creating a poll. Ask them what they think of your latest video. Or you can also ask them about the topic they would like to watch on your next video. This is possible since the community tab is allowing poll posts.

  1. Ask questions

Another way to interact with your community is to ask questions. Promote it in advance. Say “I’ll be answering marketing questions this Tuesday. So make sure to comment below something you want to ask me.” This way you are giving your audience time in taking part to your Q & A.

  1. Ask them for ideas

We’ve mentioned it before and will mention it again. Community tab is a great way to reach out to your audience on what they would like to see. This will give you an inspiration for your next video. Double benefit – since this promote community interaction and at the same time content for your next material. Furthermore, this increases views and subscribers because you are creating content based on what people would like to see and consume.

  1. Be funny with GIFs and Memes

Everyone likes a good meme. So humor your community with occasional GIFs and memes that can laugh at. If they can relate to it, you’d be lucky to have some comments about it.

  1. Ask for support.

You can also use your community tab if you need support in a specific campaign. Or if you need them to complete a task. One example is asking them to like a page or asking them to vote for you in a contest. Just make sure to explain why you are doing it and include important links and details.

Community tab is a great way to interact with your subscribers and viewers. It is also a great way to know what they think about your videos and your channel in general. You can also understand your subscribers better with it. Just make sure to post content or updates that will give value or entertain them.

Maximize the use of community tab to help you grow your following or your business. Ask questions, post updates, create polls, creating content on the community tab is endless you just need to be creative in thinking of content to post.

Simple Methods To Increase Your YouTube Views And Subscribers

  • December 3, 2018·
  • 4533  Views·

YouTube is one of the most powerful channels in existence. It gains millions of views every day. And yet many marketers are overlooking its marketing potential. In fact, only 9% of small businesses use it.

Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that many marketers and businesses are a little intimidated on how to get views on YouTube. For them, they think that you need to put a lot of work and effort to get the attention and engagement that you want.

In reality, YouTube is easy to use. You can get a thousand views on your video even though your channel is not that popular as other brands. You don’t necessarily need to have a million subscribers to get millions of views. But getting a million views is not enough. You should also know how to turn those million views into website visits.

This process, in turn, opens an opportunity into your sales funnel of converting website visits into leads and customers.  So how do you do that?

The first thing to do is…

 

How to get more views

Before getting into the main topic, it is important to first understand some basic concepts. If you want to drive traffic, you must GET that traffic.

Create an awesome and engaging content, optimize it for easy search, and keep on sharing your content.

Creating engaging content is the most important part of the process. You should know your target audience – what they like and what they would like to see. Then create that content.

Second is to optimize that content. You need to make your videos easy to find. If you know how SEO works, it will be easy for you to optimize your content. You need to focus on the video title, description, and most importantly your video thumbnail.

Your title should be able to answer the questions of your target audience. Also, in using tags, the key numbers are 10 to 12 tags. You should also use keywords that are related to your video.

When it comes to description, there is no real formula for that. But you should not stuff it with a bunch of keywords. And making your description long is the key.

Then lastly, make your video thumbnail very attractive.

When it comes to your thumbnails, don’t hesitate to experiment with images, colors and text overlays. Most people, decide to watch based on the thumbnail alone. So take time to make the best thumbnail for your video that viewers will click.

 

How to convert views into website traffic

One way to do this is to get referrals.

According to the study by Bain & Company, 87% of customers will give referrals if you will ask them. Surprisingly, only 7% of sales people are asking for referrals. Imagine the many chances that they could have created a new customer.

This concept is not just applicable in the sales industry. It also applies to YouTube. If you ask your viewers to visit your site, then there is a higher percentage that they will do that.

A formula you can use in creating your video and at the same time attracting visitors on your site is this: Introduce your name and your website at the beginning of your video. Then, give everything that your viewers would want to see on your video. Give them something of value. Then at the end, advise them to check out your website.

Since they got something from your video, they have the tendency to repay you by visiting your site. So don’t forget to mention your website at the start of the video and mention it again at the end. It will also help if you type your website at the end of the video.

If you are into extra engagement, try putting an annotation at the end of your video. With this annotation, they can just click it and they will be on your website in an instant.

But before adding an annotation to your video, it is important to verify first your account. It is just easy. You go to Creator Studio, then Channel, then Advanced.

Under there, you will see a section called “Associated website.” Enter your website URL here and then click Add.

You will be redirected to Google Search Console. This will end the process.

Once Google has verified your website, go to Creator Studio again and then Video Manager. Find the video you would like to add an annotation, click the Edit button, and select Cards.

Click the Add card and then insert your website URL.

You can also include a text or an image on the card. This is highly recommended to increase the visibility of your website.

After doing this process, it should look like this.

Don’t overlook this tactic, and you will be surprised by the result.

 

How to create a description

As we have mentioned, description is an important tool to increase the visibility and views of your video. But how do you create an effective description?

Since YouTube is cutting the content on description box and putting “Show more” at the end of your first sentence, it is important to cut your description into bits and pieces where your audience can easily read the most important element of your video description.

Don’t just write. The first couple of lines should say something valuable about the video that can grab the audience’s interests.

Try to experiment also by including URLs on the first couple of sentences.

Set a UTM parameter on your link so you can track how your viewers are dealing with your description.

But if you already have a link on your annotation, you can skip putting it in the description box.

If you decide to include a link on your description box, make sure to start with http:// or https://. This is for your viewers to easily click the link.

After creating a compelling and interesting intro to your description, continue writing your description. This time, include keywords to optimize it. Remember that it is not good to bombard your description with lots of keywords. Use one or two as long as it will sound okay and natural.

You can try using latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords. They are very close to your focus keywords. Put your keywords at the start of your description. Use also focus keywords, as recommended by YouTube. Be thoughtful in creating your description. It can result in good referral traffic.

 

How to encourage viewers to subscribe

It is a long strategy, but very effective. Unlike the direct method of sending clients to your website, this one is different. Subscribing to your channel is very easy to do. Just hit the red subscribe button near your YouTube avatar.

Hooking your viewers to your content is the key for your viewers to subscribe to your channel. Subscribing to your channel will give you more views and repeat views. Views can turn into fans, and those fans are bound to check your website and possibly turn into customers.

The secret here is to produce valuable content that your viewers will be hooked to watch every single time.

 

How to optimize your channel’s about page

Optimizing your video is not the only thing you need to do. If you want to increase your views and attract subscribers, you should know how to optimize your channel’s about page.

If people are interested with what you are producing, they are bound to check your about page.

The thing is, you need to keep your about page interesting and up to date. Put relevant information about your business. Your ‘about page’ is bound to create more traffic to your website. So tell the readers what they would like to know about your company and how it will be beneficial to them.

At the end of your About page, make sure to include your website link and social profiles. So people can easily check it out.

 

The importance of interaction

Getting comments on your videos is a good sign. Good or bad, it means that people are interested and taking the time to give their two cents about your video. But you can’t just ignore these comments, especially if you are getting positive comments or questions.

You need to answer and interact with these comments and their users.

Interacting with them on the comment section shows that your viewers are dealing with real human and not just some kind of bot. It also shows that you are listening and engaging with them. It projects an image that your brand is easy to reach out.

Don’t also ignore questions. They are better than positive comments. Answer questions and some of your viewers who read comment section will get an idea of the problems and solution you are providing.

This means that you are generous in giving valuable information, not just on your video but also on the people who are asking you.

In the comment section, also include links that are valuable to them. Just make sure to provide links that really help answer their question.

 

Reach out to other YouTuber

There are other YouTuber on your niche. So make sure to maximize this opportunity by partnering with them. By partnering with them, you can share audiences and you both get new and more traffic.

Do a YouTube search and look for YouTuber that you can partner with.

Make sure that these channels have more subscribers than you do.

Don’t neglect the power of YouTube. Yes, it is not easy to create content and it is a bit intimidating to compete with billions of users in the channel.

But it is completely free to use and you can possibly tap your customers within those billions of users. So give it a try and use the above tips to increase your views and subscribers.

How Influencers are Shaping Up the Video Game Marketing Scheme

  • November 16, 2018·
  • 4265  Views·

The gaming community is a dedicated fanbase that marketers and gaming franchises aim to reach and influence. But despite the loyalty that these gamers and enthusiasts have for video games, there is still the challenge that developers have of standing out and capturing people’s attention.

That is not an easy feat to overcome considering how many games are released per day. On iOS alone, the number of games distributed in 2014 per day was estimated to have been around 500, while roughly 250 games were released on Android. With thousands of games made available, both free and paid, in the market every week, gamers are left to decide on which ones they would like to try out. Consequently, it falls upon the video game marketer to capture the consumer’s attention – and one of the most effective ways to do this is by partnering up with an influencer. Continue Reading

Five YouTube Marketing Campaigns Your Brand Can Use

  • October 9, 2018·
  • 3903  Views·

The kind of YouTube marketing campaign your brand chooses to launch will be shaped by the culture of the brand, the goals, and objectives of the campaign, and your target market. For companies that never run a marketing campaign on the video platform, YouTube marketing can help you optimize their brand awareness and reach which in turn means more sales conversions.

Five YouTube Marketing Campaigns Your Brand Can Use

But apart from the obvious pre-roll ads, we all know YouTube for, what other kinds of campaigns can your brand run?

 

  • Marketing Product Placements on YouTube. Among the most frequent and efficient kinds of video marketing campaigns is incorporating a product, service, or even a logo into a video posted on YouTube that is often not directly related to your brand. By featuring a product or service of the brand on YouTube, or even showing the brand’s logo in a favorable light, a company can easily grab the attention of thousands or even millions of YouTube viewers and potential customers. The product could be a part of the set or logo placed on the screen.

 

  • YouTube Unboxing Videos. Unboxing videos are where a YouTube user will unpack a new product and explore the features of a product or even give viewers a quick tutorial on assembling or using the new item. Unboxing-style videos on YouTube are unbelievably popular and have become a preferred marketing strategy for many brands. These have some of the highest ROI of YouTube video marketing. Brands will often send a select package of their products to a YouTube influencer who then chooses how and when to unbox.

 

  • YouTube Tutorials, Demonstrations, Guides, and How-Tos. Working with a prominent YouTube celebrity or even a micro influencer,  to create a very instructional, demonstration, how-to guide, or tutorial is among the top ways for brands to get in touch with millions of engaged viewers while at the same time providing value to his or her subscribers and even global audiences. This is a hugely popular reason for people buying YouTube subscribers.

 

  • Vlog-Style Marketing Campaigns. For top personalities on YouTube, one of the most engaging and shareable ways of sharing is when they document an experience or create a video blog talking with subscribers. For brands, tapping the attentive followers of a YouTube personality, using vlogs can help them get exposed to thousands, if not millions, of online followers. Behind your brand and marketing campaign will be the personality of the Youtuber you choose to partner with.

 

  • Creative Video Marketing Campaigns. Engaging marketing campaigns usually involve integrating creative video idea about a product or service. Creative campaigns often show a different take compared with other types of video marketing campaigns. They are most likely to garner good engagement levels on the part of the consumers (such as likes or even social shares) and have a better chance at going viral on YouTube.

 

Tapping YouTube Influencers

Based on the tips above, brands have a good reason to tap into the fanbase of an influencer on YouTube to help spread the word about their product or service.

But finding the right influencer for your campaign can be a difficult path. Here are some tips your brand can use.

 

Filter Through Channels Immediately. You can look for YouTube influencers based on their views per video as well as engagement in terms of the number of comments, likes, or shares per video. You can also look at influencers based on the countries they are in and where their majority audience is based as well as the language they speak.

 

You can also look for influencers who talk about topics that may be relevant to the product or service you are selling. Their age and the tone of their videos should also match up with your brand story.

 

Look at Real-Time Analytics. You can tap influencers but see their real-time metrics first. Check if the influencer is the right fit for your video marketing campaign. For example, how consistent are the video views of the influencer? A product or service can look at the last 20 or 30 videos of a YouTube creator, and see the average views of his or her videos.

 

You can also look at the sponsorship density of the influencer’s account. How many of his videos are sponsored? You don’t want to partner with an influencer who may dilute your brand because they share all sorts of diverse brand stories. Seeing the number of sponsored videos will give products and services an idea of whether or not the influencer is a good candidate for your campaign.

 

Select the Right Influencers. You can select the right YouTube influencers for your product or service. Studying the right influencers on YouTube can be extremely time consuming and may only provide limited insight into your product or service. This means content creators and marketers should look for important data such as demographics, popularity, or influence of the YouTube personality.

 

One of the huge mistakes marketers commit in influencer marketing is underestimating the pull that top YouTube stars have with their audience and consequently the amount of money you would be required to pay them. It is crucial to know that YouTube influencers who have millions of fans can often cost as much as traditional media celebrities.

 

The influence of YouTube celebrities is just as engaging these days, if not more relevant than traditional advertising methods because Youtube content creators can engage and directly speak with their viewers. However, for brands and campaigns that are smaller, the huge costs of YouTube stars make collaborations quite an impossibility. These companies should focus on fostering relationships with micro YouTubers as a means of building brand awareness through the video platform.

 

Micro-influencers often have a high value and return on investment than expected because they have small but very dedicated fanbases.  Partnering with a highly relevant micro-influencer on YouTube is a good way to have a good break into the video influencer marketing landscape. At the same time, tapping a YouTube influencer who is an expert in a niche means not spending the large financial investment that is often budgeted to work with the more high-profile, established influencers.

 

So What is Next for Businesses?

After you have selected the best YouTube influencers for your video marketing campaign, the product or service will need to begin the influencer outreach process and negotiate a mutually beneficial brand deal.

Following these considerations should help products and services by selecting the right YouTube influencers and marketing to promote organic conversations that will result in shortened and better sales cycles as well as lower acquisition costs.

 

Conclusion

So what do you think of the tips here? Join us in our conversation.

YouTube End Screens: Why Your Business Needs This Tool

  • September 18, 2018·
  • 6409  Views·

You may have recently seen some videos on YouTube having end screens. A relatively new feature of the online video sharing platform, end screens include links to other YouTube videos and even external websites.

For some, end screens seem like a small thing. After all, for a few years, platform users used the annotations feature to put in links, and of course, you can to put in a link to sites in the video’s description.

But taken from a larger perspective especially for businesses and marketers, end screens pose several benefits compared with these older tools. When they are properly used, end screens can be a digital marketer’s best friend.

YouTube End Screens: Why Your Business Needs This Tool

Why End Screens May Be Good for Your Business

For a while now, YouTube has been experimenting with how to make videos on their platform more interactive. At first, YouTube tried annotations, a good tool if the user was using a computer. However, the tool was completely useless to those who watch videos using their mobile phones. YouTube then moved to cards. Sure, they were mobile friendly, although they were still intrusive. After all, when you watch a video on YouTube, do you actually want a link to interrupt your viewing time? Some users might be forgiving if they see cards as more of an annoying tool more than anything.

Consider end screens as the next logical step in YouTube’s experiments, and if you are basing it on the limited use of the tool, end screens seem to be an exciting one. The tool makes YouTube videos more interactive and engaging without sacrificing a clean viewing experience. It’s a great way for businesses to improve their YouTube presence and brand reinforcement.

End screens perfectly work on devices people currently use: computer, smartphone, tablet, or whatever is a hot communication item these days. End screens also give content creators greater control and flexibility over what viewers on YouTube do after they have done watching. Inserting an end screen on a YouTube video would give viewers a rather limited choice after they have finished watching, thus essentially helping them in a direction that is favorable to your product or service. For instance, if you maintain an online shop, you might want to include the link of your website or social media page. You can also link to the website page of a particular product or service featured in your video.

In short, end screens can keep your YouTube channel as well as your brand sticky. With end screens, products and services can keep the viewer engaged with them and them alone for a certain period of time. If you optimize your YouTube channel properly, this could drastically increase your conversion.

A top reason why brands and publishers should begin using end screens is primarily due to the fact that the tool is mobile-friendly, which is particularly useful for your business given that half of YouTube users now check out the platform from mobile.

End Screens are also beneficial in improving watch times across the YouTube channel of your business, thus increasing the possibility of all your videos getting more attention. Since YouTube uses and is guided by the watch time metric, it determines which content target audiences deem worth their time. The platform, using this algorithm, promotes that content in search results and video suggestions of YouTube users. If brands produce quality videos that can convince users to watch more videos with the help of compelling end screens, products and services may see higher retention and watch time. Thus, brands and publishers may want to produce at least one end screen each video that points viewers to another, relatively relevant video or content on their channels. After some time, this tactic should boost overall watch time metrics as well as more content organically promoted with the help of YouTube’s video algorithm.

Brands and publishers can use the tool to get concrete actions from YouTube users. One instance is by promoting products and services via video (which is crucial since the online video sharing platform is routinely a top go-to source for consumers who are looking for more information and reviews before buying products and services).

Promoting products and services is not the only method or manner brands and publishers can get from end screens that would result in better actions from audiences. The tool can also be utilized to encourage YouTube viewers to visit the website of a brand for more information or subscribe to a channel. It ultimately depends on individual brands and marketers to select how to create and implement their end screens as specialized call-to-actions, according to their objectives for a particular video, a bigger campaign, or a long-term marketing strategy. However, although call-to-actions are crucial for businesses, brands and publishers should likewise pay close attention to the reaction of viewers if you placed so many end screens asking them to do this or that.

Creating Your Own End Screens

It is easy to create specialized end screens for your products and services. In the platform’s video manager, you can go to the video you want to edit, and choose End Screens & Annotations. You can get a frame or clip from the video’s last 20 seconds, apply a template, or even import a new one that can serve as your background. From there, you can provide as many as four links to other videos as well as external sites, which may include online storefronts. You can tell your viewers to go and subscribe to your YouTube channel. End screens are not only a good way of boosting driving traffic to your videos, but they can also bring more customers and potential leads right to your online shop.

The best part of the tool is its drag-and-drop functionality. There is no need for any additional video editing or complicated coding skills in order for you to produce an end screen that wows viewers and will direct them to the videos or links you want. Although you may want to spend a little more time checking out the links you want to provide in the end screens and the layout itself, the actual work you need to make an end screen is relatively minimal.

Key Strategies for Successful YouTube Advertising

  • August 21, 2018·
  • 4213  Views·

YouTube is the king of rich media. It’s the video God to which we are slaves, consuming 5 billion videos a day on the platform! YouTube IS video for the internet and has been since 2005. The reason it’s so popular is because people love videos and rich media. It’s also why more people buy YouTube views than ever before. If you’re not currently including video as part of your marketing strategy, you’re going to get left behind, fast!

However, most marketers are now aware of this and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the competition. Big brands shoot ads not just for TV anymore but also, professionally produce advertisements just for YouTube alone as part of their marketing. This is why advertising spend is necessary to put your brand in front of the right audience. So, how do you go about advertising your brand on YouTube, and where do you even start? The YouTube advertising landscape is confusing with lots of different options. Here’s some key tips for successful YouTube advertising.

 

Native, Quality Content

There is a LOT of video on the internet and, with so much content, it’s easy to just scroll on past, or skip video ads. Therefore, you need to produce high quality, engaging videos that feel native. That is, videos that don’t feel like ads. Native content is simply content that doesn’t annoy, detract or even disturb the viewer. It could be a heartfelt story, a comedy sketch, or something entertaining that people want to watch. Think of the super bowl ads which have now become almost as big as the game itself! They deliver a message and promote a brand but they’re also highly entertaining in their own right. For ideas, check out the 10 most viewed YouTube videos of 2016.

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Re-Marketing

Remember that Sunday morning you were on Amazon, searching for that perfect camping tent for a weekend getaway? Remember how, after that, you kept seeing ads for camping tent on every site and social platform you went to, as if it was haunting you! This is no coincidence. It’s called re-marketing. That is, targeting people who have already shown an interest in your site or clicked a call to action. The audience has already expressed interest which dramatically increases your chances of conversion. Re-marketing is easy to setup, so after preparation you can just sit back and watch the results come in!

 

Target Your Audience

Like any advertising, the better you narrow your potential audience, the better your chances of converting them. You don’t want to waste time paying for clicks or YouTube views from disengaged people who will never be interested in your brand. Instead target your advertising to specific interests and/or locations. For example, if you’re offering guitar lessons in Manhattan, there’s no point having your ads displaying to someone watching a fishing video in Florida. Instead, target people in your desired location interested in guitar, music tutorials and more.

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Choose Your Ad Format

The options for ad formats on YouTube are extensive and can be confusing. The best first step is to check out their help page and match your objective with the best option available. At first, be sure to experiment with different ad formats and work out which one works best for your needs. If you’re just looking to raise brand awareness, then you’d be best running an entertaining video ad. Whereas if you’re looking to just generate leads by pushing viewers to a landing page then a sponsored card would be the way to go.

 

Separate Your Ad Types Into Different Campaigns

In-stream ads, that is ads that show during a video perform differently to discovery ads, that is ads that appear as ‘sponsored’ search results when a user searches for a video. In-stream is great for brand awareness, whereas discovery can be effective in getting clicks and building your subscriber audience. Because both ad types behave differently, it’s important to set them up as different campaigns. That way you can easily tweak and make changes on each ad type depending on how they perform.

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Make Your Ads Interactive

You can add interactive links to your ads, like a popup window pushing people directly to a shopping cart or to sign up to your website. Using these specific call to actions is more effective than just a general link to your website as it makes it that little bit easier for a user to reach the relevant part of your site and seamlessly continue their journey with your brand. You can customize these screens to appear when you want them to and to push the viewer to a landing page, download, or shopping cart… easy!

 

Optimize For Mobile

Rich media and video used to only be a thing for fast, stable internet connections on a desktop. However now, almost every few feeds on Facebook or Twitter feature video. When people are bored, say waiting for a bus, they pull out their device and browse social media. There is a massive audience out there that predominantly views video on their smart devices as opposed to a PC. So, when you’re choosing your ad type, make sure you choose one that’s optimized for mobile and don’t miss out on potential customers on their smartphones.

YouTube can be incredibly powerful in promoting your brand. With so many options and ad types available, it really does cater to whatever your objective is and allows you control over how and when your ad gets displayed. However, exposure is only part of it. Exposure is only great if it’s backed by quality, native content that’s engaging. So, use YouTube to your advantage but do so in a way that your ads don’t feel like ads and your viewers are entertained by your message. Be creative with your rich media marketing, stand out from the crowd and watch your audience grow.

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