YouTube Introduces New Features to Empower Creators

By Kimberlee Morrison at Social Times:  


YouTube creators, those who make the videos that populate the site and participate in revenue sharing, haven’t always had it great. The pool of content creators gets larger every year, and dealing with the infrastructure can be problematic for some. But it looks like things are about to get a lot better, with new tools and crowdfunding options on the way.


The official YouTube Creators channel released a video detailing how more transparency is on the way. “We want to show you the features and products we’re building ahead of time, so you can tell us if we’re on the right track or if we need to adjust a little,” says Matt Glotzbach, product management director for creators.

The other change mentioned in the video include a creator specific app. This app will allow video makers to manage their channels from mobile, the same way they would from a desktop. This could be a major boon for creators because when there’s a problem with a video, there could be significant impacts on monetization. Indeed, 20 percent of respondents to a survey said they make their living from YouTube.

Crowdfunding — or a virtual tip jar — is also among the slate of new features. YouTube realizes that crowdfunding options already exists, target=”_blank”Subbable being one example, and that these solutions are external to the site. Building the funding infrastructure within YouTube could enable audiences to pay their favorite content creators directly.

All these features, in addition to revamped comments, better closed captioning, a bigger audio library and the ability to monetize cover songs, show that YouTube is moving in the direction of empowering creators. Some of the most popular YouTube content doesn’t come from established media brands, it comes from users. And the company is keen to keep that section of its audience.

#INFOGRAPHIC: Top Social Efforts to Boost Referral Traffic to Your Website

By Thomas J. Armitage at Social Media Today:  

Social media has many benefits for a brand. Raising awareness, generating buzz around events or news, keeping your name or products top of mind, managing customer service, gathering consumer-generated content, market research, and the list goes on. But for some reason, many of us get hung up on the fact that social media has to have an immediate, short term return on investment. Many social strategies are long term investments, so when looking at a tight time frame, we migrate towards metrics that try and allow us to justify our efforts. Enter: referral traffic.

Referral traffic is a very important thing to measure within a social media campaign. For many companies, bringing visitors to your website helps them learn about your products and services and establishes one more touchpoint in that very important buying process. It gets the user away from all the chaos on social media and lets them solely focus on one thing…you. And that’s valuable stuff. So after using many social media channels over the past few years, I’ve learned which ones generate the highest return on investment, based on time/cost vs referral traffic. Of course numbers will very based on your industry and the content you’re producing, but for the most part, this will give you a simple indication of which channels are best for driving traffic back to your website.

1) Blogging

The only one with 5 stars in terms of referral traffic is blogging. Are you surprised? If on a subdomain, blogging can be tremendously helpful to sending traffic to your website, if using links properly. If housed on the company site itself, blogs will generate organic traffic from search and attain visitors from referral links from any sites or bloggers who re-run your material or cite your writing. A misconception is that this effort is free but it is one of the biggest investments your company can make in the social space. The best blogging companies invest tons of time and resources into blogging efforts. Beyond time for writing, you will want to budget money for stock photography or time for your design team to create custom graphics, infographics, charts or visuals to supplement your material within the post and/or for social media when distributing. It makes the world of a difference in getting people to read, react and share your content. It's also helpful to promote your blog articles on social using ad dollars to "light the fire" and get the traction rolling.


2) E-Newsletter

Email marketing may not be the best approach to reach your teen audience (most do not use email with the exception of using it for registration purposes) but email is still widely used among most working professionals. It’s a great way to reinforce messages, introduce the latest news to a loyal audience, and keep them coming back to your site. Carefully design a layout – don’t have too much information there – and drive people deep into your site on specific landing pages, not just the homepage. Tell them what you want them to be looking at. Costs here are associated with monthly software fees (MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc), stock photography, design costs, and the time it takes to prepare and distribute. Your list is critical. Always be conscience about growing this – whether it’s through other social channels, events, contests with registration walls, etc. Your list is powerful in bringing visitors to your site.


3) Twitter

Many of us know how great this tool can be at luring traffic to your site. But this audience is very cautious what it clicks on – simply because we are being bombarded with hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of tweets each day. Because of this, be strategic when you include a link to your own site. Always use the old adage “What’s In It For Them?” Push them to an educational blog posts, a cool new product, a fun contest going on, etc. Be creative and straightforward in your limited description too, because you have to convince them to click in less than 100 characters or so. Costs here are related to stock photos or designs you’ll want to use to pair with your content. Also, do not overlook Twitter advertising. It’s a great way to get new users in front of your material and you can select the type of person that is most appealing to your business, so it works well.


4) LinkedIn

Of all the promoted post-style advertising on social media, LinkedIn can often times be the most expensive. But it’s a great way to get highly targeted people in front of your content and lead them to your site. The filters available through LinkedIn are extraordinary, allowing you to target by age, geography, profession, industry, hierarchy, group, and more. Naturally, you’ll pay for this luxury in your higher cost per clicks. But regardless, it can be effective. LinkedIn readers love tips on how to do their jobs better, motivational articles, and the inside scoop on new jobs available in their fields. Keep this in mind when sharing material that refers back to your website. You don’t want them to be disappointed when they go for that click. So make sure it’s meaningful and in line with the type of professional readers that are here.


5) YouTube

I have YouTube listed as the most expensive of all the tactics. Because quite frankly, video production ain’t cheap. Sure, you can get away with haphazardly winging some videos together and throwing them up online. You might get a few views. But ever notice the ones that we gravitate towards every week (if they are a regular series) or the ones you pull to use in presentations or demonstrations. You and I both are using the ones that look professional, are in high definition, boast great audio quality, and subtly use visuals as examples to support the verbal discussions. You’ll need lights, microphones, a great camera (preferably two), lots of time and research, a personable and lively spokesperson, and more. But here’s the bright side. Of all the types of content available to you, in my opinion, videos are the one type that is most likely to really take off if done right. You can include links in your description area or within the videos themselves. And finally, you can expose your messages to more people through advertising (which again, costs money on this platform). But think about all the embeds and shares you can get if your videos are valuable to your target audience. In all, YouTube can be one of the biggest spends in your social media budget but can also see one of the greatest returns on investment, especially in terms of referral traffic.

Social media has a variety of benefits. Gaining visitors to your website is only one – though an important one if it matches your goals. Share content that is worthwhile and carefully select the channels that you wish to invest in to see high levels of return. Keep in mind that you don’t want to *just* share content about yourself – social media is all about sharing the wealth and getting involved in conversations that are out there on the web. But being selfish every now and again to impact the bottom line is a no-brainer.

Which channels, in your experience, have you seen bring about the highest levels of referral traffic?




Authored by:

Thomas J. Armitage

Thomas J. Armitage is a digital marketer and PR professional with a concentration on social and new media. He helps lead the social and content efforts at Site-Seeker Inc and has a track record of researching, interpreting and executing the latest and best tools/techniques available to clients. He is also an adjunct professor at Utica College where he teaches on PR and social media.

Is Yahoo Planning Its Own Version of YouTube?

By David Nield at Digital Trends: 

Yahoo will certainly have a challenge on its hands if it decides to go ahead: YouTube attracts over a billion visitors a month who watch more than 6 billion hours of videos between them. Over 100 hours of content are uploaded to the site every single minute.

Re/code says that Yahoo’s plan is not to duplicate the YouTube platform but to provide a showcase for the most popular content producers: “Yahoo executives have told video makers and owners that the company can offer them better economics than they’re getting on YouTube, either by improving the ad revenue or by offering guaranteed ad rates for their videos.”

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer spent many years working at Google and has been busy trying to turn the Web giant’s fortunes around — the Yahoo portal has been attracting a larger share of overall traffic, while the company’s Flickr service has been through not one but two redesigns in recent months. Yahoo also bought the social blogging platform Tumblr last year.

Sources suggest we could see Yahoo launch its own video streaming platform within the next couple of months. Whether or not it can attract some of the stars of YouTube — together with their faithful followings — will play a big part in determining whether or not it gets off the ground. Would you welcome another alternative to YouTube? Or has Yahoo left it too late?




Read the full story >>

Turkey is Now Blocking Access to YouTube

By Lorenzo Franceschi at Mashable:

Turkey has blocked access to YouTube, just a week after the country blocked Twitter, and only three days ahead of local elections in the country.

Turkish netizens started reporting the block after 10:30 a.m. ET. The ban was ordered on Thursday after leaked recordings of a security meeting were published on YouTube, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Aaand here we go. Youtube is now blocked in Turkey. That's where alleged recordings exposing corruption leaks live. pic.twitter.com/jTAkIAarq5
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) March 27, 2014

Read the full story >>

Which Social Media Platform Is Best for Your Business?

By Luke Chitwood at TNW:

It is commonly suggested that to increase your brand presence, you need to be active on all forms of social media. While that may be true, unless your company has a dedicated social media coordinator, finding the time to maintain every platform out there can be extremely time consuming.

If your company is just starting out on the Web and need to pick a few social media networks to rule over, here is our guide to choosing the best platform(s) for your business, and how to make the most out of them.


1. Twitter

Who should use it: Everyone – from individuals to the largest multinational corporations

What to share: Start, join, and lead conversations; interact directly with brands and customers

Post frequency: Multiple times per day

Twitter is the dominant democracy of the social-sharing economy. Relevancy, personality and brevity are the keys to making your voice heard.

Useful tools: Buffer lets you stockpile and schedule content in advance. Tools like this allow for posting around-the-clock, increasing the likelihood of snagging followers beyond your country or time zone without being working 24/7.

It’s a guarantee by this point that a conversation relevant to your industry or business is occurring on Twitter. The only question: are you part of it?



2. Instagram

Who should use it: Lifestyle, food, fashion, personalities and luxury brands

What to share: Share visual content, including short videos (less than 15 seconds)

Post frequency: Once a day

Instagram invites brands with visual content into their customers’ zone-out time. Create and post content accordingly.

You’ll want to experiment with your own userbase and followers, but it’s likely that the best time to target your posts will be to get to your audience’s eyes during their commutes, nights, and weekends.

Useful tools: While hashtags are clickable and useful for search purposes, links in comments and captions are not.

Instead, use the integrated sharing functions for Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter to repurpose your Instagram posts for more shareable media. Include a relevant hashtag to become more discoverable on Instagram and to track engagement across sites where you share the content.

Additionally, Followgram is a great tool for tracking your stats on the most liked and commented posts, along with top tags and locations.



3. LinkedIn

Who should use it: Businesses (especially B2B service providers), Recruiters and Job-Seekers

What to share: Job-postings, company descriptions, employer/employee research

Post frequency: Two to four times a week

LinkedIn is the online analog to old fashioned networking. People – and connections to people – are everything

Keep a company description and profile page mindful of keyword SEO, but your network of employees and contacts is your most valuable (and potentially damaging) content on LinkedIn. Make sure people in your organization are appropriate, professional and on-brand. There’s nowhere online where employers and employees are more intimately linked.

Company seeking clients and individuals seeking employment should grow their LinkedIn networks by adding as many real connections as possible. Use your second and third-degree connections to request personal introductions (when reasonable), and weed out the Internet’s infinity of companies and applications, focusing on opportunities where you have some real connection.

Top tip: LinkedIn shares more about your own electronic creeping than any other network. Paid users can see who’s viewing their profiles.

If you’re researching a competitor or doing some preliminary job-seeking you’d rather your boss didn’t know about, try a Google search specifically for the LinkedIn page you want to see.



4. Facebook

Who should use it: Everyone and their grandmas (literally)

What to share: All types of online content, events, ads

Post frequency: Once or twice a day

Consider advertising or paying to promote your page on Facebook, but don’t make your brand’s Facebook page itself look like an advertisement. Inspire conversations and shares – and be sure to ask questions.

Of all social networks, Facebook is best equipped to linearly share responses to a post asking a question or sparking conversation. Answers then appear in friends of your respondents, spreading the conversation.

Facebook offers personal connection and an enjoyable distraction amidst the work day, but use typically peaks outside of work hours. There’s no shortage of options for analyzing Facebook data. Track the success of your content by date and time to hone in on the best times for engaging your audience.

Useful tools: URL shortener Bitly does more than just shrink down links. Each time you convert a link, Bitly offers stats on clicks generated from that specific link, making it helpful to see how much traffic is brought directly from sharing to Facebook.

5. Google+

Who should use it: Brands already on the other major social networks, B2B networking, bloggers

What to share: More formal and professional than Facebook; Hashtags have major search value

Post frequency: Once or twice a day

As Google’s proposed alternative to Facebook, keywords and search engine optimization are central to the appeal of Google+. Link often to content on your own website to direct this search boost where you want it most.

Useful tools: Bloggers, set up Google Authorship to have your Google+ profile follow your content from across the Web in search results. More than any particular feature of Google+, users are enticed by integration with Google’s other products.

Case in point? Comments on this article’s next social network now link to Google+ accounts.



6. YouTube

Who should use it: Brands with video content and ads, anyone giving explanations or sharing expertise

What to share: Short (less than 1.5 minutes) video content

Post frequency: Once or twice a week

Google treats its own well, and YouTube is the prime example of this fact. YouTube videos feature prominently in Google search results.

Keep this in mind when naming and describing videos, and direct people looking for insight or explanations within your industry topics to your brand’s page.

Useful tools: A subscription widget or link to your website can help convert single views into long-term influence.



7. Pinterest

Who should use it: Fashion, food, design, travel and anything DIY; audience skews female by 4:1

What to share: Creative, visual content

Post frequency: Multiple times per day

Users pin and re-pin posts to Pinterest Boards, which naturally push the content on Pinterest into categories. This makes easily-categorized content most apt for sharing, and wisely-chosen keywords essential to successful post captions.

Pinterest differs from other popular search engines in heavily favoring recent content. Pinning and re-pinning frequently is necessary to appear within current results for a given search term, regardless of how popular your content is.

Top tip: That stunning visual content on Pinterest? Undoubtedly the hard work of a designer, photographer or videographer. Technically, you’re only supposed to pin content you own or that’s within the public domain. Be sure to attribute your pins appropriately.



8. Yelp and/or Foursquare

Who should use it: B2C companies, brick-and-mortar outlets (especially stores, restaurants, and travel/tourism related), reviewers and bloggers

What to share: Location-based business search and reviews

Post frequency: Before your physical business opens and whenever information changes. Otherwise, at least weekly.

Share details about your business on an official company profile page. Monitor customer feedback related to your business, and respond to concerns raised in reviews. Consider it free promotion and advertisement (although paid promotions are also available).

Keep your information updated, and pay attention to keywords and SEO in crafting descriptions – Yelp listings in particular feature prominently in Google searches for local businesses.

On the consumer side of these B2C networks, reviewers and bloggers can use Yelp and Foursquare to grow their following. You can’t post a link in a review (Yelp with flag those and potentially suspend your profile), but you can develop a reputation for reliable reviews.

Top tip: Both Yelp and Foursquare users tend to glance, so it’s important to get as many high numbered ratings as possible to gain a positive first impression. Add a link to your blog or personal website under the profile section to capture additional readership.

#INFOGRAPHIC: Where Teens Spend Their Time Online

Despite reports that young people are moving away from Facebook, they’re still using the social network in big numbers—fully 66 percent of people 14-34 say they’re frequent users, according to The Cassandra Report, Fall/Winter 2013 edition. Further, usership rises as people get older, suggesting that the youngest teens aren’t moving away from Facebook as much as using other platforms along with it. Nevertheless, other platforms are challenging its dominance, chiefly YouTube, which is frequently used by 68 percent of those 14-34.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

#YouTube Will let Users Watch Videos Offline in Its App

YouTube is adding a feature to its mobile app in November that will let users add videos to their handsets to watch for a short period, even when they are unable to get an Internet connection.

Exactly how long the “short period” will be is not clear yet, but YouTube hints that it could be as long as your journey to work in the morning, saying: “Your fans’ ability to enjoy your videos no longer has to be interrupted by something as commonplace as a morning commute.”

YouTube announced this as part of its ongoing updates for its mobile apps, though how exactly it works will only be revealed in November. Unveiling the feature on its Creator blog could mean content owners have to specify what videos can be available offline.

➤ Heads up about an upcoming YouTube mobile feature [YouTube Creator Blog]



Via TNW

10 Tips For Social Video Success

By Cameron Uganec at TNW:

This post was originally published on the HootSuite blog. HootSuite is a social relationship platform. 

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Social media and storytelling are a match made for marketers. As consumers continue to flock to social networks, reverting to the origins of storytelling may be the best way for brands to connect. But unlike in the broadcast era, marketers need to approach content creation with shareability (and the psychology of sharing) in mind.

Visual storytelling has proven to be the best means for inciting content sharing on social media and a new type of content, social video, is quickly becoming the most effective tool for businesses across the globe.

As social video continues its exponential growth, it will become more and more important for brands to hone in on what makes their online videos successful. These videos are very different from a commercials and should be approached as such. With that in mind, here are 10 tips brands should follow while creating social video.

1) Design it to be shareable at the outset

You need to be able to answer the question, why will people share this video.

2) Use the power of storytelling

Use a beginning, a middle and an end. Make sure there’s conflict. Think about who the hero is in that story. What’s the plot, what’s the setting?

3) Use proven archetypes and story structure

There is a lot of research that illustrates that people are hardwired to respond to the same types of stories with familiar character archetypes. (see Joseph Campbell’s “A Hero’s Journey”).

3) Shorter is better (usually)

Kony 2012 is a very good 30-minute video but for the most part, shorter is better.  I have made this mistake many times. I get into the story we are creating and what was supposed to be a 1-minute video morphs into 3-minute video. Be disciplined and get to the core of what your message is.

4) Always start strong

Wistia has collected data that illustrates how the first 30 seconds of a social video is what matters. If you can get people hooked in those 30 seconds they’ll stick around.

Graph illustrating video drop-off by Wistia. The red line represents a 30-second video, while the blue represents a 90-second video.

6) Make the customer the hero, instead of your brand
You can play the role of the mentor, but the really powerful stories that get shared are ones where the customer sees themselves reflected back in the story.

7) Remember search

Think about the meta data and the descriptions of your content. Don’t ignore SEO. Hint: YouTube is a huge search engine.

8) Focus on evergreen content

If you’re going to spend lots of time, money and effort on creating a video, make sure that the content is going to have a long shelf life.

9) Don’t forget the music

If you watch HootSuite’s product release videos. you’ll notice we have a certain sound in terms of the type of music we use. It’s not the typical sound you’ll hear on corporate videos; most of it is indie rock bands, and largely bands from Vancouver (where we are based – we want to support local talent). They are all earworms, catchy songs that you want to listen to again and again.

10) Distribution strategy is critical

You need to think about how you’re going to get this video out into the world with a converged media plan that includes a paid, owned and earned. This is such a critical point I think it needs some further explanation. More to come in a future blog post.

Microsoft’s Antitrust Lawyer Has Some Words For Google About The Windows Phone YouTube App

Microsoft and Google are still fighting about the Windows Phone YouTube app. This has been going on for months, with no apparent resolution on the way.

Back in May, Google sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter for building a native YouTube app, claiming that it violated its terms of service in three areas. It allowed users to download videos, it prevented the display of ads in YouTube video playbacks and it played videos that Google’s partners had restricted from playback on certain platforms (like mobile devices).

“These features directly harm our content creators and clearly violate our Terms of Service,” Google said.

Since then, the two companies have actually been working together to deliver a suitable app that would both please Windows Phone users (and Microsoft) and meet Google’s conditions. Microsoft thought they had reached that point. Earlier this week, it released its new YouTube app, after addressing the aforementioned issues. Then, Google blocked it.

The Verge quotes a Microsoft spokesperson before the app was blocked:

We’ve released an updated YouTube app for Windows Phone that provides the great experience our consumers expect while addressing the concerns Google expressed in May, including the addition of ads,” says a spokesperson. Microsoft says it appreciates “Google’s support in ensuring that Windows Phones customers have a quality YouTube experience and look forward to continuing the collaboration.”

Then it quotes a Google spokesperson, and again a Microsoft spokesperson after the app was blocked:

“Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully-featured YouTube experience, and has instead re-released a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service,” says a Google spokesperson. “It has been disabled. We value our broad developer community and therefore ask everyone to adhere to the same guidelines.”

Read more >>

#INFOGRAPHIC: Social Media Spec. Guide For Content Designers

By Ashleigh Lay at Raidious:

You may not be surprised to find out that each of these social media platforms has their own graphic specifications. But you may be surprised at how many specifications there are. When I first started creating social media images, I had to look up the specs online using multiple sources. Occasionally, I still look up specs when my memory fails me (getting old is a B). It can be hassle, considering, there isn’t just one source that has all the specs I need. After months of fighting it, I decided to make my own spec guide for myself and others who have suffered my same fate. If that is you, enjoy!

by ashleighlay.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

#INFOGRAPHIC: Social Media Secrets

Check out our cool, new Social Media Infographic.
Sometimes it can be hard to wrap your head around social media and all of it’s forms so we have created this helpful infographic where all of that information can be seen, processed and understood in one place that’s visually pleasing and simplified.

As you can see here, infographics are an excellent way to take a complex concept and boil it down to the bare essentials similar to how a PowerPoint presentation would work to convey a message you need to get across in a meeting.

We have found through using infographics people are able to absorb more information which means it has a greater impact for a longer period of time.
As marketers, we know this is exactly what you are looking for when it comes to communicating with customers or potential customers.

Here, we show you the five major players in social media that can have a huge impact on your business and getting your message out there to the masses.

Understanding the basics of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pintrest plus using handy infographics will get you pretty far in this day and age and we can’t wait to help you get started!

This Infographic is published by Emarketed.

Social Media Secrets infographic

5 Reasons to Choose Vimeo Instead of YouTube

By Eric Larson at Mashable:

Two platforms clearly stand out when it comes to hosting online videos:YouTube and Vimeo.

YouTube's clearly the big dog. At 800 million unique visitors per month, with roughly 72 hours of content being uploaded each minute, it's by far the most used video-sharing platform on the web. (It doesn't hurt that it's owned by Google, either.)

But upload statistics alone don't necessarily make it the best platform out there. Vimeo, while on a smaller audience scale, has plenty of advantages over the streaming giant — especially for someone who's looking to receive helpful feedback or showcase their work to a community of fellow filmmakers.

Not to knock on YouTube. It's a great platform as well, and it overall depends on what type of video you're uploading and what sort of audience you're trying to reach. But, if you're struggling to decide between the two, check out our list below of reasons why Vimeo — not YouTube — might be your best fit.

1. The Community of Professionals

Unlike YouTube's massive audience, Vimeo's is a more small, niche community of film enthusiasts. It's not nearly as large — it gets roughly 70 million unique visitors each month — but its modest size creates an intimate and fully engaged community. It's a network of people who are genuinely interested in film quality, too, so you know your work is being seen by people who will appreciate it.

Plus, you're more likely to get constructive criticism in the comments section. (On YouTube, even a video of a baby owl stretching its wings for the first time is guaranteed to launch a string of off-topic, mean and flat-out racist comments.)

2. There's Less ... Fluff

GIF courtesy of WeHeartIt.com

Don't get us wrong — there are plenty of gems on YouTube. But the problem with a site where more than 70 hours of video are uploaded every minute is that not every hour is going to be something you'd like to watch. Haters may hate, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a 30-second clip of a man dancing in a penguin costume on Vimeo.

3. The Cleaner Layout

Aside from the difference in video genres, Vimeo offers a cleaner aesthetic than YouTube. Videos are larger and there's limited clutter around the frame, so it really feels like the primary focus of the website is on the video, and nothing else.

4. No Advertisements

No distracting banners or 30-second commercials before your video starts — a huge perk for the viewer.

5. Password Protection

Lastly, Vimeo allows you to password-protect your videos, so you can share them with friends before setting them as public. It differs from creating a "private" video on YouTube in that you don't need to be logged into the video's account to view it — you just forward the video to your recipient and make sure they know which password to type in.

Give Vimeo a look for yourself if you haven't done so already. It's free to sign up for a basic membership; Vimeo Plus is $9.95 per month; and Vimeo PRO is $199 per year.

Do you have a preference between the two video streaming services? Or, better yet, do you prefer a different uploading site? Share your thoughts in the comments.

#INFOGRAPHIC: How to Use 10 Social Networks to grow Your Personal Brand

In the age of the internet Google search results, Facebook and LinkedIn are creating the first impression. Business professionals can’t afford to have a weak or mediocre impression online if they want to be successful in building relationships. Launch Yourself: Personal Branding Training's new infographic "How to Use 10 Social Networks to Grow Your Personal Online Brand" covers top social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Slideshare and Wordpress, and some of the tips include: Following top influencers in your field on Twitter. Managing your Facebook reputation. Demonstrating your passion through Pinterest. Creating a personal website using WordPress. Uploading a presentation on SlideShare to show your expertise. You can see the rest of the information about How to Use 10 Social Networks to Grow Your Personal Online Brand by checking out the full infographic on Launch Yourself's blog www.launchyourself.com/blog or at http://launchyourselfnow.com/how-to-use-10-social-networks-to-grow-your-personal-online-brand/#

How to Use 10 Social Networks to grow Your Personal Brand infographic

#INFOGRAPHIC: Optimise Your Social Network

UK agency The Like Minded sent out an email to known clients and trusted colleagues with a link to their website landing page that has an animation showing Chapter 1 of the company story and the services they offer. Optimising your social network takes time. To demonstrate this The Like Minded decided to do an infographic showing how the video they created in Chapter 1 was shared across social networks, giving us all a valuable insight into their social media process:

This Infographic is Published by The Like Minded (UK)

Optimise Your Social Network infographic

#INFOGRAPHIC: Choosing the Most Effective Social Media Platforms

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn. Etc. So many social media platforms. And so little time. (And manpower. And ideas.) There are costs involved to maintaining a social presence. It is vital for brands / companies / organisations to market on the right platform(s) in order to optimize their resource allocation. Use this infographic to help you choose the most efficient social media platform(s) according to factors like your goals, target audience and capabilities.


This Infographic is Published by Infographics.SG

Choosing the most effective social media platforms infographic

YouTube Launches Paid Channels, Subscription Fees Start at $0.99 Per Month

By Greg Jarboe at ClickZ:  

The YouTube team has finally launched a pilot program for a small group of partners that will offer paid channels on YouTube – a move that had been expected since January.

YouTube has been building a partner program since 2007 that enables content creators to earn revenue for their creativity. And these content creators have built a broad spectrum of channels that have made YouTube into a news, education, and entertainment destination that 1 billion people around the world visit monthly.

According to YouTube, there are more than 1 million channels generating revenue today, and one of the most frequent requests that the creators behind them make to YouTube is for more flexibility in monetizing and distributing content.

In response, YouTube is launching a pilot program for a small group of partners that will offer paid channels on YouTube with subscription fees starting at $0.99 per month. Every channel has a 14-day free trial, and many offer discounted yearly rates.

For example, UFC fans can see classic fights, like a full version of their first event from UFC's new Select channel. And Jim Henson Family TV will be offering ad-free, exclusive content for a special introductory price of only $2.99/month, or $24.99/year.

Click on paid channels for a list of the pilot channels in the program. Users who subscribe will be able to watch paid channels on a computer, phone, tablet, and TV. And YouTube hints that subscribers will soon be able to subscribe to channels from "more devices."

"This is just the beginning. We'll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners," according to the Official YouTube Blog . "And as new channels appear, we'll be making sure you can discover them, just as we've been helping you find and subscribe to all the channels you love across YouTube.

"Just as the partner program empowered creators to take their channels to the next level, we look forward to seeing how this great community of creators moves ahead with a new way to reach the fan communities that made their channels a hit. You'll be hearing more from us, and them, as we get creator and user feedback and build out this exciting offering.

Content creators who are interested in building their own paid channel can fill out a sign up form.

While there are 53 channels in the Paid Channels pilot program, that's still an incredibly small percentage of the more than a million creators from over 30 countries around the world earning money from their YouTube videos. So, the vast majority of YouTube Partners are likely to continue monetizing their content with advertising.

That's why YouTube recently announced that the video-sharing website had hit the incredible milestone of 1 billion unique monthly visitors. The company also announced that more than 6 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube each month.

And that's why YouTube made this announcement at their Brandcast event for advertisers in New York. The amount of money to be made from advertising dwarfs the amount to be made from subscriptions. That event included a tribute to "Our YouTube Community."

Nevertheless, one-size does not fit all. So, in addition to its efforts to boost advertising from brands like T-Mobile, Samsung, Dove and Pepsi, YouTube is also offering more flexibility in monetizing and distributing content.

The cable TV industry offers a similar mix of paid and basic channels. And its worth noting that Nielsen says that YouTube reaches more U.S. adults ages 18-34 than any cable network.

A Handy Guide for Marketing a Small Business on YouTube

By Devon Glenn at Social Times: 

YouTube newbies should check out The Small Business Guide to YouTube, a helpful microsite that shows a step-by-step guide for getting started with YouTube marketing. Created by Simply Business, this one-page destination covers everything from creating good content to preventing legal issues.

With so many instructions to read through on YouTube’s help board, this site speeds up the process by briefly summarizing all the FAQs on one page and then making detailed answers easy to find. The page is designed as a flow chart that takes you through a series of “yes” or “no” questions that lead to the answers, which are outlined in a slide show presentation. It starts with the basics — “Do you know how to create a YouTube account?” — and moves into more complicated territory, like the various monetization options and how to measure your success in YouTube analytics. Every time you answer “no,” you’ll see a new slide that’s filled with checklists, videos, and links to articles to fill you in on what you don’t already know. (And who doesn’t love saying no?)

Click image to open interactive version (via Simply Business).