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YouTube Announces Creator Monitization Updates

6/30/2018

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YouTube Announces Creator Monitization Updates

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social media researchWelcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media.

On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show, we explore YouTube creator monetization updates and Premieres with Steve Dotto, Instagram video chat, Topics channels, IGTV Guidebook, and other breaking social media marketing news of the week!

Watch the Social Media Marketing Talk Show

If you’re new to the show, click on the green “Watch replay” button below and sign in or register to watch our latest episode from Friday, June 29, 2018. You can also listen to the show as an audio podcast, found on iTunes/Apple Podcast, Android, Google Play, Stitcher, and RSS.

For this week’s top stories, you’ll find timestamps below that allow you to fast-forward in the replay above.

YouTube Announces Next Steps in Creator Monetization, Premieres, and More: At VidCon, YouTube announced the “next big steps for creator monetization” and several upcoming updates. YouTube is rolling out channel memberships, merchandising, and new marketing partnership opportunities between creators and brands through its new branded content platform called FameBit. (4:30)

VIDEO

YouTube also introduced Premieres, which allows creators to debut pre-recorded videos as a live moment. When creators choose to release a premiere, YouTube will automatically create a public landing page “to build anticipation and hype up new content.” According to YouTube, Premieres is starting to roll out to creators this week and will be available broadly soon.

VIDEO

Instagram Introduces Video Chat in Direct, Topics Channel in Explore, and More: At Facebook’s annual F8 Conference, Instagram debuted video chat in Instagram Direct, Topics channels in Explore, and new camera effects for Stories. All three were rolled out to all users on both Android and iOS this week. With the new video chat feature, users can video chat with up to four people at a time. Users can video chat with anyone with whom they already have an active Direct thread and the video will expand as more friends join. (21:52)

With the new Video Chat feature, users can video chat with up to four people at a time.

Instagram has made it “even easier to browse through posts you want to see and accounts you want to follow” by rolling out Topic channels on Explore. The Explore tab now features a For You channel, which has a mix of posts tailored to your interests, as well as channels on topics such as Art, Sports, Beauty, or Fashion and a list of hashtags that you can follow.

Instagram has made it even easier to browse through posts you want to see and accounts you want to follow by rolling out topic channels on Explore.

In addition to video chat and Topic channels, Instagram also rolled out its first batch of new camera effects designed by Ariana Grande, BuzzFeed, Liza Koshy, Baby Ariel, and NBA in the Instagram camera and plans to bring more new effects soon.

Instagram rolled out its first batch of new camera effects designed by Ariana Grande, Buzzfeed, Liza Koshy, Baby Ariel, and NBA in the Instagram camera and plans to bring more new effects soon.

Instagram Introduces Music to Stories: Instagram users can now select music from a music library to add to their in Instagram Stories or choose a song before capturing a video when they open the Instagram camera. Music selection can be found by tapping the Music icon, found among the stickers, GIFs, and hashtags that can also be added to a story. The new music feature is now available as part of Instagram version 51 in select countries, and the ability to choose a song before capturing video is available on iOS only, with Android coming soon. (24:43)

Instagram users can now select music from Instagram’s music library to add to their in Instagram Stories or choose a song before capturing a video when they open the Instagram camera.

Instagram Publishes IGTV Guidebook for Creators: Instagram published the Instagram Creators Handbook, an official, downloadable guide to IGTV for creators. The 50-page guide covers a range of tutorials such as top tips, suggested apps and tools for creating and editing IGTV video, and video uploading advice. The guidebook was shared by Matt Navarra. (32:50)

Instagram has published an official guide to IGTV for creators

Contains:
– Top tips
– Suggested apps and tools for creating/editing IGTV content
– Video uploading advice

…And more pic.twitter.com/3VBmCLsED4

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 27, 2018

Facebook Introduces Info and Ads Section on Pages: Facebook added a new Info and Ads section to pages that allows anyone on Facebook to view the active ads a page is running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. It also allows users to learn more about the page such as the date created and any previous name changes. Facebook notes that it will continue to add more details about the page over time.

Facebook Files Patent for Tracking Offline Ads With Mobile Technology: Gizmodo reports that Facebook applied for a patent titled, “broadcast content view analysis based on [an] ambient audio recording.” With this technology, Facebook would be able to use an ambient audio fingerprint or signature that’s inaudible to the human ear in broadcast content like a TV ad. When a hypothetical user is watching this ad, the audio fingerprint would trigger their smartphone or another device to turn on its microphone, begin recording audio, and transmit data about it to Facebook.

Facebook patent imagines triggering your phone’s mic when a hidden signal plays on TVhttps://t.co/r7K26OLBAD pic.twitter.com/aaeDQNrwrE

— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) June 28, 2018

LinkedIn Adds Native QR Codes for Personal Profiles: LinkedIn introduced LinkedIn QR code to make it easier to connect on the spot when meeting someone in person. The LinkedIn QR code can be accessed by clicking the QR code icon in the search box found on the Home tab. It is available now in the LinkedIn iOS and Android apps globally.

LinkedIn introduced LinkedIn QR code to make it easier to connect on-the-spot when meeting someone in person.

LinkedIn Unveils Translations in the LinkedIn Feed: LinkedIn posts that are in a different language than you speak will now show a See Translation button within the LinkedIn feed, the recent activity section on someone’s profile, and the post detail page. The See Translation feature is available in more than 60 languages including Spanish, Japanese, and German to a majority of global members on desktop and mobile web and more languages will be supported in the future. This feature is coming to the LinkedIn iOS and Android apps “in the next few weeks.”

LinkedIn added the ability to see the translations of posts written in a different language.

Snap Inc. Optimizes Spectacles for External Sharing: Engadget reports that images and videos shot with Snap Inc.’s Spectacles can now be shared outside of Snapchat. The eyewear now comes equipped with sharing options that generate square-shaped and widescreen photos and videos and black and white background options for circular images. This update is slowly rolling out to both Snapchat for iOS and for Android.

Snapchat Spectacles’ exported clips now come in different formats https://t.co/ka57nYULzu

— Engadget (@engadget) June 22, 2018

Twitter Expanded In-Stream Video Ads to More Advertisers: Twitter introduced in-stream video ads in April 2017 in the U.S. Earlier this month, Twitter expanded this feature to all advertisers around the world. Advertisers in 12 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, the UK, and the U.S., will be able to start in-stream video ad campaigns directly through Twitter’s self-serve ad tool.

Very proud to say this: our in-stream video offering for advertisers and publishers is *officially* open for business around the world. ? A massive cross-functional effort across eng, product, partnerships, sales, finance and legal — congrats to all. https://t.co/AuT5rpNThn

— Mike Park (@mep) June 12, 2018

Twitter Unveils Twitter Media for Publishing Partners: Twitter introduced Twitter Media, a new website aimed at teaching publishing partners “how to get the most out of Twitter.” Twitter Media features best practices from the most successful content publishers across Twitter, the latest information about new products and features designed specifically for content publishers, and an easy-to-navigate help section curating answers to the most common questions from content publishers. Twitter will also regularly update the site to share success stories from innovative partnerships and information on the latest tools for Twitter publishers.

“Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Twitter Media, a new website for publishers to learn how to get the most out of Twitter.” – @KayMadati, VP Global Content Partnerships

Read our blog post to learn more about this new resource. ?https://t.co/pM8yDSpFu1
— Twitter Media (@TwitterMedia) June 15, 2018

Facebook Updates Ongoing Subscription Test for Instant Articles: Last October, Facebook began testing subscription support in Instant Articles with 10 publisher partners. Facebook reports that the initial test has been successful and it’s now adding several updates to the program. These include tools that enable publishers to define when a reader sees a paywall, support for time-based special offers on the Instant Articles paywall and pre-paywall upsells, and a propensity model that predicts how likely someone is to become a subscriber to a certain publisher.

Facebook expands its test of subscription support for Instant Articles with several new updates.

Facebook also announced that it’s exploring other ways it can “help publishers grow their digital subscription businesses on and off Facebook” and expanding its efforts into Latin America with the addition of O Globo in Brazil to the testing partners.

Facebook Rolls Out Two New Fundraising Tools: With over $20 million raised in 11 days to RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services) on Facebook, the site rolled out two new features this week. Pages representing public figures or brands can now donate to nonprofit fundraisers and people can now make a recurring monthly donation to a nonprofit.

After taking in $25M, Facebook fundraisers get more ways to raise cash for causes: https://t.co/oPd2KUUdLK

— FastCoNews (@FastCoNews) June 27, 2018

Facebook Launches Oculus TV: Facebook launched Oculus TV, “a new and immersive way to experience your favorite shows, movies, and more on Oculus Go.” Oculus TV offers a hub where you can watch shows from Hulu and SHOWTIME, sports programming like MLB Live through Facebook Watch, and much more.

Facebook launched Oculus TV, a new and immersive way to experience your favorite shows, movies, and more on Oculus Go.

Facebook Prototypes “Your Time on Facebook” Tool: TechCrunch confirms that Facebook is developing a new tool that will show a tally of how much time you spend on the Facebook app on your phone. It will show a 7-day time span and your average time spent per day. It will also allow you to set a daily reminder that alerts you when you’ve reached your self-imposed limit. This is similar to other digital wellness initiatives that rolled out to YouTube and are being tested on Instagram. The code and images of Facebook’s digital well-being tool were discovered by Jane Manchun Wong.

Facebook prototypes tool to show how many minutes you spend on it https://t.co/duLXJEGI5a by @joshconstine pic.twitter.com/UysyWBHXEO

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) June 22, 2018

Facebook Experiments With Snoozing Specific Keywords: Facebook is testing Keyword Snooze, which gives users the option to temporarily hide posts based on text directly pulled from the post. An example given in the announcement is spoilers on television or movie endings. With this new feature, users can block news feed posts containing that exact word or phrase from any person, page, or group for 30 days.

Facebook is testing Keyword Snooze, which gives users the option to temporarily hide posts based on text directly pulled from the post.

Facebook Tests the Ability to Cross-Post Facebook Updates to Instagram: Facebook appears to be testing the option to simultaneously share a single-image Facebook post to your page, page story, or Instagram. This new feature was discovered by Mari Smith and shared by Matt Navarra.

NEW: Facebook now lets Pages crosspost to Instagram.

This means one post created on Facebook could simultaneously be posted on your Page, Page Story, and Instagram in one click.

H/T @MariSmith pic.twitter.com/d1aI5OL8ZS

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 23, 2018

Facebook Workplace Makes a Push for Non-Profit Segment: Facebook Workplace launched a new tier called Workplace for Good, a free version of its enterprise product for non-profit organizations and schools. Workplace by Facebook is designed to look and function just like Facebook, with the same ability to create content, connect, and take action with other users. Along with releasing Workplace for Good, Facebook also created a special Multi-Company Group on Workplace where non-profit or educational institutions can create their own community, ask questions, share tips, and swap best practices. It’s open to anybody with a Workplace account.

Today we’re excited to announce the launch of Workplace for Good. #Workplace4Good is a global program that supports…
Posted by Workplace by Facebook on Wednesday, June 20, 2018

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June 30, 2018 at 05:04AM
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Twitter gets a re-org and new product head

6/29/2018

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Twitter gets a re-org and new product head

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Twitter has a new product manager in the wake of a large re-org of the company announced this week. The changes will see Twitter dividing its business into groups including engineering, product, revenue product, design and research, and more, while also bringing on Kayvon Beykpour, the GM of video and former Periscope CEO, as product head.

Beykpour will replace Ed Ho, vice president of product and engineering, as Ho steps down into a part-time role. In a series of tweets, Ho explains his decision was based on a family loss, and says he hopes to return full-time in the future. He had been on leave from Twitter since May.

Some news!
Starting in early May of this year, I went on leave as @Twitter was really humming along, and it was time for me to take a breather.

— Ed Ho (@mrdonut) June 28, 2018

As Recode noted, these change will make Beykpour the sixth exec to head up product since early 2014.

Meanwhile, Ho’s other role — head of engineering — will now be overseen by Mike Montano, who is stepping up from product engineering.

Twitter CEO’s announcement of the changes, below, was tweeted out on Thursday:

We‘re reorganizing how Twitter is going to work together for the next decade. Sent this note to our team, and sharing with the world, because we want to be more open about how we think and work. This is a small but important step. Experimenting! Let us know what you think. pic.twitter.com/ygaIj9yjQi

— jack (@jack) June 28, 2018





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June 29, 2018 at 12:21PM
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9 Tips to Create Highly Engaging Content

6/29/2018

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9 Tips to Create Highly Engaging Content

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Anyone can produce content.

But content without a purpose is not effective. You need to consider the goals of your content marketing strategy. Ask yourself what you want your audience to do when they consume your content.

Whatever that answer is, your content needs to be engaging if you want to accomplish those goals. What is engaging content?

Well, it all depends on whom you ask and how it’s measured. For me, engaging content is all about getting results, such as:

  • increase in traffic
  • clicks
  • opt-ins
  • conversions
  • sales
  • comments
  • likes
  • mentions

Any of these metrics can be used to measure engagement.

Here’s something else to keep in mind. If your content doesn’t engage your readers, they simply won’t consume and retain the information. This will end up being a big waste of your time, money, and resources.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying it’s easy to come up with great content.

If you’re currently putting out posts, images, and videos that are average at best, it’ll take some more effort on your part if you want to see some results.

But it’s worth it. If you put in the extra effort to focus on improving your content marketing strategy, it will ultimately help your business make more money.

Not sure where to start? That’s what I’m here for.

I’ve come up with this resource of the top 9 tips for producing content that engages your audience.

1. Be original

Today, it’s tough to produce content that’s 100% unique.

There is probably someone else out there who is talking about the same thing, took a similar photo, or conducted similar research. That’s okay.

The idea is to produce content that stands out. With so much competition, it’s no surprise that producing engaging content is the biggest challenge for marketers:

image1 7

How can you overcome this? Be original.

Yes, you can still blog about a topic that’s been previously discussed. But don’t write it the same way everyone else has. Add your unique voice and spin to the subject.

Share personal experiences – nobody else had them.

Often, marketers try to come up with the most cost-effective solution to content creation. They pay some writer with no experience to write blog posts at $20 per article.

Well, like anything else, you get what you pay for. You can’t expect this type of content to be original and engaging.

Write your content so that it’s unmistakably your own. Put your personality into everything you produce. In doing so, you’ll end up growing a loyal group of followers and readers.

Again, this takes more time and effort, but it’ll be easier for you to increase your engagement metrics this way.

2. Produce actionable content

I just talked about the goals of your marketing campaigns.

What do you want? If you don’t know the purpose of your content, the consumer won’t have any idea either.

You need to know what you want someone to do after they consume a piece of your content.

For example, let’s say you’re promoting a new product on your website. You decide to blog about it. This is a great idea, but that alone won’t get people to buy the product.

Your post needs to highlight the features and benefits, how it can be used, how you have used it, and how it can improve the lives of the consumers.

This primes the reader to make the purchase. Let’s look at an example of that.

This blog post from BuildFire talks about how to hire a developer to build your mobile app. But as a custom app building platform, the team wants its audience to use its software instead:

image6 7

This section of the blog post starts by questioning the need to hire a developer at all. It discusses some potential issues with that method and offers an alternative solution.

Then the company pitches its own service. The pitch is followed by a hyperlink that brings the reader to a landing page for sign-ups.

This is arguably the most important part of this post. Why?

You can’t assume your audience will read something, navigate to your ecommerce site, search for a product, then click on it and add it to their carts.

That’s way too many steps. They should be able to complete this action with one click from within the post, just like in the example above.

If your readers can buy something with just a click or two, they will be more likely to complete the action. Do you want readers to sign up for your email list? Give them the option to click to join.

Finding these buttons on your site shouldn’t be a scavenger hunt. The buttons need to be obvious so that your site visitors can complete the desired action.

3. Publish accurate information

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you know how much I love to include statistics and research within my content.

I recommend you do the same.

But you need to be careful of the information you publish. Basically, anyone can put anything on the Internet today. It’s important that you recognize the quality and accuracy of the websites you’re sourcing.

You may come across a relevant statistic, but if it’s on some no-name blog and doesn’t include a data source, you can’t know for sure whether the information is accurate.

That’s why it’s best to source your information from authority sites only. In addition to making sure the source is reputable, make sure it’s recent.

Information changes at a rapid rate.

A statistic or study from ten years ago may not be relevant today. But if your content provides up to date and accurate info, people will be more inclined to engage with it.

Here’s another tip to keep in mind: don’t let your old content go to waste. Just because you published something in 2012 doesn’t mean you can’t refresh it with 2018 information.

Look at how HubSpot uses this strategy to keep its content as up to date as possible:

image7 6

First, they changed the title. This lets their readers know the post has been updated with new data.

But that’s not all it does. HubSpot even tells you the exact date when the team updated the post.

image2 7

It’s an effective strategy.

This shows everyone the website strives to publish accurate information, which readers find more engaging.

If you really want to wow your audience, you could conduct research yourself, producing your own study. This will help you stay original, which I discussed above.

Yes, this will be more difficult and time-consuming. But now you know for sure the results are accurate and 100% unique.

Even if someone else conducted a similar study, the results won’t be exactly the same, and yours will be more up to date.

4. Tell a story

While data is important, it’s easier for people to relate to stories than to naked facts.

That’s why we read books, watch movies, binge-watch television shows, and keep up with reality and celebrity news. We want to know what comes next in the story.

You can learn how to increase sales by mastering the art of storytelling.

Telling a story will help you connect with your audience. It can also improve your credibility on a subject.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a fitness blog. If you tell a story that happened during your personal certification training, your audience will realize you’re qualified and knowledgeable on the topic.

They are more likely to read what you have to say as opposed to reading content produced by someone who has never worked out a day in their life.

You want to share stories that stimulate an emotional response from the audience:

image5 7

The graphic above explains how our brains react when we have an emotional connection to a story.

Speak in a way that’s relatable to your audience. Try to evoke powerful emotions such as joy, fear, or sadness.

Just make sure your story advances your goal and encourages the reader to complete the action you want them to take.

5. Make your audience think

Being original is one thing. But being thought-provoking is another. It’s an art.

The idea behind thought-provoking content is that the reader can relate to what you’re saying. You don’t always need to talk about a concept in black and white terms.

Let the readers’ imaginations run wild in that grey area.

Ask questions with no definitive answers. Paint a picture with some abstract scenarios.

But make it relevant to current events, pop culture, and our daily lives. This will keep your audience hooked and help them engage with your content.

This type of strategy can also help stimulate discussions in the comments section of your content. As a result, people will keep coming back to your website to check in on the discussion.

Ultimately, this is great news for you in terms of your traffic and engagement metrics. Each visit increases the chances of a conversion.

6. Use visuals

I know I mostly talked about written content so far.

But your overall content marketing strategy is much bigger than that. Pictures and videos need to be incorporated into this strategy.

Take original photos. It’s easy to take and edit photos without hiring a professional.

Look at how visual elements are being incorporated into blog posts over the past four years:

image3 7

That’s because marketers recognize how much of an impact visual elements have on their successes.

You can also enhance your content by building infographics. As I said earlier, if you conduct your own research, you will have original content.

Infographics take this concept to the next level. Since people remember images more than text, they will be more likely to retain information if it’s in the form of a picture or graph.

Produce videos. The possibilities with video content are nearly endless. Here are a few of my favorite suggestions:

  • “how-to” videos
  • product demonstrations
  • entertainment
  • discussions
  • interviews

Add videos to your website, posts, email newsletters, and social media channels.

7. Master your headlines

Before your content can be consumed, it needs to be clicked on.

That’s why you need to focus your efforts on creating clickable headlines. Whether it’s on your website, social media channels, or organic search results pages, your headline will be the first thing people see.

If you’ve got boring headlines, people have no reason to click.

Just don’t give it all away with your headline. For example, if your headline says something like “Men eat more than women,” nobody will have a reason to read the article.

But if it intrigues them with a question which sex eats the most, it will pique the readers’ interest, and you’ll get more clicks.

Here’s a look at some of the top performing headlines by engagement metrics on Facebook:

image4 7

Use this as a reference when you’re crafting your own headlines.

8. Hook readers with your intro

Okay, so you’ve got some people who clicked on your headline. That’s great news.

However, this doesn’t mean they’ll read through all your content. In fact, research shows that 55% of your audience spends only up to 15 seconds reading your articles.

In short, they’re not actually reading it. They’re just skimming.

That’s why you need to learn how to write blog post introductions that make the rest of your post irresistible.

If you can hook the readers with your opening lines, they will be more likely to remain interested throughout the post.

This works in conjunction with your headline and CTA. All these elements should be working together toward your goal.

9. Mix up your content

Posts shouldn’t be all the same. That’s just boring.

Nobody wants to read a case study every day. Keep your audience on their toes to make sure they get excited with your content.

If one day you tell a story, the next day you talk about research. Your following post could be centered around a video.

Next, you could promote a product. Blog about recent events. Add a humorous or compelling spin to it.

Whatever you do, don’t let your content go stale.

Conclusion

Producing engaging content isn’t easy. That’s why businesses agree that it’s the most challenging aspect of their marketing campaigns.

But with some extra time and effort, you can figure out ways to create engaging content.

It’s all about being original and separating yourself from the crowd. Produce content that’s actionable.

All of your information needs to be accurate and up to date.

Tell stories to capture the attention of your readers. Make them think outside the box. Use visual elements to enhance your content.

Focus on getting clicks with your headlines and then keep your readers interested with the opening lines and introduction.

Don’t use only one of these strategies. Mix up your content to keep things interesting.

If you follow the 9 tips I’ve listed above, you’ll find it much easier to create highly engaging content.

What type of content are you producing to increase your engagement metrics?





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June 29, 2018 at 10:06AM
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How to Engage Customers on Social Media

6/29/2018

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How to Engage Customers on Social Media

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A social media post that nobody sees is not only sad, but totally a waste of an online advertiser’s time and money. To capture and grow your viewers and potential customers on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms, just follow these simple hacks:

 

Never stop posting new material

Never mind if it’s crap; just post something new, anything new, every day, especially on weekends and Leap Year. That’s because most viewers are masochists, wondering what kind of crap you will come up with next. Like this piece of &%%##.

 

Make your content resonate

How? Simple; just promise gigantic benefits and amazing wealth and health. You don’t have to deliver on any of it, because, hey, this is social media — remember?

 

Make your page stand out

YOU DO THIS BY USING ALL CAPS AND LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (See? You couldn’t resist reading this, could you?)

 

Know your target audience

You do this with lots and lots of spyware. It’s easy to install and spread, and then when you’ve captured more data than the FBI you can tailor your posts very specifically — and try a little online blackmail, just for kicks.

 

You can’t have too many promotions

Well, you CAN run too many promotions — but offering free ebooks and newsletters will keep somebody in your office busy and off the streets. There are too many idle young people around as it is.

 

Make your page visually appealing

You might try posting lots and lots of photos of me — I don’t know if that will actually help your page out, but I sure could use the publicity.

The post How to Engage Customers on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.





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June 29, 2018 at 07:01AM
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Twitch: What Marketers Need to Know

6/29/2018

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Twitch: What Marketers Need to Know

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Want to know how Twitch is growing live video audiences? Wondering how Twitch supports loyal, engaged communities? To explore what marketers need to know about Twitch, I interview Luria Petrucci. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Luria Petrucci. She's the cofounder of Live Streaming Pros, a website that offers incredible content and services for live streaming and helps you master live video. She's also helping the next generation of young entrepreneurs build their business skills. Luria explains how the Twitch ecosystem supports creators and influencers focused on a range of topics. You'll also discover tools and tips for building a loyal community via live video. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen Now Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show: Twitch What Is Twitch? Before Twitch was Twitch, it was called Justin TV, which was one of the earliest live-video platforms along with Ustream. Today, Twitch is a live-streaming platform owned by Amazon. Each month, Twitch has more than 100 million unique users and 2.2 million broadcasters. It also has about 15 million active daily users, which means they're either watching or broadcasting content. Nearly half of the users watch more than 20 hours of content each week. Currently, about 81.5% of users are male and 55% of them are 18-34 years old. For about the last 5 years, Twitch has been known as a gaming platform where you watch people play games. However, for the past year, Twitch has been actively expanding its content base, which will make it relevant to more businesses. After posting some videos back in 2007, Luria recently returned to Twitch and goes live 5 days a week for her Geeks Life channel, which covers geeky topics. Luria has a lot of fun with this channel. It has a weekly show as well as content about gaming, behind-the-scenes details about producing video on demand (VOD), and a live vlog. However, Twitch's popular communities go beyond geeky topics like programming, video editing, and comics. It also has communities for music, art, and DIY. Music broadcasters play guitar or piano or sing, sharing covers or original compositions. Visual artists share painting, drawing, and sculpture. DIY enthusiasts focus on a range of topics such as sewing, cooking, and LEGO. On Twitch, community is the number-one priority for the platform and the people who use it. For example, Twitch has big yoga and LGBT communities. Although the yoga community will learn by doing yoga, the live-streaming content is focused more on hanging out than being educational. You can watch and interact through your computer, a mobile device, or TV box. Listen to the show to hear Luria share more about the different types of content on Twitch. How Twitch Differs From YouTube YouTube is primarily recorded video, whereas Twitch focuses on live video. You can upload videos and watch them even if you missed the live broadcast. However, Twitch users don't watch as much on-demand content. Luria says that user behavior might change as the platform changes, but Twitch is only beginning to evolve. Like YouTube, Twitch has a search feature that works really well. However, Luria finds that the results deliver live content first and then VOD. Also, Twitch has a Browse tab where you can discover popular communities such as gaming, music, and art. Unlike YouTube, Twitch is 100% focused on community. It's about people, not marketing. Twitch has no algorithms so you see only the notifications that you ask for by following someone. On each person's channel is a Follow button at the top. After you click that button to follow someone,



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June 29, 2018 at 05:07AM
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Twitch: What Marketers Need to Know

6/29/2018

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Twitch: What Marketers Need to Know

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Scout mascot for Social Media ExaminerWant to know how Twitch is growing live video audiences?

Wondering how Twitch supports loyal, engaged communities?

To explore what marketers need to know about Twitch, I interview Luria Petrucci.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Luria Petrucci. She’s the cofounder of Live Streaming Pros, a website that offers incredible content and services for live streaming and helps you master live video. She’s also helping the next generation of young entrepreneurs build their business skills.

Luria explains how the Twitch ecosystem supports creators and influencers focused on a range of topics.

You’ll also discover tools and tips for building a loyal community via live video.

Twitch: What Marketers Need to Know featuring insights from Luria Petrucci on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Twitch: What Marketers Need to Know featuring insights from Luria Petrucci on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.

Listen Now

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Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Twitch

What Is Twitch?

Before Twitch was Twitch, it was called Justin TV, which was one of the earliest live-video platforms along with Ustream. Today, Twitch is a live-streaming platform owned by Amazon.

Each month, Twitch has more than 100 million unique users and 2.2 million broadcasters. It also has about 15 million active daily users, which means they’re either watching or broadcasting content. Nearly half of the users watch more than 20 hours of content each week. Currently, about 81.5% of users are male and 55% of them are 18-34 years old.

For about the last 5 years, Twitch has been known as a gaming platform where you watch people play games. However, for the past year, Twitch has been actively expanding its content base, which will make it relevant to more businesses.

After posting some videos back in 2007, Luria recently returned to Twitch and goes live 5 days a week for her Geeks Life channel, which covers geeky topics. Luria has a lot of fun with this channel. It has a weekly show as well as content about gaming, behind-the-scenes details about producing video on demand (VOD), and a live vlog.

Luria Petrucci cohosts the Geeks Life channel on Twitch. The Geeks Life website shows a blue header and robot icon on the left and a navigation bar on the right. Below the header, Luria is smiling and her cohost holds his hands against his cheeks looking astonished. A Watch Live box appears in the righthand sidebar along wtih a link to Live Streaming Pros.

However, Twitch’s popular communities go beyond geeky topics like programming, video editing, and comics. It also has communities for music, art, and DIY. Music broadcasters play guitar or piano or sing, sharing covers or original compositions. Visual artists share painting, drawing, and sculpture. DIY enthusiasts focus on a range of topics such as sewing, cooking, and LEGO.

On Twitch, community is the number-one priority for the platform and the people who use it. For example, Twitch has big yoga and LGBT communities. Although the yoga community will learn by doing yoga, the live-streaming content is focused more on hanging out than being educational. You can watch and interact through your computer, a mobile device, or TV box.

Listen to the show to hear Luria share more about the different types of content on Twitch.

How Twitch Differs From YouTube

YouTube is primarily recorded video, whereas Twitch focuses on live video. You can upload videos and watch them even if you missed the live broadcast. However, Twitch users don’t watch as much on-demand content. Luria says that user behavior might change as the platform changes, but Twitch is only beginning to evolve.

Like YouTube, Twitch has a search feature that works really well. However, Luria finds that the results deliver live content first and then VOD. Also, Twitch has a Browse tab where you can discover popular communities such as gaming, music, and art.

The Twitch Browse tab appears in the upper left of the Twitch interface. When you select it, you can discover games and communities sorted by popularity or other criteria. Thumbnail images for the different Twitch channels appear in rows of five. Below each thumbnail, you see the channel name and its number of viewers.

Unlike YouTube, Twitch is 100% focused on community. It’s about people, not marketing. Twitch has no algorithms so you see only the notifications that you ask for by following someone. On each person’s channel is a Follow button at the top. After you click that button to follow someone, notifications are turned on by default, which arrive via email or the mobile app if you install it.

With its focus on community, Twitch has some cool community features that YouTube doesn’t have. Luria loves the clipping feature, which is a big deal on Twitch. The audience can create a clip that’s between 10 and 40 seconds, and then it appears on your channel. These clips can help people who discover your channel see highlights of who you are and what happens on your channel.

Clips are also a great promotional tool outside Twitch. Because both the channel owner and audience can share a clip through social media, clips can promote your channel both during and after your stream. If someone likes your clip, they can find your channel and watch the whole recording if they like.

If you want to clip video from a live stream, you use the Clip button in the video player. You can even go back a little way to include an amazing bit you just watched in your clip.

The Twitch video player has a Clip button that takes you to a screen where you can create a clip from a live broadcast. A yellow ruler appears below the clip preview. Blue handles help you set the start and end points for your clip. A text box where you give the clip a name appears below the ruler. A purple Publish button appears below the clip name field.

A Twitch stream has a chatroom, too. When something amazing or weird happens during a live stream, the community will say, “Clip it, clip it, clip it,” in chat, and the clip becomes part of the community experience. Also, after someone creates the clip, everyone knows because a notice appears in the chatroom when a clip is created.

Listen to the show to hear Luria’s and my thoughts for businesses whose content isn’t a popular topic on Twitch yet.

Luria’s Content and Tools

Luria shares more details about the content on the Geeks Life channel, which includes tech reviews, tech news, and geeky movie reviews. She’s played with the structure of the content and found that having fun works well. One of the channel’s hits has been going live on Twitch to share behind-the-scenes content about creating 4- to 5-minute recorded videos for YouTube.

Luria mixes fun content with value-oriented content. To illustrate, in one popular community engagement activity, Luria does a get-to-know-you segment where she opens a website with random questions, and the audience chooses the question categories. It’s a bit like a game show.

Luria believes people looking to boost engagement can learn a lot from Twitch. Because Twitch is so focused on a fun environment, you can find ideas that will work on any platform. People like to engage with fun content.

The live streams on Twitch tend to be long, and Luria doesn’t go live for less than an hour. Twitch broadcasters stream for hours on end, and you do best on Twitch if you’re streaming for many, many hours. That comes from the gaming community. Also, with these long streaming times, broadcasters are informal.

Luria Petrucci typically goes live for at least an hour. Four video clips from the Geeks Life channel are 2 hours, 45 mintues; 1 hour, 25 minutes; 1 hour; and 1 hour, 1 minute respectively.

To stream live video to Twitch, you need third-party tools because Twitch doesn’t offer any built-in tools that allow you go live. To create professional live video, Luria uses the same tools on Twitch that she uses for any other platform.

For live-streaming software, Luria uses vMix. Another good option is Streamlabs OBS, which is specifically for Twitch. Any software that supports RTMP (real-time messaging protocol) can stream to Twitch. All you have to do is enter your Twitch stream key into your software.

Like most other Twitchers, Luria also has a video overlay that shares information about subscribers, followers, donations, and so on. Also, anytime someone follows the Geeks Life channel, a woo-hoo! sound plays. Both the visual information and the sound appear automatically and start the process of gamifying her community.

Luria Petrucci has an overlay for her Geeks Life channel on Twitch. Her overlay shows how many followers her channel has in the upper left. A fundraiser progress tracker for a trip to VidCon appears in the top center. A subscriber number appears in the upper right. Along the bottom, the overlay shows her channel's most current subscriber, who last cheered for her content, her monthly top cheerer, and her top tipper.

To create the overlay, you also need third-party tools. Both Streamlabs OBS and StreamElements allow you to make some fun, engaging things happen on-screen.

Listen to the show to hear Luria and me discuss sharing your screen during a live stream.

How Creators Make Money on Twitch

In the Twitch community, people are willing to spend money to support their favorite creators, and the moneymaking elements of Twitch offer a way to gamify your community.

To explain how Twitch creators make money, Luria first describes the basics of the Twitch ecosystem. Following a channel is free, and followers see notifications when you go live. Subscribing to a channel costs money and removes the advertising. You can also “bit” or donate to a channel. Beyond the Twitch platform features, creators might make money as influencers, too.

Subscriptions: A subscriber can pay $4.99, $9.99, or $24.99 per month (Tier 1, 2, or 3) to support a channel. Subscribers receive extras based on their subscription tier, so Tier 3 subscribers receive more than Tier 1 subscribers.

As the creator, you decide what you want to give subscribers. Tier 1 subscribers often receive emotes, which are images of faces the audience can use to express themselves in a Twitch chatroom. (The emotes are similar to emojis.) Other popular extras for subscribers are t-shirts and a monthly hangout.

Luria Petrucci's Geeks Life channel on Twitch offers an emoticon, a subscriber badge, and customizable messages to people who subscribe at the $4.99 tier. You can click the higher tiers to see offerings for those tiers. A purple Subscribe Now button appears at the bottom of the paid subscriptions menu.

Other creators have a unique or personal approach. For instance, one musician writes every subscriber’s name on her guitar. When they subscribe, she pulls out her guitar (if she’s not already using it) and writes their name on it. Things like that make the community feel special.

If you have Amazon Prime, you can get Twitch Prime and subscribe to one channel per month for no extra cost. Subscribing to additional channels costs extra. Also, because a Twitch channel subscription through Amazon Prime is monthly, to maintain your channel subscription, you have to resubscribe through Amazon Prime every month.

Twitch shares 50% of this revenue with creators. As you gain traction on the platform, you can increase that percentage to 70%.

Bits: Bits are a virtual product that’s part of the Twitch platform. One bit equals one penny. People can buy bits in bulk and give bits to a creator when they like something that occurred on their channel. Giving a creator bits is kind of like leaving a tip. Creators receive 50% of the revenue from the bits they receive.

Twitch has bits you can buy to cheer for creator content. The bits menu says Cheer Bits For Your Favorite Streamer! A purple button is labeled $10,00 For 1000 Bits. Below this option are options to buy 100 bits for $1.40 or 500 bits for $7.

Donations: Donations are different from bits, and the creator receives a 100% of a donation.

Influencers: Twitch has a ton of influencers. Because Twitch is focused on creators who are building audiences, you can align yourself with a massive market if it’s relevant to your brand.

Each channel shows how many viewers it has, which is a good way to gauge its influence. Many channels have around 300 simultaneous viewers. Other channels have from 2,000 to 4,000. Ninja, the biggest Twitch gamer, has 20,000 to 40,000 viewers at a time. To find channels with large audiences, you can sort by popularity in the Browse section on the Twitch website.

For some people, going live on Twitch is their full-time job.

Listen to the show to hear how Twitch subscriptions are like Patreon.

IRL on Twitch

On Twitch, IRL, which stands for in real life, is essentially live vlogging. People do IRL video in a couple of different ways. One way is to live stream via a smartphone while you’re out and about living your daily life. Another popular option is a point-of-view (POV) style, which is what the Geeks Life channel does.

To create the POV videos, someone from the Geeks Life team wears a LiveU 500 backpack with some additional technology and a small Sony FDRX3000/W camera attached to their shoulder. (You can also use a LiveU Solo.)

Luria Petrucci uses the LU500 backpack to stream live irl videos on Twitch. The LiveU sales page says this streaming device has Small Form-Factor Combined With Exceptional Functionality. Several product awards appear below this description.

Sometimes, the camera shows whatever the wearer sees, and viewers hear the Geeks Life IRL host talking. Other times, the stream feeds back to the studio, and a producer switches between different cameras and the different audio sources.

During a Geeks Life IRL, people hang out with someone from Geeks Life while they go about their day. To illustrate, in a recent IRL vlog, Geeks Life went live while they grilled and hung out on Memorial Day. People loved it. These IRL videos are an example of a life stream, which takes people through the journey of your life.

Luria Petrucci's Geeks Life channel on Twitch live streamed an irl video on Memorial day where they hung out with people on their channel while they grilled out.

Other IRL streamers go live for hours on end while living their life. Several popular IRL broadcasters live in Japan or other countries, and they go explore or live their life by running errands or whatever they’re doing. People just eat it up.

A life stream is a powerful way to connect with your audience and create a loyal community. Life streams are essential to live streaming on any platform. People will follow you, show up, and engage with you because this content is human, raw, and real. Whether you’re on Twitch or another platform, live video builds community because it’s all about human connection.

Life stream content is different from a professional live show, but the life stream can still be professional. Luria finds people often equate professional with stiff. However, the best IRL streamers combine the rawness and voyeurism of life streams with a professional-looking stream. So you see their real personality, but a professional layer creates credibility.

Luria emphasizes that personality is at the heart of this content. You have to offer something people want to watch, which is your personality. Also, you have to get the community involved some way.

Listen to the show to learn how Luria’s camera compares to a GoPro.

What Marketers Can Learn From Twitch

Whether or not marketers create content for Twitch, Luria emphasizes that it’s a great place to learn how to market in a more natural way. The Twitch community is very anti-marketing. If you share pitches or webinars, the community will tear you apart.

Luria Petrucci is cofounder of Live Streaming Pros. The home page shows Luria and her partner wearing flannel shirts. On a dark blue background, white text says Create A Super Engaged Community With A Professional Live Video Show. Below this text is a green button labeled Take The Quiz. At the top of the home page is a navigation bar that says Watch Live, Free Training, Products, Coaching, About, and Login.

Parents often complain to Luria that their kids waste time on Twitch. However, Luria believes the channels and people kids choose to watch are very indicative of the future of business and marketing. Also, viewers connect with the host as well as the people in the chatroom, so they’re creating a bond around the content.

In other words, Twitch’s community-building can teach you how to be a better marketer. Also, marketers can teach kids how to turn their passions for gaming and creating other kinds of content into a business. Those two worlds are going to collide. Are you going to be on the forefront of that?

Listen to the show to hear more about the percentage of Twitch users who are younger than 18 years old.

Discovery of the Week

Listen Notes is a podcast search engine that helps you find podcasts, create playlists, and share content.

Listen Notes gives you a lot of flexibility in the way you find and listen to podcast content. For instance, if you don’t want to listen to all the episodes from a podcast, you can create a playlist with only the episodes you want to hear. Or you can search for a specific person or topic and find related episodes from a range of podcasts. You can also add results that interest you to a playlist.

Listen Notes is a podcast search tool. A search for the term SMMW returns a long results list of podcasts that discuss Social Media Marketing World.

To listen to a playlist you create in Listen Notes, you copy the playlist URL and drop it into your favorite podcast app. You can also use the URL to share a playlist.

With the Listen Notes clipping feature, you can click a scissor icon while you’re listening to a specific episode to set a start and an end time. You can also add notes about the section you clipped. After you click Create a Clip, you receive a URL to save or share with others. For example, on social media, you could share a quote from the clip and use the URL to share the clip audio.

The search engine is focused on podcast content (people, places, and topics) rather than the name of a show. If you’re looking for a podcast by name, Listen Notes may not find the show you’re looking for.

Listen Notes is a free tool that works in any web browser.

Listen to the show to learn more about Listen Notes and let us know how it works for you.

Key takeaways for this episode:

What do you think? What are your thoughts on Twitch? Please share your comments below.

Find out how Twitch's ecosystem supports creators & influencers focused on a range of topics. Discover tools & tips for building a loyal community via Live video.





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June 29, 2018 at 05:04AM
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Republicans think social media companies censor opposing political viewpoints

6/28/2018

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Republicans think social media companies censor opposing political viewpoints

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I guess it's easier than just admitting your tweets are bad.

A majority of Republicans surveyed by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center claim that the technology companies of the world are liberal, and, what's more, that social media companies specifically censor opposing political viewpoints on their platforms. 

In other words, Republicans believe they're the victims of a vast Silicon Valley conspiracy that will do anything in its power to keep the lid on the Truth. Or something. 

This, of course, is nonsense — but don't tell that to the Republicans surveyed by Pew. The report, released today, quantifies the kind of conspiratorial thinking that gave rise to the likes of alt-right social media platforms such as Gab. And the picture those numbers paint isn't pretty. 

"Fully 85% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents think it likely that social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints, with 54% saying this is very likely," reports Pew. "And a majority of Republicans (64%) think major technology companies as a whole support the views of liberals over conservatives."

The results are based of a survey of 4,594 individuals, conducted between May 29 and June 11 of this year.  

This isn't the first time we've heard such claims from those who apparently feel that the lack of purchase their pro-child-caging views find online must be a result of Big Silicon Valley getting in the way. Sen. Ted Cruz is notorious for his years-long crusade against Facebook and its alleged censorship of conservative stories in the now-defunct Trending news section.

Still, despite whatever ideological injustices — real or imagined — tech companies have committed against Republicans, according to the analytics company NewsWhip, it doesn't appear to be having much of an apparent effect. 

On Facebook discriminating against conservative news — here’s Newship’s list of the biggest publishers on Facebook in March 2018: Fox News, daily wire, breitbart all in there. pic.twitter.com/flkDC8qCeH

— Jason Abbruzzese (@JasonAbbruzzese) April 11, 2018

That's not to say that Facebook, Twitter, and Google are above criticism. They are most definitely not. Each platform has a wide range of faults spanning user privacy, harassment, and the outright enabling of likely illegal discriminatory practices. In short, there's plenty of real reasons to be upset with the tech industry. 

Perceived bias against Republicans, however, isn't one of them. 

What's more, in Twitter's case, its CEO appears to be bending over backward to convince conservatives that he's on their side. 

We reached out to Google, Facebook, and Twitter to ask why those companies believe the views documented by Pew exist, but received no response as of press time. 

However, we're willing to venture a guess: Self-reflection is hard, and harder still when the group in need of reflecting is morally and ideologically bankrupt. After all, it's a lot easier to just imagine that your tweets are fire and everyone is simply out to get you.





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June 28, 2018 at 08:04PM
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Twitter launches its Ads Transparency Center where you can see ads bought by any account

6/28/2018

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Twitter launches its Ads Transparency Center, where you can see ads bought by any account

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Twitter is unveiling the Ads Transparency Center that it announced back in October.

This comes as Twitter and other online platforms have faced growing political scrutiny around the role they may have played in spreading misinformation, particularly in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

For example, House Democrats recently released thousands of of Russian-funded political Facebook ads, and Facebook will reportedly release its own ad transparency tool this week. (In fact, as this story publishes, I’m at a Facebook press event focused on ad transparency.)

Twitter says that with this tool, you should be able to search for any Twitter handle and bring up all the ad campaigns from that account that have run for the past seven days. For political advertisers in the U.S., there will be additional data, including information around billing, ad spend, impressions per tweet and demographic targeting.

Everyone should be able to access the Ads Transparency Center, no login required.

Twitter political ads

As part of  the political ad guidelines that Twitter announced last month, the company says it will be visually identifying ads that are tied to federal elections in the United States. Over time, it plans to develop a policy specifically around “issue ads” (i.e., political ads that aren’t explicitly promoting a candidate) and looking for ways to expand these policies internationally.

“We are doing our due diligence to get this right and will have more updates to come,” writes Twitter’s Bruce Falck in a blog post. “We stay committed to iterating and improving our work in this space, and doing what’s right for our community.”





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June 28, 2018 at 12:24PM
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YouTube Analytics: A Simple Guide to Tracking the Right Metrics

6/28/2018

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YouTube Analytics: A Simple Guide to Tracking the Right Metrics

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Getting to know YouTube analytics is crucial if you want to make the most of your YouTube channel. By quantifying the successes and failures of your videos, you can zero in on opportunities to provide value to your subscribers and keep them engaged.

You can also expand your brand’s reach on the web’s second largest search engine.

In this article, we’ll show you:

  • Which metrics you should prioritize in your YouTube channel analytics, and why
  • The difference between vanity metrics and actionable data
  • How to choose the right insights to inform your channel’s growth strategy

Bonus: Download a free guide that reveals the exact steps one entrepreneur took to gain more than 23,000,000 views on YouTube with no budget and no expensive gear.

How to use YouTube analytics

  1. Log into your YouTube account.
  2. Click the profile icon in the top right, then Creator Studio, next to the cogwheel icon.
  3. This will bring you to the Creator Studio dashboard—you should see some basic analytics in the middle of your screen (Watch time, Views, Subscribers, and Estimated revenue—more on these later).
  4. To the left of this panel, you’ll see a menu. Click Analytics to navigate to the main YouTube analytics dashboard.

youtube analytics

General features of the YouTube analytics panel

Each analytics page’s Overview header features drop-down menus on the right. This is where you can narrow down the time period for the data you’re examining.

Default settings show the last 28 days, but you can change them to whatever suits your needs. Depending on the analytics page, you can also filter by continent or country for specific geographical insights.

If you ever want to crunch numbers yourself, you can export datasets as Excel or CSV text files using the Export report button in the top right.

Finally, if you’re ever confused about what an option means in YouTube, look out for the small grey question mark icon. Click it to reveal a helpful tooltip!

Youtube metrics: What to measure to improve video performance

YouTube video analytics features three main sections: Revenue reports, Watch time reports, and Interaction reports.

Let’s check out Watch time reports first. This is where you’ll find some of the most commonly discussed stats, including watch time, views, and retention.

Watch time reports

youtube analytics

The Watch time report compiles data from your YouTube channel, the individual videos on your channel, and any engagement from YouTube’s mobile apps.

Here’s a quick summary of the most important watch time analytics on YouTube, and the questions they answer:

  • Watch time: how long are people watching my videos? How many views do I have?
  • Audience retention: how consistently are people watching my videos? When are people interacting with my content? When do they stop watching?
  • Demographics: who’s watching my videos? What countries are my views coming from
  • Playback locations: where are people actually playing my videos?
  • Traffic sources: where are people discovering my videos?
  • Devices: what percentage of my views come from desktop, mobile, or elsewhere?

Watch time and Views

Though Views and Watch time are on the same page, these stats are interdependent. A YouTube video earns one view when it’s watched for 30 seconds or longer.

Views are often considered the measure of a video’s success. But, from a marketing standpoint, they’re mostly a vanity metric.

(Vanity metrics are numbers that are easily artificially inflated, so they’re not the most accurate way to measure your channel’s progress.)

Still, if you have a high number of organic views, it means your videos are well-optimized and ranking prominently in YouTube’s search pages—which is great! More importantly, if you divide Watch time by total Views, you get an extremely valuable stat: your Average view duration.

Watch time ÷ views = average view duration

Average view duration is an extremely important statistic. It can be measured on a per-video basis, or to measure the average amount of time people spend watching videos on your channel as a whole.

If your videos have a high Average view duration, YouTube’s algorithm will see that you’re keeping eyes glued to their platform. It’ll bump your video higher in the search pages and increase the likelihood that your content appears in Suggested and Recommended video lists. The more videos you have with high retention rates, the better your channel will rank.

Audience retention

The Audience retention report tracks viewer engagement over time. Here, you’ll find your average view duration stats, a list of your best-performing videos, and insights into how your videos stack up against others on YouTube.

Retention is calculated based on percentage watched: if your video is one minute long and people watch 30 seconds, the retention rate is 50 percent.

YouTube tracks two types of audience retention: Absolute audience retention and Relative audience retention. To switch between them, click on a video in the list below the Audience retention graph, then scroll back up to the graph. You’ll see the filter below the main stats.

youtube analytics

Absolute audience retention

Absolute audience retention shows exactly which moments in your videos are most-watched, and where people tend to drop off.

If you have a high-performing video, look at the Absolute audience retention graph to determine the highlights. Pinpointing engagement trends gives you a better idea of what your audience wants to see, guiding your content creation efforts.

Similarly, if you have a poor-performing video, the Absolute audience retention graph will show you when people tend to stop watching, so you know how to adjust.

YouTube recommends paying particular attention to the first 15 seconds of your videos—introductions have the biggest drop-off rate. If you’re noticing a lack of early engagement, you could:

  • Change your thumbnail / video description to more accurately reflect your content
  • Remove or shorten a long introduction
  • Grab attention by addressing your video topic right away

Relative audience retention

Here’s where you compare your video’s retention rate to all other YouTube videos of similar length.

Because this comparison is only based on duration and doesn’t factor in content, it’s a less useful statistic than Absolute audience retention. It does, however, give a general point of comparison between your content and other videos on YouTube.

Demographics

To find out about the people watching your videos—specifically, their age, gender, and geographical location—check demographics. Getting to know your audience can help you make more informed, targeted marketing decisions. Or it can help you tap into markets you hadn’t considered previously.

Let’s say you’re a UK-based YouTuber who makes videos about building custom computer rigs. You look at analytics, expecting to find a core demographic of of 18 to 24 year old men, but discover your audience is actually female-identified people in the US aged 65 and older.

Armed with this knowledge, you could adjust the tone of your videos to win back your expected demographic, pivot to your newly-discovered audience, or look for a way to please everyone.

Appealing to demographics is important for winning subscribers. They’ll watch twice as much of your video content as people who are just passing through.

Playback locations

Playback locations shows you where your content is being watched within the YouTube platform, or elsewhere online.

If you want to check traffic from outside YouTube’s pages, scroll down to the list below the graph and click Embedded in external websites and apps. This will bring up a list of all the places your videos have been watched within the selected date range.

youtube analytics

Finding out where your videos are being played allows you to optimize your ad spend on those locations, giving you the most reach for your money. You also get insight into your audience’s browsing and watching habits, which may even open doors for new marketing outreach partnerships.

Traffic sources

Here’s where you’ll find out how people are finding your videos.

Each item in the list below the graph can be clicked on to reveal specific information within that category.

Did someone find you by using a specific search term? Are you getting a traffic boost after featuring in a prominent YouTuber’s playlist? These are the questions these metrics can help you answer.

youtube analytics

Examining traffic sources data gives you a more detailed sense of your channel’s reach, whether you’re looking at stats related to paid traffic (e.g., YouTube ads), or organic traffic, (e.g., YouTube’s suggested videos feature).

Bonus: Download a free guide that reveals the exact steps one entrepreneur took to gain more than 23,000,000 views on YouTube with no budget and no expensive gear.

Get the free guide right now!

Devices

Devices reveals what percentage of your users watch your content on desktop, mobile, tablet, smart TV, or games console.

Devices affect the types of content people watch on YouTube, as well as how they interact online in general.

Mobile users tend to watch on-the-go, so they gravitate towards bite-sized videos. Desktop users are more likely to actually purchase things online. So if conversions are your goal, you might want to cater to that market instead.

Ultimately, it’s good to find a balance, as people watch YouTube on every device. Smart TV viewers, for example, are YouTube’s fastest-growing market. Their numbers double year-over-year.

Interaction reports

youtube analytics

The most important Interaction metrics include Subscribers, Likes and dislikes, Comments, and Sharing—basically all the ways viewers can tell you directly how they feel about your videos. Looking at this data will show you the best opportunities to reach out and cultivate relationships with your subscribers.

Subscribers

The Subscribers page shows general trends around your audience numbers. There are three main data sets:

  • Subscribers: how many subscribers you gained and retained in the selected time period
  • Subscribers gained: total number of times people subscribed in that time period (even if they unsubscribed again shortly after)
  • Subscribers lost: total subscriber drop-off for that period

If your subscriber count changes noticeably, check out the Source option beneath the page’s graph. It’ll pull up a list of your videos, ranking them according to how much they’ve influenced your subscriber count, either positively or negatively. You can also organize this data by subscribers gained or lost.

Like views, subscriber count is a bit of a vanity metric, but the more subscribers you gain, the more authoritative your channel will appear on YouTube—leading to even more subscribers, views, data, and insights!

Note: Subscribers data it isn’t displayed in real-time. YouTube strictly monitors subscriber counts to make sure nobody is trying to artificially inflate their following. This means that if you post a video that ignites unexpected controversy on your channel, the Subscriber data might not show any impact until 48 hours later.

Likes and dislikes

Watch your likes, dislikes, and comments closely to make sure you’re not losing touch with your audience.

Likes and dislikes allow viewers to express themselves with one click. Similar to Views, Likes are a bit of a vanity metric, but the more you have, the better your YouTube SEO ranking will be.

You probably don’t want dislikes on your channel, but if they’re balanced by enough likes, it might not be so bad. If your videos deal with polarizing topics, for example, likes and dislikes simply represent people falling on different sides of the fence.

To get the clearest sense of the motivations behind likes and dislikes on your videos, you’ll have to drill down into the comments.

Comments

Comments tracks how many comments you have on each video, but doesn’t show the comments themselves. If a video gains a lot of engagement in the form of likes and views, you can read the comments to better understand what’s motivating these interactions.

You should constantly monitor comments on your channel. Replying to comments you think are valuable—positive or negative—shows your audience that you’re listening. It’s a good way to foster further engagement and grow your community.

Unfortunately, comments sections can also be toxic, particularly if they’re not well-moderated. Remember to flag instances of abuse or spam to YouTube to keep your channel a safe environment for subscribers.

Sharing

Shares are the last major metric of user engagement. Shares are definitely more important than likes, as they show someone cared enough about your video to encourage others to watch it.

Click the Sharing service filter to see data on where your videos are being shared. You can also filter by geographical location, device, or date.

youtube analytics

As you can see in this screenshot, YouTube only tracks shares generated by share button clicks. These types of shares count the most for YouTube SEO. To grow your channel most effectively, do as the famous YouTubers do: call on your viewers to like, share, and subscribe at the end of your videos.

Revenue reports

In January 2018, YouTube tightened the rules around channel monetization: to be eligible for ads, YouTube channels must have accrued 4,000 hours of watch time and have at least 1000 subscribers, in addition to adhering to the platform’s rules and regulations.

The Revenue reports feature shows how much money you’re making on YouTube within a given time period, and where your revenue streams originate, including:

  • Ads other companies are paying to display on your videos
  • Your own paid ads on YouTube
  • Income streams from elsewhere on the platform (like YouTube Super Chat)

To keep things simple, I’m just going to give a brief overview of the Revenue report feature itself. If you’re at the point where you’re ready to start making money by advertising on YouTube, I’d recommend looking at the guide I wrote back in March.

Revenue

The two main stats to track under Revenue are:

  • Estimated revenue: projected total income from all Google-sold ads
  • Estimated ad revenue: projected income from AdSense and DoubleClick ads only

Like other YouTube video analytics, you can filter these by date and geographical location.

Scrolling below the revenue graph will bring you to your list of revenue-generating videos. By default, you’ll begin with the most profitable video within the time period.

Use the Revenue report feature to identify earning patterns. If you’re making more money on certain days of the week, consider modifying your content release schedule to take advantage of these trends.

It’s also good to zoom out and see if there are wider patterns based on time of year.

Let’s say your company sells winter sports gear, and you advertise on YouTube. You might identify a new spike in revenue immediately after ski season, when people take advantage of post-season deals.

To get a birds-eye view of your entire revenue history and start taking advantage of longer-term trends, select “lifetime” in the drop-down menu to the right above the graph.

How to improve your YouTube search rankings

Leveraging your takeaways from YouTube analytics is a guaranteed way to improve your YouTube SEO. As with any sort of SEO, the single best practice is to produce high quality, valuable content that people engage with and share with their friends.

Here are a few final tips to boost your channel’s SEO so your videos rank highly on YouTube’s Search and Suggested videos pages.

Include keywords in your video description

Find relevant keywords using Google’s Keyword Planner and don’t forget to perform some competitive analysis, too. Scope out what other YouTubers in your niche are including in their video descriptions, and include what makes sense.

YouTube also features “tags,” pieces of metadata that help you steer how your videos appear in organic search. You’re allowed to include up to 500 words worth of tags, which should be in line with your video topic.

Follow the rules

Building on the previous point, when you’re writing your video descriptions, make sure they adhere to YouTube’s guidelines on metadata.

YouTube also has a range of other policies on the content you’re allowed to include in your videos. These are mostly common-sense rules, and shouldn’t be too difficult to follow.

Upload videos regularly

It’s well-known that YouTube is becoming more popular than regular TV, particularly among younger people, but the desire for content on a predictable schedule hasn’t changed. If you can cultivate an audience that’s counting down the minutes until your next release, it’s a sure sign that you’re making it big on the platform.

Grow your YouTube audience faster with Hootsuite. It’s simple to manage and schedule YouTube videos as well as quickly publish your videos to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—all from one dashboard. Try it free today.

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June 28, 2018 at 09:12AM
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Whats the Difference Between Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing?

6/28/2018

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What’s the Difference Between Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing?

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If it’s been years since you’ve earned your marketing degree, or you’ve taken a long hiatus from your marketing career or your small business in the recent past, you might be finding it challenging to get up-to-date on all the latest marketing trends, techniques and buzzwords. Two of the most important marketing trends right now are influencer marketing and affiliate marketing.

If you’re working to promote a brand, a service business or just about any other type of business, both types of marketing will be useful for you to know about. There are quite a few similarities and areas of overlap between these types of marketing, but there are also distinct differences. Let’s take a look at the most important similarities and differences between influencer marketing and affiliate marketing.

What Is Influencer Marketing?

When a brand pays internet celebrities, subject matter experts or other influential individuals on an upfront basis to post promotional content on their own social media channels, websites or blogs or on the brand’s web properties, that’s influencer marketing. In many cases, brands make an effort to work with influencers who are already their enthusiastic customers, which makes that type of influencer marketing a fresh new internet-based twist on word-of-mouth recommendations.

This website has already covered influencer marketing in depth. Be sure to check out these important posts on the topic:

  • Everything You Need to Know About Influencer Marketing
  • 5 Tools to Boost Your Influencer Marketing Efforts
  • 4 Essential Influencer Marketing Tips for 2018

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

When a merchant or business pays content creators for the successful referral of sales or leads to the business, that’s affiliate marketing.

Similarities Between Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing

In both cases, you’ll be trusting other people to create content that promotes your brand. They’ll usually be posting the content on their own social channels, blogs or websites.

In some cases, there is actually overlap between these two marketing niches. This is because it is possible that you might be able to recruit some prominent influencers to sign up for your affiliate program. Then you can enjoy some of the benefits of influencer marketing while only paying for successes. See How influencers are changing the affiliate marketing game for more details.

Differences Between Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing

Payment is one of the key differences between these two types of marketing.

Influencers are typically paid upfront. There is no set amount that influencers earn; this is something your brand must negotiate with the influencers you’re interested in working with. The money you pay is not directly tied to the outcome of the campaign, and there are no guarantees that the campaign will result in the results you want. Brands typically use this type of campaign to increase brand awareness.

Affiliate marketers are only paid when someone in their audience takes an action that you’ve committed to pay for. If you’ve committed to pay a commission for sales, they’ll only get paid after they actually drive sales. 5 percent to 10 percent commission rates are common, although commissions on products like electronics tend to be lower. If you’ve committed to pay for qualified leads, you only have to pay when they refer a lead that meets the qualifications you’ve specified.

The costs of affiliate marketing are directly tied to actual outcomes. This type of campaign is typically effective for driving website traffic, increasing sales or bringing in new leads.

Brands are using both types of marketing effectively. Both channels are useful for boosting a brand’s business and market share, so don’t feel as if you have to limit yourself to one or the other. If you aren’t already incorporating both influencers and affiliates into your marketing strategy, you’re missing out on some of the best possible opportunities to grow sales and brand awareness.

 

The post What’s the Difference Between Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.





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June 28, 2018 at 08:48AM
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