YouTube is much more than a video site. Google enjoys 63% of the search engine market and of that, YouTube (owned by Google) accounts for 25%. With Yahoo at 11% and Bing at 9%, YouTube is the second largest search engine. It has over 300,000,000 user accounts and is the second largest social media website after Facebook.

YouTube’s search algorithm includes: title, description, tags, number of views, user rating and incoming links. All of these elements can be influenced by either the video producer or the viewer, and will determine the placement in YouTube and Google’s search listings. YouTube and Google absolutely influence each other. The higher your video ranks in Google, the more views it will receive, and the better it will rank on YouTube. The better your video ranks on YouTube, the higher it will rank in Google.

Optimization with Keywords and Meta Data

Google cannot read the content within videos, so you must include as much supportive content as possible. You describe the content by the use of incoming link text (if you link to your video from your website), title tags, description, and any words found on the pages surrounding it. The correct use of keywords is the most important influencer to getting more views on YouTube. Optimize the YouTube page of your video in the same way you would for a regular web page. Make sure that the keywords and text that you use to describe your YouTube videos match the keywords which you want to be ranked on in YouTube’s and Google’s search results.

The title of the video needs to describe the video in as few words as possible. For maximum SEO, place keywords to the left. Treat the tags on your video like you would the meta keywords on your html page. Make sure you repeat the keywords from your title in your description. Include a clickable URL to your website in the first line of the description tag. For each video you post, create unique titles, descriptions and tags, even with similar videos, as this will create “unique” content for the search engines to crawl.

Embed the Video on Your Website

Embed the videos that you host on YouTube onto your own website to optimize ranking. Google’s algorithms takes into account how many times a video has been viewed, and any views from your website will be added to the views on YouTube. Create a separate text-optimized page for each video on your site as the content provided by the text on those pages will help the search engines determine the information contained in your video. If possible, don’t embed multiple videos on one page. This is viewed as duplicate content and hurts the individual ranking of each video. Surround your videos with a descriptions and link to your YouTube page using your keywords.

To Google, the number of links describes popularity and link text describes what the video is really about. One way Google can measure the accuracy of your content claims is by evaluate the link text used to describe your video. Not only the number of links but the quality of theses links matter to Google. Websites with high page ranking that link to your video will positively impact your ranking.

Thumbnails, Branding and Call to Action

Make sure to consider the thumbnails of your video. YouTube pulls thumbnails from the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 marks of your video. Having a strong, attractive thumbnail will motivate the user to choose your video over the others. Remember first impressions count. Open your video with a title, logo and URL. Also consider using constant in-video branding and a call to action throughout the entire video. Keep in mind that YouTube watermarks the bottom right corner with their logo don’t use that area for branding. Close with a slide 10 seconds long with the same information that you used at the opening of your video to  remind the viewer of your brand and URL.

Use Subtitles and Captioning on Videos

Captions and subtitles make videos accessible to a wider audience. It’s optional but strongly encouraged to make your videos available to as many people as possible. “Google believes that the world of information must be accessible to all,” said vice-president of Google, Vint Cerf, 66, who has used a hearing aid since age 13. Captions are in the same language as the video’s audio track, and subtitles are in a different language. Also utilize the annotation feature to highlight certain areas of your video.

Social Networking and Video

After your video has been posted, embedded, and optimized, you need to place it where people will see it, and hopefully circulate it through their networks. Encourage participation by enabling all the features on YouTube. Ratings and comments will help with search ranking so be sure to enable these features. Another way to increase traffic to your video is by using the share link underneath the video. You can post to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Digg, and StumbleUpon. You can also copy the link to share on IM or email.

If you have more than one video, create a channel. It is a public page on YouTube that you can brand with your colours and a background image containing your logo, URL and other information. Here you can create playlists, favourite videos, and subscribe to other channels. This will help to create a community around your videos, where people can subscribe, comment, and view your subscriptions and favourites.

As with any other social media on the web, you need to get involved by commenting on others videos, replying back to comments, and posting video replies to popular videos. If people like what you have to say they will follow your link back to your video channel.

YouTube has a enormous presence on the Internet and is very closely tied to Google. Make sure you put as much attention into optimizing your video content as you would any other online content. The proper optimization will make sure your video is accessible to the largest audience possible.

Comments on your blog are awesome and you want to encourage people to respond as much as possible. It gives your blog life and offers an opportunity to interact with your readers/customers. Comments provide feedback on what customers think about your products, services, organization or opinions, all of which is valuable information you are receiving absolutely free.

How you respond to their comments, especially negative comments, is an extension of your online brand and people will take note. As in life, whenever I receive opinions or comments that differ from mine, I use some basic strategies to take the heat out of the situation and improve communication.

Don’t Take It So Personally

It’s important not to take comments personally and to understand the intended message. Assume that the person had good intentions and did not communicate their message accurately. Perhaps they are just trying to correct what they believe is incorrect information or convey a valid point in a tone that got away from them.

Sometimes people have unreasonably strong reactions which may have little to do with you. Without going all Freudian on you, don’t assume that because a visitor is complaining about you, that they are actually talking about you at all. They may be reacting to a personal issue of which you are completely unaware.

Different opinions and perspectives are what spark debate and discussion, and this is an important element in successful blogging. All conversations give you a chance to build a strong relationship with your readers. Not censoring their comments – even if they are negative – demonstrates that you respect their opinions and are open-minded.

What To Do About Negative Comments

Respond to the comment rather than react. Take the time you need to craft a response that will turn the negative comment into a positive one. Thank them for their feedback and encourage them to continue being an active participant on your blog. Or take the time to explain how you are improving your customer service. Treating them with kindness and humility will earn the respect of all your readers.

If the person has a legitimate point, start with that. If the reader is criticizing any aspect of your business or organization, address their concern. Again this gives you another opportunity to provide further details and explain your company’s policies and procedures. You may also take the conversation offline and respond in a private email.

If the comment has inaccurate information, respectively provide the correct information. If you, in fact, posted inaccurate information, admit it and apologize. It happens to the best of us.

Now, if the person is not interested in a discussion and is just looking to start a fight, do not engage. But ignore their comment rather than delete it. Censoring angry customers just enrages them further and kicks them into overdrive. Besides, some of your readers might even step in and defend you which adds credibility to your company. However, personally I would delete comments that are name-calling, personal attacks or use hate language. Make sure you enable spam filters that eliminate hate language, obscenities, along with other comment spam.

Haters Increase Your Ranking

Why yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Search engines love comments, both positive and negative. Search engines see them as new content and new backlinks which makes you rank higher. A fundamental criterion used by YouTube to rank videos is the number of comments. As long as these complainers are increasing your organization’s online visibility, who cares what they are saying?

Besides, allowing negative comments will encourage online conversation, turning your blog from a sales brochure to a powerful online communication tool that will increase readership and RSS subscriptions.

Any comments?

Reading Paul Chaney’s book “The Digital Handshake” I came across the 90-9-1 Rule for Participation Inequality. Basically it states that:
90 percent of users are audience member
They are consumers of online content. Surfing, reading and viewing online content that others have created. They are listening but are not participating.
9 percent of users are editors
They are listening and casually participating. They will comment on, share, vote and tag items. They will express their preferences and opinions and occasionally post to blogs or social media. They view blogging and social media a low priority, however they are engaged and adding value to existing conversations.
1 percent of users are creators
They are driving new content and starting the conversations. They encourage others to contribute.

I found that a surprising breakdown and realized that a casual commitment to online content moves one from an audience member to an editor. With solid commitment and meaningful content one can become an influential content creator.

With an estimated 1,733,993,741 internet users, that is one large potential readership!

Sources:
www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html
www.90-9-1.com
www.internetworldstats.com
www.thedigitalhandshake.com

The brand is the heart and soul of the company. It describes who you are, what you do and how you do it. It’s important that the entire team work in unison to present the brand consistently across all marketing channels.

Having and following a Brand Manual will help build both brand equity and awareness. It will explain the message of the brand, helping to express your company’s culture and character. This will result in greater control of its representation in the market.

When dealing with marketers, advertisers, designers, photographers and printers, the brand manual will ensure that they fully understand your message. You will avoid inappropriate use and positioning of logos, careless handling of style elements, incorrect colours, and an inconsistent message. It will safeguard the true design and character of your brand.

Elements a Brand Manual address are:

• Brand description – The story and values of your company and brand.
• Logo – A visual list of the proper usage of the brand and logo. Placement and sizing should remain consistent within each communication vehicle (e.g., website, email campaigns, stationary, brochures, etc.)
• Tone – It’s what you say and how you say it. Are you straightforward and reassuring or cheeky and playful?
• Color – Colour plays a large role in memory retrieval and increases brand recognition. You want to make sure that a consistent colour palette is used.
• Images – The look and feel of all images should be similar in style and support the brand positioning. Does the brand utilize photographs or illustrations?
• Typography – A description of what fonts are used in, how often, and in what contexts.

Using a Brand Manual will protect the consistency of your brand, improve customer confidence, increase your profile and enhance your competitive advantage. You will spend less time worrying about the details, giving you more time to focus on the big picture.

The main objective of a logo is to be instantly recognizable, inspire trust, gain loyalty and to position an implied superiority. It is one aspect of your company’s brand and must be relevant but strikingly unique from other logo’s in the same market niche.

Key considerations for your logo;

Simplicity

Your logo should make a statement about your company, starting with a concept. The simpler the logo the easier the intended message will be to communicate. Your logo can have some detailed features but it should be simple enough to make a quick and powerful impression.

Remarkable

Your logo can strengthen your company’s image and give you an advantage over the competition. Distinctive features are necessary to construct a logo that people will remember, and engage your audience. When viewing your logo you want future customers to quickly recognize it, comprehend your message and distinguish you from the competition, most importantly, they should remember you.

Flexible

Your logo should work across a variety of media such as web sites and in various printed applications. For this reason a logo should be designed and supplied in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo should work both in horizontal and vertical formats.

Colour

Colour has a strong emotional effect on people because of association. For example green is associated with the environment as well as associated with sickness and green with red indicates Christmas. You want to make sure you have the appropriate color and shade to reinforce your message.

The next time a customer needs your kind of business, your company will be chosen because of it’s brand recognition.