5 Tips for Effective YouTube Marketing

5 Tips for Effective YouTube Marketing in 2019

1. Use keywords and Call-to-Actions:

   • Like its parent, Google, YouTube is a search engine for videos. As so, in order to be found, tag with relevant keywords related to your video/brand. If you’re a yogurt company with a video about your product, tag with relevant keywords like “yogurt”, “yogurt cake”, “yogurt instant pot”, “milk”, “dairy” etc. There are various keyword tools online to help you with this, like KeywordTool.

   • Include a call-to-action (CTA) like subscribe for more videos, visit our website (www.) to learn more, etc. You can also include links to your website, social media, and key relevant links in your “About” section.

2. Set a Style and Tone for your Channel

   • With good brand planning, it’s important to set a style and tone for your channel. Ideally, this would be done before you start posting content. If you’ve already started, make an effort to concentrate on a centralized tone going forward. Some questions that can help you with that:

     • Who is our audience? What are our target demographics?

     • How do we want to open and close our YouTube videos?

     • What should our CTA/CTAs be?

     • What tone do we want to convey to our videos? Hip and friendly? Sleek and professional?

     • What types of videos do we want to make? Tutorials, Q&As, traditional advertisements?

     • Do we want to incorporate comedy into our videos?

     • Who will be creating our video content? Do we want to hire an agency or professional videographer?

3. Keep Corporate and Consumer content separate:

   • Generally, it’s better to keep corporate intent and consumer content separate for your followers. Investors may be looking for one type of content while fans of the brand may be looking for videos about the brand.

   • However, I do think there is an art to this that can encompass both that takes into account your brand’s style and tone.

4. Use various video types

   • It helps to use various forms of videos to post instead of the same style over and over again. For instance, you can mix it up with Q&A, office highlights, top 10 lists, unboxing videos (big with kids now), guests, etc.

5. Don’t Aim to go Viral

   • First and foremost, make good content that is relevant for your brand. Setting out to “go viral” sometimes misses what’s actually best for your consumers and brand itself.

Article source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/5-tips-for-effective-youtube-marketing-in-2019/546708/. With comments from Sipra Thakur.

Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Dec 14,2018)

See you in January 2019 for more Marketing in the Digital Age!

Google+ to Shut Down Earlier

Summary: After a breach in data where developers inadvertently had access to profile information not marked public for nearly a week, Google is accelerating the end date of Google+ from Aug to April 2019.

Opinion: To the few people who still use G+ (basically, Google employees), you’ll still survive.

Offensive Content on YouTube

Summary: YouTube has increased its efforts to remove offensive content from its hub quicker. using a combination of AI and human reviewers. From July-Sept 2018, YouTube removed 7.8m videos with 81% of those being detected by machines. Of those 81%, 74.5% never received one view. During that time, they also removed 224 comments for violating their policies. Because of that, comments went up by 11%

Opinion: The efforts to remove this offensive content actually increased comments, likely because of the resulting quality and validity of content. Humanity, it is a thing!

Facebook’s 3 Things Marketers Need to Know About AR/VR

Summary: One, AR is already adding to everyday life. On mobile, its dominant device use, people use it scan and translate text and chase imaginary figures around their neighborhood. Two, VR will help people defy distance. VR can transform people to new worlds and even be used to help overcome phobias in a safe space. Three, AR and VR are poised to transform the path to purchase. With the rise of online shopping, people still do want to try on things or see how they look in an environment. AR/VR will allow for that missing piece of integration.

Opinion: As a marketer having worked on AR/VR, this is an exciting integration of technology into our everyday lives. It opens up new opportunities and mediums through which to explore how bets to communicate with customers, and, I think, allow for more personalized communications by being able to allow customers to use the technology in a way that best suits their needs.

Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Nov 30, 2018)

Google and Facebook launching new products in this week’s Marketing in the Digital Age.

YouTube Launches Stories

Summary: YouTube launched a Stories features for select prominent influencers. Much like Snapchat and Instagram Stories, which will allow them to post temporary video content. Unlike Snapchat and Instagram, though, these Stories will live for 7 days.

Opinion: Given the success of Snapchat (at a point in time) and Instagram Stories, it makes sense for Google to get in this game. For most brands, Stories should become an element of marketing in the coming year if it isn’t already.

Small Thanks, Google

Summary: Google created a program, Small Thanks, to enable businesses to create digital posters to post for their business based on reviews or offers.

Opinion: This could have been useful for the soon to be defunct Google+ in making it easy for users to post content about their business easily. Regardless, it is now an easy way for businesses, particularly small businesses, to promote their business online through these generated pieces of content from Google free of charge. And Google benefits from the added engagement.

Facebook Tests Live Video Mode for Sellers

Summary: In a discreet rollout, sellers can sign up for a waitlist for “Facebook Live Video Mode,” which enables Pages to showcase products in their stream. Viewers can then send in screenshots of products they would like to buy and a transaction is made via inbox.

Opinion: I think this may make more sense once it’s rolled out. Reading the description, it seems like an unnecessary step to have to take a screenshot to purchase a product. I would prefer a number or description to be able to tell the retailer what I want instead. The exploration into added e-commerce functionalities is also a good way to have people stay on Facebook longer.

Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Aug 31, 2018)

Can political manipulation be stopped? Probably not, but it can be curbed hopefully. 

Twitter Launches "Issue Ads" 

Summary: Twitter announced it will launch issue ads, which will label ads in for stream as political ads.  This is being done in an effort to curtail manipulation by politically motivated groups. If they are paid for by political candidates, they will hold an additional label "paid for by" as well.  Advertisers seeking to run ads in these categories will need to go through a certification process to verify their identity and info, though news organizations will have an exemption to this.  

Opinion: It's apparent some type of transparency is required within this sector. Interestingly, the exemption for news organizations could be a double-edged sword.  On the one hand, it allows news to flow freely; on the other hand, what constitutes a "news organization"?  Does an extremist group reporting on news in that arena classify as an organization? 

WhatsApp Monetization

Summary: WhatsApp announced its first revenue generating product, the WhatsApp Business API.  This tool will allow businesses to respond to messages for free for 24-hours and then charges for replies after that. The company has opened the service up to a select group of businesses as a test, which seem to be larger companies like Uber, Wish, etc. 

Opinion: This news surfaced a few months ago and will be a great test to monetize a platform in an "organic" sense.  By organic, I mean a way that helps customers and businesses by providing a customer service platform while also helping a business monetize its product.  

YouTube Fundraising Tool for Nonprofits

Summary: As released by YouTube: “Fundraisers enable fans to donate to creator-led campaigns directly on YouTube via a “Donate” button, making it easier than ever for creators and fans to raise funds for causes they care about on the platform. Creators can simply set up their campaigns, and let us take care of the logistics and payment processing.”

YouTube also rolled owed Community Fundraisers, which enables multiple creators to co-host the same event.  

Opinion: For non-profits, awareness, funds, and marketing expertise aren't always readily available.  This new function can help non-profits raise awareness for their causes. Allowing for Community Fundraisers is akin to crossposting on Facebook, which has been successfully used by brands to promote the same event. 

Marketing in the Digital Age: Weekly News Round-Up (week ending Aug 24, 2018)

Diversity in marketing in the this week's Marketing in the Digital Age. 

Beauty Vlogger "Apology"

Summary: A 2012 racist tweet from YouTube beauty vlogger Laura Lee resurfaced in which she tweeted, "tip for all black people if you pull ur pants up you can run from the police faster."  When fans from a rival beauty vlogger dug up the tweet, Lee deleted her Twitter account and issued a Notes app apology.  A few days later she resurfaced with what is now a formulaic apology from YouTube bloggers- cry, apologize, cry some more, beg forgiveness.  Instead, she ended up with a wholly insincere video which went viral for all the wrong reasons-- mocking her "apology".

Opinion: I couldn't even get through this "apology" video.  We all make mistakes. Unfortunately for those thrust into the public eye and with the advent of social media, it's hard to escape the past and these mistakes.  Releasing a video for the sake of releasing a video here does more damage than reparations in this case.  

Nike Promoting Gang Culture

Summary: Nike was criticized for profiting from "gang culture" in a recent ad with a model wearing a balaclava with a holster.  The balaclava was created in partnership with Alyx.  Nike released a statement saying, "These products were part of a wider Nike Training collection, styled on different models and available in multiple markets around the world. We are in no way condoning or encouraging the serious issue of criminal and gang culture.”  The product has been removed from the website, which incidentally featured a while male model without a holster.  

Opinion: Gang culture or not, an image of a balaclava paired with holsters is not an innocuous ad.  Moreover, featuring a black male model with a holster and a white male model without one begs the question if there is a lack of diversity and diversity training at Nike.  With a few other brands making big mistakes on the issues of diversity, this stands out as seemingly even more ignorant.

Facebook Hires HP's Luccio as CMO

Summary: Antonio Luccio was announced as the new incoming CMO at Facebook.  During his tenure at HP, Luccio was known for championing his efforts in diversity.  “Purpose and impact have been at the center of every career decision that I have ever made,” said Lucio, adding that he will work to “support [Facebook’s] evolution. “Facebook is one of the world’s most impactful brands, at a pivotal moment in its history.” Prior to this, Lucio served as CMO at Pepsi.  

Opinion: At this critical juncture in Facebook's history and the often lack of diversity in marketing, it's nice to see a seasoned veteran who is known for championing diversity and works with the intent of purpose and impact.  

Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Jun 1, 2018)

Mary Meeker keeps PPT slides alive!  The highly anticipated internet trends report was released this week.  Given the depth of her knowledge and report, this Marketing in the Digital Age edition is solely dedicated to its findings.  

Highlights: 

• The smartphone penetration rate has slowed. (This comes as no surprise to me given the penetration rate of cell phones globally.  Literally, I was in Petra, Jordan, with kiosk vendors ready to sell me items using Square or its equivalent from their smartphones.)  
• Messaging services (like WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger) are growing exponentially.  (I sometimes forget even that I can call a person to make plans instead of trading confusing messages over messaging platforms.)
• New content types are emerging: Twitch (where you watch people play video games) has increased hours viewed YOY by millions
• Social media is driving product discovery.  Facebook 78%, Instagram 59%, Pinterest 59%, Twitter 34%, Snap 22%.
• Ad costs are increasing faster than reach on Facebook  (because of the volume of advertisers on the platform, you are paying more to reach less people)
• Commerce driver went from utility to personalization of a curated product discovery
• Many are moving from buying to subscribing (Netflix, Spotify, etc.)
• Many Americans view YouTube before purchasing products 
• Freelance workforce is growing 3x faster than total workforce (I am available for freelance projects 😉)
• There are 33M global lifelong learners, increasing YOY.  (I am elated to see this.  Continual education is important and not often emphasized in North American culture.)
• 56% of the most valued companies were founded by 1st or 2nd generation companies (Remember that when voting on immigration policies)  

Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending May 4, 2018)

f8 buzz

Highlights from the F8 Developer Conference

Summary: (1) Facebook will introduce a dating service on its platform, (2) launching a $199 virtual reality headset (which includes experience in an experiential theater for concerts, (3) Oculus TV to stream content from ESPN, Netflix, and more), (4) Messenger is getting a makeover to simplicity, going all-in on Instagram Stories (third parties can create AR filters), (5) WhatsApp gets a few additions like stickers and group video calls. 

Opinion: Snap, Facebook is eating your lunch... and dinner.  Tinder, they are coming for you next.  

LiveNation Announces Facial Recognition at Concerts

Summary: LiveNation has partnered with a company so that your face is associated with your ticket.  No scanning of the ticket (or your face) needed.  You also be able to buy refreshments at venues using this technology if you have a valid credit card attached to your user profile.  It will roll out at several LiveNation venues and its corporate office.  

Opinion: I'm conflicted but leaning towards a feeling of violation.  How will this work if you sell your tickets or buy for friends? What if I don't want LiveNation to have all this data on me?  How do I, or can I even, opt out of it?  If it's mandatory for all, will this help from a crime perspective to avoid horrible tragedies like at Ariana Grande and Eagles of Death Metal?  

Facebook Will Be Losing Money on Political Ads

Summary: Facebook will be hiring thousands of people to monitor political ads on Facebook.  The added cost will cost the company more money than it makes to run the ads.  

Opinion: With this platform being a relatively new advent into our everyday lives, it's hard to know what and how it will affect it.  Nevertheless, with the amount of profit the company garners, it is the duty of the company to address the issue even if it is at its own expense.  I see this is an obligation more than something warranting praise. 

YouTube Brings in Will Smith to Show How Safe it Is for Brands

Summary: YouTube brought in actors like Will Smith at its annual Brandcast pitch to advertisers to show that they are safe for advertisers.  The platform has attracted scrutiny because of questions of quality.  With 1.8 billion logged in viewers on the platform monthly, the platform is still a very relevant hub of activity.  They are devoting tremendous resources to help ensure quality.  

Opinion: Like Facebook losing money on political ads in the coming future, YouTube has an obligation to its advertisers to allow them to associate with people and brands that align with their particular values.   Again, I see it as an obligation more than something warranting praise.  

Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending 4.20.18)

Jet skiing + seeing Kimmel live, all for charity of course... 

Donate-to-Win: Oscars' Jet Ski + Seeing Kimmel Live  

Summary/opinion: Remember the jet ski from the Oscars?  I thought Kimmel was kidding when he said he would award it to the person with the shortest acceptance speech.   Well, he wasn't kidding, and it was generously donated by costume designer Mark Bridges to MPTF (Motion Picture & Television Fund), an organization for which I am on the board.  It's just $10 to enter and it all benefits current and retired members of the entertainment committee.  

YouTube Ads on Extremist Channels

Summary: CNN uncovered ads from prominent brands like Under Armour, Nordstrom, Amazon, Adidas, and even tax-funded ads from the government, ran on hundreds of extremist sites without advertiser knowledge. 

Opinion: I agree with eMarketer's Nicole Perrin's comment that the most effective way for this to stop is for brands to pull out advertising on YouTube.  Once their bottom line is hit, the changes will come swiftly to prevent unwanted associations of this kind.  

What Zuckerberg Didn't Say About What Facebook Knows About You

Summary: Facebook does track data on website you visit that use your Facebook login info and is converted into a set of "ad interests".  Even when you opt out of interest based ads, Facebook still continues to track you only just without using your own data.  Regulators are coming to the conclusion that our personal data is too sensitive, and too lucrative, to be left unchecked. 

Opinion: It's like an episode of Black Mirrors, our personal data being used and exploited for profit and political manipulation.   Sadly, it's real life and a level of regulation should be set forth.  The challenge will be creating that regulation since this is a new space and this amount of information harvesting hasn't been seen in the past.  Regulators also don't have experience with this area of business, so that in and of itself is another challenge.  Maybe this is a job for, ahem, consultants to work with them on creating sound pieces of regulation.

Twitter Doesn't Care People are Building Bot Armies in SE Asia

Summary: A number of Twitter users have reported an influx of bot follower requests.  Bot followers tend to have no profile pic and few to zero tweets.  They have been coming out of Southeast Asia and have been following influential voices in regions.  Particularly with Southeast Asia, Facebook has been beset with controversies from inciting ethnic hatred in Myanmar to allegedly assisting censors in Vietnam.  

Twitter has issued no comments on the behavior. 

Opinion: I almost forgot about you, Twitter.  If you have learned nothing else from the problems of YouTube and Facebook, learn that you need to get on this issue before it becomes a bigger problem.