YouTube as Search Engine

Posted on by Alex M. Hochberger, MBA

YouTube is the Second Largest Search Engine.

People go straight to YouTube, looking for content.  In addition, content on YouTube filters into Google Video Search and Google Video Results on the “All” results page, but YouTube searches themselves are increasingly valuable.

Is your Brand Utilizing YouTube Properly?

YouTube Channels Matter

You definitely need a YouTube Channel, and that Channel should be optimized on your name.  When you are uploading videos, you want to make certain that people looking for you find your official page.  (Yes you can create multiple YouTube Channels, but how and why you’d do that is a more advanced topic).

Your Name, images, description, all these things matter.  Setting up your Brand Account is critical if you want to share access with others, or separate your professional and business life, and you can learn about Brand Accounts from Google, Manage your Brand Account.

YouTube Video Optimization Matters

If you are competing on a competitive generic phrase, you can spend endless hours working on learning SEO both on your website and on YouTube as a platform.  For Basics, you want to focus on the core areas of ranking:

  • Use the Brand Keyword in the Title
  • Compelling Thumbnail and Title that encourages people to click on your video
  • Say Your Target Keyword (so it gets transcribed)
  • Invite people to comment and subscribe in the video
  • Ask People to Subscribe to the channel
  • Promote Your Video to get Views (on your Blog, on Twitter, in your Email Signature, everywhere)

YouTube Can and Will Drive Quality Traffic

YouTube gets people looking for entertainment and information.  If your video offers either, it’s a great way to promote your brand, and a great way to engage with your customers, clients, and prospects.

 

2016 Politics Rewriting Branding Script

Posted on by Alex M. Hochberger, MBA

Every election cycle has had a “new technology” story.  In 2000, the addition of a website was exciting.  In 2004, it was the use of Websites to fund-raise rapidly instead of relying on slower direct mail.  In 2008, social media was new with a method for engagement of passionate followers.  In 2012, campaigns broadcast with their followers, amplifying their messages.  In 2016, the social media campaign was the campaign.

The Democratic Party’s edge in online marketing was eclipsed by GOP Efforts to build a massive digital operation over the past year.  The President-Elect’s background in Brand Marketing has brought this to the forefront, but the rewriting of election campaigning has already begun.  Twitter’s dominant presence in journalism led to a redefinition of the news cycle in 2016.

While 2012 features television ads shared on YouTube with the occasional “web only commercial,” 2016 focused on partisan media plays created in the run-up to the election and a person-to-person social media based news fight through election day.

Partisans were able to form like minded communities in the 2016 social media world, in a stronger manner than the engagement was with the prior world of forums and dedicated posts.  Contrast the 2004 – 2008 election cycles, where partisan groups like Daily Kos dominated the conversation of partisans but were ignored, to the 2016 cycle where Democrats and Republicans seemed to exist in separate worlds for months.

While a Presidential Election may be an extreme event, the methods by which brands will connect with their followers will continue to evolve.  But the power of social media to drive the national discussion seemed overstated as recently as 2014, and now seems obvious.

Ad Effectiveness Higher on Content Sites

Posted on by Alex M. Hochberger, MBA

For branding, it appears that advertising on Content Sites is 21% more effective than on Portals and through Ad Networks.  This seams like good news, as the consolidation of Traffic on the Internet has undermined the small is beautiful of the gold rush era.  An advertiser needing to spend a $1,000,000 budget doesn’t have the ability to cherry pick places to spend ads without spending expensive employee resources finding sites, but a niche player looking to advertise can identify where their traffic is and has an edge.

Portals and Ad Networks generally charge higher CPM rates for apparently inferior results.  This ought to give hope to independents that targetted advertisement can give results.  Let the big guys spent $8 CPM running ads across networks, you can get 21% more effective results at $3-$4 CPM rates, and the local content players will be thrilled compared to the $1-$2 they get through the networks… it’s not that networks take a 75%, they take a 25%-50% cut and then don’t sell the inventory.

And if you like developing unique content, don’t despair, your advertising inventory is increasing in value!