Social Media Marketing Workbook 2019

by Adam Schaffner

  You should also make sure the imagery looks good for several different devices, but YouTube gives you a hand with that: when you choose the photo you want in your header, you will be able to see how it looks on a desktop, TV, and mobile, and adjust the crop for it to look good in all three options.

  Home

  A YouTube profile has six different tabs, the first one being the equivalent of a website’s Homepage. On this page, there is a column where you can add your other YouTube accounts (a lot of YouTubers have a second account, with videos that don’t fit in with the style of their main channel), as well as a list of related channels, i.e., a constant promo of other creators of your choice: maybe friends of yours who are also on YouTube or people you have met through the platform who you regularly collab with.

  When you go to edit the main part of this page, you will see a drop-down list of content you can add to it, from which you can choose as many as you want. You can also choose how you want this content to be displayed: horizontally or vertically. So, on your profile homepage you can have:

  Videos

  Your most popular videos, that is, the ones with the most views. They will be ordered from most viewed to least viewed.

  Your uploads, that will show up in order of upload date.

  Videos from other creators which you have “liked.”

  Your posted videos.

  A live stream happening in that moment.

  Your next live streams, so people know when to go on your profile and watch them.

  Your previous live streams, for people who did not have the chance to watch them in real time.

  Playlists

  Playlists you have previously created.

  A unique playlist, which can be a list that someone else created on their profile, so long as you have the URL to that playlist.

  Saved playlists. The options that will show up for this one are all the lists from other creators you have ever saved while logged in to your account.

  Several playlists, that you can create on the spot.

  Published playlists that you have posted before.

  Channels

  YouTube channels that you are subscribed to.

  Personalized groups created by yourself with the creators you want.

  Others

  Recent activity.

  Recent messages.

  Videos

  The second tab on your profile is called “Videos” and it is simply a list of all the videos you have ever posted, ordered either by upload date or by how popular they have gotten.

  Playlists

  Next, you have the “Playlists” tab. Here you will have all the playlists you create.

  Channels

  The fourth tab is related to channels and it shows the channels you are subscribed to. Here you can also add a link to your secondary channels.

  Community

  The Community tab is a very recent addition to YouTube - it was introduced in 2018 - and it works like a feed where you can make posts that are not videos. You can choose to post text, or to complement it with an image, a GIF or a link to a YouTube video (yours or not) or to an external website. These posts will show up in your subscribers homepage, in between video posts, and they can like and comment on them.

  About

  The last tab is the one where you can add all your info: the “About.” You can add a description of your channel and let people know what type of content they can expect to see; your business email, for any potential sponsors or partners to get in touch with you (or your manager); your location; and any links you want, such as your website or your profiles on other social media platforms. When other people visit your “About” tab they will also see the date when you first joined YouTube and the total number of views on your channel (and they will also have the option to report your account, but if you do everything as you should this is something you will not have to worry about).

  Posting a Video

  The main type of content you will be posting on YouTube is video. To do so, you will need to click the little video camera icon on the upper right corner of the website, and then select the file you will upload, which can be multiple formats (.mov, .mp4 and .avi are just a few of them) and should be horizontally oriented, with a ratio of 16:9. The dimensions can vary and they will determine the quality of video that will be available for the viewers. People will only be able to watch your videos on the worst quality available (240p) if a video is 426 pixels by 240 pixels. If you want your videos to be available on standard quality (480p), your video should be 854 pixels by 480 pixels; and, if you want them to be available on the highest quality (2160p), post them as 3840 pixels by 2160 pixels.

  Once your video is uploaded, you can add the basic information (name, description and tags), translations for subtitles if you want it to be viewed by people who speak a different language than the one used in the video, and advanced settings regarding:

  Comments: if you allow anyone to comment, if you want comments with inappropriate language to be automatically deleted, or if you want the comment section to be disabled.

  License and property rights: where you can choose between YouTube’s standard license or Creative Commons license. The first one states that you own the video and you give YouTube the permission to have it on their platform and share it, while by opting for the second one you allow other creators to use any part of the video for their own content.

  Distribution options: if you allow other people to embed your video on their website, if you want the video to appear on your subscribers feed, and if you want people with the notifications on for your videos to receive a notification for that specific video.

  Age restrictions: in case your video is not appropriate for minors. When a video is age restricted it gets automatically demonetized.

  Category.

  Language.

  Community contributions: if you want viewers to be able to contribute to the translation of your titles, descriptions, and subtitles in their own languages.

  Recording date.

  Content declaration: which, according to YouTube’s Ad Policy, you are obligated to check in case your video has any paid endorsements.

  You will also have the chance to choose the video’s thumbnail, which is the image people see when your video shows up on their feed. YouTube will suggest frames of your video but, if you verify the phone number associated with your account, you get to upload any customized thumbnail you want (must be 1280 pixels by 720 pixels).

  Once you publish the video, people will be able to give it a thumbs up if they like it, a thumbs down if they don’t, share to specific people on YouTube (suggestions based on the email addresses you have contacted through Gmail) and to other social media platforms. They will also be able to save the video (on one of their YouTube playlists) and to comment on it, as long as you don’t have that option disabled.

  Youtube Ads

  Is there such a thing as a social media platform without paid posts? Just like on the other three social networks covered before, business and personal brands can invest to advertise on YouTube. There are six types of ads you can create there:

  Non-skippable video ads: these ads are between 15 and 20 seconds long and the viewer is forced to watch them, if they want to be able to watch the content they clicked on.

  TrueView ads: these ads are skippable after 5 seconds and you only have to pay if the viewer watches 30 seconds. Considering most people skip the ads as soon as they can (unless those first 5 seconds are exquisite), financially this is a safe bet for you. TrueView ads can be In-Stream - the ones that appear before, during or after a video - or Discovery - the ones that appear on YouTube’s SERPs, on the Watch page, and on YouTube’s homepage. TrueView ads are the most commonly used on YouTube.

  Bumpers: six second videos that are also non-skippable and also play before, during or after a video.

  In-display ads: when you open a YouTube video, there is a column of suggestions for the next video you should watch. On top o
f those suggestions, you might see a paid video - that is a Display ad. These videos should be 300 pixels by 250 pixels or 300 pixels by 60 pixels.

  Overlay ads: these are those banners you often see on the bottom of the player when you open a video and you can make them disappear by clicking on the cross icon on the upper right corner. The dimensions for these banners should either be 468 pixels by 60 pixels, or 728 pixels by 90 pixels.

  Sponsored cards: this last type of YouTube ad consists of the small cards with a CTA that sometimes appear when you are watching a video, and then automatically disappear after a while (unless the viewer clicked the cross on the right upper corner before). The dimensions of these cards can vary.

  To start advertising on YouTube:

  Go on Google Adwords.

  Start a new campaign.

  Choose between the standard delivery method (that shows your ads in a way that allows your budget to be distributed evenly throughout the days) or the accelerated one (which shows your ads as quickly as possible, from the moment you activate it).

  Choose your network settings.

  Choose your advanced settings: the start and end date, the ad rotation and the frequency (how many times a day your ad should play).

  Youtube Statistics 2018

  In 2018, YouTube was the second largest social media network (after Facebook) (Aslam, 2019).

  There is 1.9 billion users visiting YouTube each month (Aslam, 2019).

  Every minute, 300 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube by 50 million creators (Aslam, 2019).

  There are 5 billion videos being watched every day (Aslam, 2019). In other words, 150 million hours (Aslam, 2019).

  There are 76 languages available on YouTube (Aslam, 2019).

  Users spend an average of 8 minutes and 41 seconds on YouTube every day (Cooper, 2019).

  70% of YouTube’s views are on mobile devices (Cooper, 2019).

  Compared to 2016, there are double the small and medium sized businesses advertising on YouTube (Cooper, 2019).

  Personal Branding on Youtube in 2019

  With video being such an effective type of content, there is space for everyone on YouTube. That becomes clear when we see how many people post on it. We see some creators become rich and famous thanks to YouTube and that makes us want to try.

  But, because there are so many people on it, it is easy to get lost in the middle of so much content. So how can you stand out from all the other YouTubers?

  Create good thumbnails

  Thumbnails are the images that show up for your video when it is not playing (on YouTube’s homepage or social media snippets when it is shared, for instance). They constitute a big part of why the user decides to watch your video or not, so you should definitely think them through in order to get as many views as possible.

  Get a general template for your thumbnails so that it is easier for you to build them, and so that your profile does not look like a mess when someone visits your “Videos” tab. When it is time to make one for a specific video, try to use visuals and text that would make you get really curious and click. A good way of doing this is by using clickbait, that is, an over exaggeration of the content of the video (a couple of popular ones are “You won’t believe what happened!” and “She/He said what?!”). Don’t get too crazy with it though, otherwise people will just see you as someone who would say any lie just to get views. If you attract people and make them click play, you need to deliver great content.

  Keep your video lists organized

  If you have all your videos organized in lists, according to the topic you are covering or what type of content it is, the viewer will get to your profile and, first of all, get a clear idea of what he or she can expect to see from you; and secondly, if they have any specific topic in mind that they want to know more about, it will be way easier for them to find it. Remember that people don’t want to have to spend a lot of time looking for the content they want, so if you have it easily available, the chances of you getting more views increases.

  Use the Community tab

  On YouTube, the big networking component of personal branding is a little bit harder to do than on other platforms. However, the Community tab was created to fill that void and it is definitely something to look at. So take full advantage of it: create text posts if you need to clarify anything, answer questions or just want to share some news; polls if you want to ask something to your subscribers, like what kind of content they would like to see from you in the future; images if you want to show new products or a sneak peek of future content; and GIFs to show your feelings and make your profile more fun and appealing. Make it worth it!

  For Inspiration: a Youtube Branding Success

  Liza Koshy did not start her online career on YouTube, but she is now one of the biggest content creators on the video platform and is slowly but surely making the transition from internet celebrity to “real” celebrity.

  She currently has over 16 million subscribers on her main channel and over 7 million on her second channel. You see throughout her time on YouTube how much her content quality has evolved, from her 12 minute video introducing herself in 2015 to her show on YouTube Premium, Liza on Demand. However, something that did not ever change was her personality and that (along with creative, fun and well-edited content) is probably the biggest secret to her huge success.

  She uses appealing thumbnails combined with clickbait, which makes everyone want to click and watch. She has good imagery, a complete bio and she updates her Community tab, making sure to use photos and GIFs to make the posts more engaging. She has won a number of awards, is now an actress and a TV host, and has a net worth of 4 million dollars, so… it works!

  Chapter 11: Social Media Strategy Worksheet

  Who do I want to talk to? Who is my target audience?

  Which social media platforms am I going to use?

  Instagram

  Facebook

  Twitter

  YouTube

  What are my goals for each of them?

  Platform

  Goals

  Am I going to invest in ads?

  Platform

  Type of ad

  Budget

  Goals

  Facebook

  Instagram

  Which thought leaders should I follow?

  Am I going to use any tools to aid me on the management of my pages?

  What are my KPIs for each platform?

  Chapter 12: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  SEO (which stands for Search Engine Optimization) is an essential part of any brand that wants to grow their online presence, be it a personal brand or a business one, simply because we all use search engines (93% of website traffic is due to the use of search engines), but none of us really ever go on the second page of SERPs (75% of users never actually do it), unless it is an absolute necessity. This means that you should do everything in your power to be on the first page of results, ideally on the top of the list, so the user does not even have to scroll down to find you.

  SEO Statistics 2018

  SEO has a conversion rate of 14,6% (Nikolovska, 2019).

  One search session typically lasts less than one minute (Jian, 2018). Understand why you need to be as high up on the list of results as possible?

  43% of people state that they will do research on their phones even when they are already at the store, (almost) ready to buy something (Nikolovska, 2019).

  There are more than 73 000 searches happening on Google in just one second (1 Second - Internet Live Stats, n.d.).

  81% of people do some research and read reviews before they spend money on something expensive (Ahern, 2019).

  70% of people pay way more attention to the organic search results than the paid ones, when they make an online research (Nikolovska, 2019).

  SEO for Personal Branding

  SEO can be on-page and off-page and, although a lot of people tend to focus on the first one, the off-page is probably the most important part. Here is what
each of them encompasses. On-page SEO includes things that the user can see, such as the URL, the metadata and the images; while off-page SEO refers to what’s behind the scenes of the website, like link building and guest blogging.

  There is a specific type of SEO that can help you with your personal branding, conveniently called Personal SEO. It applies not only to your website, but also to your social media networks. In fact, I have already given you a few SEO suggestions in the chapters before, such as keeping the “About” tab on your profiles complete and using hashtags. But there is more to it than that.

  Research the best keywords for your area of expertise

  Google Adwords is a free, easy to understand tool that you can use to find the right words and expressions to use in your profiles and website in order to generate traffic. Ubersuggest, a tool created by Neil Patel (an entrepreneur and analytics expert, whose personal branding strategies are definitely also worth taking a look at) is also a really good option, which has been updated with new features recently, the newest one being the chance to have a better understanding of how your competitors are using their keywords and using that as inspiration, simply by typing the competitors domain on the tool.