Big Five of Social Media for Business

Using Social Media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs and YouTube helps increase visibility and your Google rank too. Optimizing these channels in the right way will help drive traffic to the website. Most brands and organizations use these top five social media platforms in their business and incorporate ways to gain profitability. Social Media Optimization is the need of the hour. Brands like Starbucks, Zappos, Dell... use these social media platforms to the maximum and reap various benefits.

Having a Facebook business Page is the first step to getting the most of social media. Recent reports state that more than 3.5bn pieces of content are shared each week on Facebook! There are more than 50% of the brands marketing on Facebook, as it helps build relationships and establishes credibility and trust. Having a Page that talks about your brand and selling your brand image to millions of people online is the key. Initiating discussions, polls, and making it as interactive as possible gets people coming back to your Page for more. Making it as visual as possible with images, videos, interesting contests, and give aways etc. is a great way to optimize Facebook.

Twitter, the best microblogging site is growing in leaps and bounds! Twitterers are blogging on things that matter and on every field and aspect of life. Tweeting can be done anywhere anytime thanks to various mobile and iPhone applications. News, images, videos etc can be easily shared in a short span of time. Twitter allows users to follow like-minded people and share ideas and knowledge faster than any other platform. Following the right profile and updating tweets must be looked into. Overdoing it gets very annoying, also tweets don't last long. Hence make sure to tweet at the right time using the right tool. Hashtags allow one to follow and search information in an organized way. There are various Twitter tools out there that help you follow the right profiles, schedule tweets, add images, videos etc... Do try them out and optimize Twitter for your business in the right way.

The most popular Video Sharing Site, YouTube, is another way one can optimize social media. It is the third most visited website. Most brands today have a YouTube channel that has videos that talk about their company, products, offerings, demos, interviews, events, announcements and many more. Some have third party videos that do the job of spreading the message for your brand. Having a YouTube channel lets you add friends, who comment on your videos, subscribe to your channel and this in turn increases views which are the only measuring factor for YouTube. It’s streaming two billion views per day!

The world's largest PNS – LinkedIn, is getting businesses and organizations hooked onto it. It is seen as a channel that not only gets you grab the right job and business deals, but also where professionals ask questions, participate in discussions, conduct polls and arrive at what's best for their business and career. LinkedIn now has 70 million members, with one million company profiles! Places like India are seeing a rapid growth in LinkedIn users. The integration of various LinkedIn applications such as Twitter, Slide Share, Polls, Box.net make the platform more appealing. One can have a personal profile, group profile or a company profile on LinkedIn, each having its own merits.

Lastly, it’s the good old blogs that give you the liberty to share views and opinions on just about anything under the sun. Blogs need to be optimized so that it is read by people who matter; also it ranks high in search engines... Blogs that are updated regularly have greater chances of being ranked high in search engine results. Incorporating RSS feeds is another way to increase your blog subscriptions, and followers. Having a blog that talks specifically on a nice subject is the key. Company blogs like Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have been great examples. Blogs are an excellent way to market your brand image, sell products and services, maintain and acquire customers... and many more. Blogging and then tweeting your blog post, sharing it on Facebook, MySpace is a good way to share your content, which in other words is known as Interlinking.

Get the most of these big five for your social media...

Source: www.jeffbullas.com

Importance of Social Media Marketing

Many people want to promote their business via social media? Why? It has various benefits to begin with. Thanks to the number of channels, social media helps reach out to lot of people at once, leads to better search engine rankings, everybody can use social media...there are no barriers, helps one get closer to customers and respond to their needs, increases brand awareness, influences brand reputation, generates leads, and increases sales online among others. Here's a look at some of the social media tools:

Blogs provide an excellent platform to voice one's thoughts and opinions on everything under the sun. Great that people can now listen to what you say, counter it and also give feedback and suggestions. Many bloggers today post just a blog post or two and then promote it actively on other social media channels. Posting a link of your blog post on Twitter and Facebook lets many people read it who otherwise wouldn't have. This is because, most of us like to spend time on Facebook rather than look for content elsewhere. It also helps to get the much needed traffic for your blog.

Social media helps your content to be published in various channels. Bookmarking content, videos, and images on Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious, and Diigo gets you the desired traffic. The more people bookmark the particular link, the more it is read and trusted. Having a presence in social networking sites such as Facebook help to engage with customers directly (which can be debated) - Giving announcements of product offerings, upcoming deals, and having a fan base that signifies the strength and value of the brand. Microblogging sites such as Twitter lets one 'tweet' their thoughts in 140 characters or less. It lets one articulate content in fewer words thus reaching the goal of people reading or viewing your tweet.

Video and photo sharing sites such as Youtube, Flickr, Photbucket are an audio-visual medium, making the content more interesting and enjoyable. But it is more of a one-way conversation. This depends on the strength of the video or image. For instance, a Michael Jackson video has great chances of having comments that lead to a conversation. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn help to reach a network of professionals in your domain leading to valuable discussions and exchange of information. Also your queries are answered with genuine people from the field, leading to knowledge sharing.

There are many more like forums, QnA sites, document sharing sites etc. In short, social media marketing is the new age marketing. It helps small businesses see the light of the day and lets the already established ones have a stronger foothold. It's not as easy as it sounds. It is a gradual process and needs expertise and patience if you want to see the fruits of your results.

Social Media adoption by Indian businesses

Rajesh Lalwani, the Managing Director of Scenario Consulting Private Limited, in an interview talks about the current state of Indian businesses and its move towards social media. (Have used the points from his interview with due permission) Also check his popular blog at 'Rajesh @ Blogworks'.

Indian businesses prefer mainstream media and do not want to take the risk of testing the waters of Social Media. Why? Traditional media tools such as the print media (newspapers, magazines), and electronic media (T.V. Radio) have greater reach. They reach out to many people at once which help to establish the message that the sender (the businesses) wants to deliver. The chances of recall are higher which adds to the overall image of the brand. How many of you remember the full page ad of the new Yahoo! In 'The Times of India'? And how many remember the pop up ad in any website you last visited? The chances are very less or bleak... On one hand we have the urge to do new things and follow the social media strategies adopted by a Dell or Satrbucks. On the other hand, we need to fight our biggest hurdle – Internet penetration. The current penetration is only 5-7%

Social media, is an engagement tool which involves building conversations/collaborations and understanding what people are saying. In India, social media has been used as a tool to engage with the employees. Most businesses maintain their own blog which helps them reach out to customers. This builds a relationship of trust. Customers know you as a company and can relate to what you say. And then there are social media channels such as social networking sites (Facebook, Orkut, Friendster), professional networking sites (LinkedIn) , microblogging sites such as Twitter, video sharing sites (Youtube) etc which brands are using to reach out to more customers. This is a gradual process and the results happen only over a period of time. These channels help to get feedback instantly and many brands have used this as an opportunity that brings about the co-creation of a product.

Helping clients plan and choose a social media strategy is vital. It's not about letting clients have a presence on say Twitter but it is about Twitter adding value to the business of a client. India has about 350 million mobile connections. The best way to use this is to make it internet-friendly. There will be a sea change in the way businesses operate and use social media. Brands will engage with customers directly, resolve customer queries and complaints, will take in feedback and suggestions among others.
Companies must prove that the implementation of social media has had a significant impact on the company's growth as a whole.

Source: Digital Media Across Asia

Videos Taken Down From YouTube

Ever wonder exactly how many videos are taken down from YouTube because of copyright violations or other reasons?

Folks at the MIT Free Culture student group created YouTomb to document all YouTube videos that have been taken down.





More specifically, YouTomb continually monitors the most popular videos on YouTube for copyright-related takedowns. Any information available in the metadata is retained, including who issued the complaint and how long the video was up before takedown. The goal of the project is to identify how YouTube recognizes potential copyright violations as well as to aggregate mistakes made by the algorithm.

According to YouTomb's stats, the companies that have recently taken down the biggest number of popular YouTube videos are: TV TOKYO, Viacom, Warner Bros, World Wrestling and other media companies. "YouTomb is currently monitoring 157340 videos, and has identified 4389 videos taken down for alleged copyright violation and 13330 videos taken down for other reasons."

To read more click here - TechCrunch
To know more about YouTomb, Click here YouTomb

YouTube - Statistics and Info

YouTube's new layout can give you a lot of information for your video.

You can now see the sites linking in to your video with the number of click through.





A great move by YouTube, makes our work a lot easier :)

YouTube offers new analytics to track video views

YouTube has come out wiht a new analytics service named YouTube Insight, its a free software tool that lets video creators see detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site, giving them a glimpse of chronological and demographic audience trends.

YouTube Insight tools provide aggregate data on viewer behavior for anyone who uploads their own videos to YouTube, as well as advertisers looking to place advertising on the site.

Previously, YouTube offered video creators basic tools for tracking how many comments viewers make on their videos, average viewer ratings and the ultimate ranking of a clip relative to all other YouTube videos. Insight provides context on where viewers come from and when viewers watched a video.

Source - ITPRO News

YouTube Rival Has Arrived.

The dominant position of video sharing site YouTube is to be challenged with NBC Universal and News Corporation revealing their combined video sharing service Hulu.com. YouTube has enjoyed a meteoric rise - from its inception in mid February 2005 to its US$1.65 billion sale to Google in November 2006. Hulu is set for Beta release in October and will include:

"Films and television programs produced by the NBC and Fox TV networks and the Universal and 20th Century Fox film studios. Revenue will come from advertising and the sale of program downloads"

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar explains the name Hulu,

"Objectively, Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building. Our hope is that Hulu will embody our (admittedly ambitious) never-ending mission, which is to help you find and enjoy the world's premier content when, where and how you want it"

And unlike YouTube, there are no limitations on what programs can be viewed (YouTube had to shorten programs to abide by copyright laws). Where YouTube, has had some copyright infringement claims made against it, Hulu will have the advantage of owning a vast amount of entertainment programs. The online video store has been tried unsuccessfully in the past. The combination of video sharing and downloadable content for a fee looks like a winning formula.

There is an air of confidence surrounding the yet to be released site with Cisco, Cadbury Schweppes, Intel and General Motors already signed up. YouTube has set the precedent on how to run and provide a successful video sharing service. It would be safe bet to assume that Hulu will make a significant impact on YouTubes popularity and retention.

Google’s new ad format on You Tube

Google believes it has finally has found the formula to cash in on YouTube’s potential for online video advertising and at the same time, keeping its audience loyal.

Google will be introducing a new type of video ad, which it said was unobtrusive and kept users in control of what they saw. According to Eileen Naughton, Google's director of media platforms, to start with Google is selling overlay advertising on a limited number of YouTube videos to a select group of partners at a cost of $20 per 1,000 viewers or $20 CPM. Initial advertisers include BMW, Ford Models, and Warner Music Group.

The ads, which appear 15 seconds after a user begins watching a video clip, take the form of an overlay (a translucent banner of sorts) on the bottom fifth of the screen, unlike the tickers that display headlines during television news programs or various shopping networks. A user can ignore the overlay, which will disappear after about 10 seconds, or close it. But if the user clicks on it, the video they were watching will stop and a video ad will begin playing. Once the ad is over, or if a user clicks on a box to close it, the original video will resume playing from the point where it was stopped.

Google will place the ads only on video clips of its content partners, however we’re not quite sure what content partners they are referring to — more than 1,000 small and large media companies that have licensed their videos to YouTube. By doing so, YouTube will avoid the potential liability of having ads appear on copyrighted clips it is not authorized to display. And it will also prevent ads from playing on clips generated by users whose message may not be to the liking of advertisers.

The revenue from the ads will be split between the media partner and YouTube. Ms. Naughton also said advertisers would be able to take aim at specific channels and genres, as well as demographic profiles, geography and hour of the day. If successful, the video ads could persuade more media companies to license their content to YouTube as a way to make money from it, analysts said.

Google also that it has added video news clips to the U.S. version of Google News, the company's free Internet news aggregation service. Initially, the clips will come from CBS, Reuters, and several local Hearst TV stations. The company expects to add more video news providers to Google News and to offer the service in other regions in the months ahead.

Already existing video ad networks

Social video ad network VideoEgg’s Troy Young, chief marketing officer said that they invented the video overlay ad about a year ago. Another upcoming video social site is blipd.com

You can take a look here at Video Egg’s overlay ad:

Possible metrics

According to Troy Young, VideoEgg’s chief marketing officer, claims that the CTR is almost 5 to 10 times that of banner ads.

To make an estimate let’s say that banner CTR % varies from 0.02% to 0.05% (based on one of our B2C client’s data). Let’s take banner CTR average as 0.03% and say the overlay ads at 8 times more than banner ads.

Then I would be looking at a CTR of 0.24%

According to Compete.com, YouTube had 150,652,781 visits to its site in April 2007.

Taking this as an average – 150,000,000 visitors x CTR of 0.24% = 360,000 visitors to my site Taking an average CR of 1% (standard across banner campaigns and PPC), I would get 3600 registrations or leads.

Now, the cost bit – if Google plans on charging $20 CPM, then my cost would be $300,000 and I would end up with a CPA of $830!

This is of course assuming that ALL visitors would see my ads and it would be displayed on ALL videos. Once you categorize your ads and display it in proper genres, the visitors would be much lesser.

How to get more views on YouTube

Ok, here's an awesome video that talks about how to get more views on YouTube. Some pretty basic stuff and some very insightful stuff, but good overall.

You'll find some simple do's and don'ts in this video which i think everyone should follow when trying to promote your YouTube video. Cory! u the man!!