Biz Tips...
DRIVING MORE VIDEO THRU SOCIAL MEDIA

Each day, more than 150 years worth of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook, an increase of 2.5 times the amount viewed a year ago. What’s more, every minute Web users are sending more than 500 tweets containing YouTube links, tripling over last year, according to stats from YouTube.

Indeed, video is growing more social. Plus, YouTube has said that 100 million people take a social action each week on YouTube, which could range from likes to shares to comments.

Given the symbiotic links between social media and online video, how can brands and marketers boost their video performance with social tools? Mark Robertson, founder of ReelVideo and the Web site ReelSEO , shared some best practices.

For starters, brands may find it effective to drive video viewers to social channels with links and information in the video on the brand’s social presence, or even with bonus videos or footage on a brand’s Facebook page. That can increase exposure and brand awareness, he said. “If the viewer then engages with the brand on social channels – on the video site like YouTube and on other social channels – it will likely assist the video’s performance as well as many SEO signals [which] are now tied to social interactivity,” Robertson said.

Annotations in the video can also drive views and interactions because they can encourage social actions, such as liking a page. “Content owners can remind and encourage YouTubers to thumbs-up, subscribe, etc., which can increase social interaction within YouTube,” he said, adding that YouTube has even said that its search algorithm favors videos that drive traffic to other videos, playlists, channels, or subscriptions via linked annotations.

Brands can also drive social fans to video with regular and easily accessible videos on a social page, or can incentivize existing social fans with additional video, such as exclusive clips. “Content is key with social in that the video content brands expose to social audiences could be uniquely created for that audience,” Robertson added.

Don’t forget to keep the videos short. Videos between 15 seconds generate the most clickthroughs in the social world, followed by videos just over 60 seconds, according to Jun Group stats.

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