Where once we saw Twitter set itself apart from Facebook as an information network rather than a social network, recent updates to the model indicate the contrary.

As social media platforms continue to evolve, they often appear to take the good features from each other’s models and integrate them into their own offering. The following features in particular illustrate that Twitter is attempting to challenge Facebook’s supremacy by becoming more like Facebook!

Profile Pages

In terms of design, Twitter has started to look a lot more like Facebook since the recent launch of its new design. With the addition of video and photo sharing features within every user’s profile, Twitter is moving closer to the ‘profile page’ style which exists within Facebook and Google Plus, and further away from its original information network model, where a user’s page was primarily a list of tweets. User information such as favourites, lists and images now appear in the upper left-hand side of the page, similar to Facebook.

Brand Pages

YouTube is now considered to be the second largest search engine after Google. With over 90 million unique monthly visitors and an average monthly view time of 54 hours per user, this platform is better for marketers than ever before.

It’s therefore surprising that YouTube is sometimes overlooked by businesses when considering an Internet Marketing strategy. Videos only take a few minutes to upload and the results can be significant yet many businesses in Northern Ireland seem to be missing out on YouTube’s online marketing value. YouTube can visibly promote your product or service in a creative way, but it is also a valuable tool for Search Engine Optimisation and analytics:

Search Engine Optimisation Value

Google puts high SEO importance on video content. With little effort your videos can easily out-rank competitor websites, top directories and article sites, often appearing on the first page. Google owns YouTube, so this alone increases its SEO value but there is also much opportunity to include links, tags and keywords in the description section.

YouTube Ads

The promoted video feature on Youtube brings the power of search advertising with keyword-based targeting. YouTube Promoted Videos work on the same basis as Google Adwords but are much better value for money. Target your video campaign with keywords and pay only when someone clicks to watch your video. This will drive potential customers to your videos where a ‘call to action’ overlay will link back to your website.

Analytics

Take advantage of YouTube’s Insights, an analytics tool that provides information such as demographics, abandonment rate, re-winds and fast-forwards. YouTube Insights will identify the exact point viewers leave your video and which scenes within the video are proving to be most popular.

Going Viral

48 hours of video content is loaded to YouTube every minute, therefore viral video marketing is in fact very difficult to achieve. Forget ‘going viral’ and think quality, not quantity. It’s important to focus on targeting your video to the correct market. A high number of visits isn’t as important as reaching the right customers. 

If you’re serious about using YouTube as an internet marketing tool, then do your research. Find your niche, discover what’s hot, identify current video trends and recognise good ideas for video content.

Online Market Research

Test your audience before your video goes live by running two different unlisted videos backed by search ads to determine which one gets the best response. An unlisted video will not appear on any of YouTube’s public spaces. Only people with a link to the video will be able to view it.

The comments box below your video can be used as online focus group testing. These comments will provide valuable insight into the products or services you’re promoting. Interact with viewers by answering comments or enquiries about your videos. This will not only create creditability but also encourages viewers to return leaving new comments, ratings and more views.

For more information on YouTube marketing and seo, contact us on info@thewebbureau.com

The Web Bureau has opened new offices in Belfast with creation of 5 new jobs.

The company which employs 14 staff offers web design, e-commerce and bespoke web software to private and public sector organisations both locally and internationally and has witnessed sales double in the last three years. Pictured At the official opening of the new premises on Montgomery Road are Directors Colin Graham and Paul Haslam. Read the full details on Business First Online.