Encourage Comments

Comments are the number one place for you to receive feedback from your viewers.  But don’t just sit there and wait for the comments to come rolling in.  Remember, you can ask your viewers questions in your videos and ask them to respond in the comments.  This is a great way to engage them in conversation, make them feel involved in the creative process and personalize the YouTube viewing experience.

Ray William Johnson is a good example of a YouTuber that engages viewers through comments in his weekly viral video roundup show, Equals 3.  He asks his viewers to post random questions as video responses (which we’ll talk more about below) and chooses the best ones to share with his viewers and asks them to answer in the comments.  The best answers are showcased in Ray’s next video.  Check out the “Comment Question of the Day” in Ray’s most recent video below.  It begins at 3:15.

Encourage Video Responses

Video responses are another great way to get your viewers involved in conversation with you and your videos.  Viewers can post video responses via the comment form, and their videos are showcased below your video on the YouTube page.  You can ask your viewers a question and have them post video responses.  To make them feel really involved in the creative process, add the best responses to future clips, making your fans part of your videos.

Again, Ray William Johnson is a great example of a YouTuber using video responses.  Check out a fan that posted a wannabe “Comment Question Of The Day” below.  We’ll see if this comment question makes it to Ray’s next Equals 3 video.

Plan Contests

Looking for interesting ways to engage your viewers?  Stage a contest!  You can make up any kind of contest and invite your viewers to enter by writing comments, posting video responses, sending you pictures, or anything.

YouTube celeb ShayCarl started a weight loss competition after he lost a lot of weight and saw how it affected viewers and how they changed their lives as a result.  Check out the video explaining his ShayLoss weight loss competition below.  What’s cool about the video is that ShayCarl asks his viewers for their input on the contest rules.  He’s engaging his viewers, opening up a conversation and inviting his fans to be a part of the creative process.

Utilize Moderator

Back in May, YouTube integrated with Google Moderator to help push conversation between content creators and fans.  Moderator on YouTube connects content creators with their audiences so that creators can ask for feedback, suggestions, ideas and more.  How does it work?  Content creators set the parameters for dialogue and fans can leave comments, vote up other people’s ideas and more.

To understand how Moderator can be used on YouTube, check out the video and screenshot below from YouTube celeb Michael Buckley, AKA WhatTheBuck, which was released in May after YouTube made Moderator available to users.

Open Communication Channels Outside Of YouTube

Don’t rely only on YouTube features like commenting, video responses and moderator for communication with your audience.  It is important to open up communication through outside channels as well.

If you haven’t already, open a Twitter account and link to it from your YouTube profile.  Encourage your fans to follow you.  Engage through Twitter by posting links to your videos, encouraging feedback and asking questions.  Create a Facebook fan page for your YouTube channel, show or personality as well and ask your viewers to “like” you.  Share links and engage with questions via your Facebook profile as well.  Twitter and Facebook give your fans yet another way to get in touch with you, provide feedback, ask you questions and get to know you on a more personal level.

If you create web videos, what are some ways you like to engage with your fans?  As a viewer, do you find yourself more drawn in to online videos in which the creator is more accessible and engaging on a personal level?

ON24 anticipates that the new social platform will greatly increase engagement and satisfaction on the site.  The new social features, particularly Twitter integration, are bound to drive more traffic to webcasts, as well as to drive traffic to the hosts’ websites.  Not only will this increase brand awareness for webcasting hosts, but will also give them the opportunity to communicate more freely with their viewers and develop stronger relationships with current and potential customers.  Because of these benefits Mark Szelenyi, Director of Product Marketing at ON24, expects to raise the premium charge for the service by about 50 percent.

The new social webcasting platform will go into beta release later on this week.  The platform has been in development and testing for about a year, and will be in a beta testing phase until the end of May.  At that point, the site intends to make the platform available to all customers.

In the past I have been let down by webcasts and live streaming broadcasts because I felt that although I was watching live I was still an outsider, watching on in silence.  Social features, such as those added by ON24, should do a lot to boost the success of webcasting, engaging viewers by giving them a voice and helping to build the relationship between hosts and their audiences.

Have you felt isolated by webcasts in the past?  How do you think ON24’s new social features will contribute to engagement?

If you’re in interactive marketing today, it would be logical to assume that based on the tremendous growth in usage of Social Networking tools, you can ride the wave of interest to reach more people within a trusted network and get your message across within established groups.
Not so fast!

I thought it would be valuable to give you some food for thought if you’re thinking about jumping into the social networking pool by shedding some light on the morning activity of one couple who has fully integrated the use of social networks into their day. My wife Michelle and I are the couple, by the way. This will act both as a catharsis for me and probably make me the butt of many long-running jokes for anyone who knows me personally. I will not describe my entire day to recoup any semblance of having a life outside computers. To fill in the blanks repeat the morning routine throughout the day. That said, here is one picture of an audience you may be missing in your reach for brand awareness and conversions:

* 5:30 AM: My daughter wakes us with a blood curdling scream. Michelle is up and jumps onto Facebook to see if anyone commented on the photos she posted of our wedding 6 years ago. (Yes, she took care of our daughter first.)

* 5:45 AM: I smell coffee. Come downstairs (this is not a Folgers commercial). Hip-check Michelle off the laptop in the kitchen. Check e-mail (work and home), scan the front pages of four daily publications, and go to Facebook. A few people I’m loosely affiliated with have posted 25 things about themselves. I hate chain letters yet for some reason have no problem when it’s called “Notes” in Facebook. Damn you Facebook! I declare my random thought for the day via setting a status.

* 6:30 AM: Driving to work. BBC World Roundup is giving me a false sense of intelligence (thank you British accent). My phone buzzes. My friend David interrupted the BBC to ask me which song I’m listening to. He is responding to my status update. Am I willing to risk your life and mine to respond to this inane question while driving? You bet. (As an aside I started to wait for Red lights.)

* 7:00 AM: I smell coffee again at Starbucks. I’ve signed onto AT&T to get WiFi on my iPhone. Waiting in line, I check a few news aggregators. Yes, news probably didn’t change in an hour and a half. There’s always more. Sit down. Check Facebook on my phone. Few more friends woke up and are espousing their thoughts for the day.

* 7:30 AM: At my desk. Open LinkedIn and scan new connections. I also scan, “People You May Know.” Relish the occasional opportunity to select, “I Prefer Not to Connect.” Take that! I’ll also decipher the tealeaves of determining who looked at my profile. “Someone in the Leadership function in the Internet industry from Washington D.C. Metro Area.” My mind races. Lastly, I’ll scan Twitter and on a rare occasion, jump in.

Welcome to the Rorschach of my life. I’m in my 30s, married, and the fantasy demographic target for most advertisers. I’d claim that I don’t see advertisements on websites but I’d be lying. I’d claim I never see the advertisements for purchasing “the Godfather DVD set” on Facebook. Yet again, damn your profiling ways Facebook! But that would also be a lie. I’d equally claim I never pay attention to little nuances like one friend joining a cause on Facebook or inviting me to join causes that define who they are. But these are all lies. I notice. I might not interact, but I notice.
And herein is the dilemma:

How do you quantify the value of investing in a social networking “thinga-ma-bobber”? Today, you can’t guarantee that your social networking investment will deliver traffic to your site (for ad impressions, increased membership, or whatever your business driver). You don’t have a strong way of measuring your organization’s brand awareness through social networks. What’s more, social networking tools are constantly changing?

First, understand that most companies have not figured this out. We’re all in the same boat. But just because we haven’t figured it out, it doesn’t mean that an answer doesn’t exist.

My advice? Start by getting your feet wet.

Very nice, huh! But what’s the cost? First let’s get something on the table. I would be the biggest snake oil salesman to make claims that interacting with social communities will drive website traffic. Year-over-year, I think we’re going to see more referrals coming from social networks due to the simple experience they provide, growing usage, and accessibility of use (via mobile and wireless devices). But do not venture into this world with delusions of Web conversion grandeur.

Take time to understand your audience and their day-to-day patterns. Setting up a group page for your company and expecting the world to visit is not the ticket. These are communities and at their core they are successful through communication. Not a novel idea but it’s often overlooked.

Joining Facebook and posting product info to your status message is a quick way to get you de-friended (yet again …the POWER!) If I’m arguing the value of Steely Dan over Soundgarden at 6:30 in the morning, do you really think I care about your new product? It’s not personal. I connect to you because:

A) I like you and would love to peer into your life

B) I dislike you and would love to peer into your life

C) I’d love to hear what you have to say in any regard

Under this scenario, suddenly “direct marketing” becomes more challenging. For example, while I noticed the Godfather DVD ad on Facebook, I didn’t click it (perhaps you can argue the brand awareness value). But when Joe pointed me to the ad by writing a note on my wall asking, “Did you see they’re selling your family’s home movies?” that Godfather DVD became a part of my personal conversation. (BTW, I didn’t buy the DVD. I already own it

Culture is changing. Today, you either get social networks or you don’t. This is crucial to remember when you either “get it”, and are trying to build messaging support for networks within your company, or when you are being pestered by the person who gets it and questioning what happened to the simple world of e-mail and the telephone.

Getting involved might mean using the knowledge of a select few to inform the broader company. It may mean changing publishing work flow and experience to integrate social network publishing into your regular publishing system. Whatever the degree, there will be cultural and educational barriers to overcome while you experiment with these networks.

Give it a try. While there’s no direct ROI currently we can’t turn our heads from a 422% growth! Once you actually understand the culture, you’ll have better knowledge around what NOT to do.

My phone buzzed.

This article was written by Siteworx’s Vice President of User Experience, Giovanni Calabro, to address the population of social network users whose daily lives have become completely reliant on the ability to access these technologies at any place and any time- one audience interactive marketers may be missing in their reach for brand awareness and conversions.

Giovanni (Gio) Calabro brings over ten years of experience leading interactive research and design efforts for a wide range of business sectors. Currently, Gio serves a diverse client base at Siteworx including AOL, U.S. News & World Report, National Geographic, MTV Networks, USA Today and JP Morgan Chase.

image credit: Laura Doss

It’s been somewhat experimental, given the need for the cooperation from both social site publishers and participating brands. There’s also been the issue of metrics, which have come from site publishers as well as third party services. The result is a long-standing interim of wonderment at the effectiveness of social media marketing. But looking at companies such as Dell, Skittles, Burger King and Starbucks and it’s clear that running certain kinds of marketing campaigns on various social networks does in fact have a lasting effect. And it all boils down to engagement.

When it comes to social media marketing, the key is for brands to be able to engage end users, as they are all existing or potential consumers. The direct interaction between brands and consumers, catalyzed through the venues of social networking sites and services, means that the very nature of advertising and marketing has evolved. Handling this evolution is a challenge that some brands have met head on, finding effective ways in which to actually engage end users.

The Wetpaint/Altimer Group has taken a long look at what brands have been doing online in the past few years, and has created a standard for measuring the success of a brand’s social media strategy. This is where the engagement comes in. A wide and deep level of engagement means that a brand’s social media strategy is in fact successful. It turns out, Starbucks, Toyota, Dell and SAP Group are among the most successful brands out there.

There are four subsets that the Wetpaint/Altimer Group designated for a brand to fall into, based on their social media effectiveness. Mavens, Butterflies, Selectives and Wallflowers. Mavens have over 7 channels of engagement, and are hitting on all cylinders. Butterflies use more than 7 channels but are only doing well in a few of these channels. Selectives use 6 or less channels, but these channels are used in a highly efficient manner. Wallflowers are kind of just there, rather passively promoting their online presence.

The key takeaways from the study by the Wetpaint/Altimer Group is that while there is not yet a cause and effect determined between social media strategies and their success, there is a direct correlation between the amount of money spent on an online marketing campaign and its effectiveness. It’s a rule that spans just about every marketing campaign, regardless of the specific media channel through which it’s being run.

Another key takeaway is that having a dedicated team be involved with an online strategy is necessary in order for it to be successful. if this means that different departments within a cmpany need to communicate with each other, then so be it. But a unified strategy that aligns with the company’s existing mantra is what needs to be carried out in the online realm.

Yet another notable finding is that amongst the four types of groups that a brand can fall into, being a Selective can actually be more successful overall than being a Butterfly. This boils down to effective targeting, another established rule in the world of marketing across just about any media channel. It’s the old idea of quality over quantity, something that can be more readily achieved with online marketing than more mainstream marketing, marking the importance of metrics and our ability to properly analyze these metrics.

Taking these findings from the Wetpaint/Altimer Group will be helpful for brands in the coming years, as more and more aspects of online activity are becoming optimized for marketing of some sort, namely in their ability to provide engagement on a level that isn’t threatening to end users. Several third party groups such as SocialSeek have emerged specifically for monitoring brands’ online presence, straddling the worlds of the enterprise as well as the consumer.

Other social sites still are turning to some level of brand management provisions, enticing end users to offer feedback regarding brands while also giving them the ability to search and filter brand-related content across the social web. When it’s all said and done, this collection of information is directly beneficial to brands, giving them the insight needed to better manage their relationships with consumers.

New Solutions Emerge

Last week news of Facebook’s new “Engagement Ads” emerged and at first it didn’t click with me but the sound of it is pretty ominous. Today MediaPost posted an interview with Facebook’s VP of Media Sales, Mike Murphy in which he says “Over the last few years, Web advertising has been all about demand fulfillment.”

The article continues, “he believes that Facebook users aren’t necessarily seeking to execute tasks or fulfill specific demands, and by nature are less inclined to click on ads that take them away from the site.” What Mike Murphy believes is something that isn’t theory, it’s fact: users on social networks do not click on advertisements and this is why Google continues to reign in the majority of online advertising dollars.

Direct sales is what advertisers want and it’s not surprising. When you can put in money into specific advertisements and you can track that advertisement to a sale, why wouldn’t you purchase more or look for other channels that can do the same thing? That’s what most are doing, but a few brave souls are beginning to explore new territory.

Engagement Advertising as the 4th Type of Web Based Ad

You are a brand manager. You are sitting at your desk trying to process a ton of data and make a decision about the next quarter’s advertising budget. You have a bunch of options including: television, newspaper, radio, mailers and online. Online is broken out into banner advertising, search advertising, email marketing, and more recently “social media” which nobody has figured out how to classify it.

If Facebook agrees with what many others are saying, the new categorization should be “engagement advertising”. Meebo has already been offering these types of solutions (as they will discuss at the upcoming Social Ad Summit) and a number of others are beginning to do the same. Ultimately all engagement advertisements boil down to one thing: the conversation.

In public relations, marketing and advertising firms there have been a number of solutions to track buzz such as Cymfony and Nielsen BuzzMetrics. These new “engagement advertisements” ultimately produce similar results. At the end of the day, Meebo or Facebook will come back to the advertiser and say “X number of people interacted with your advertisement and Y number of people are now talking about your product in comparison to Z people before.”

Still Very Early

Just as brands are cautious to enter this space, social media evangelists should be equally concerned about this hesitancy. While we alway have “attention economics” to rely on, soon enough every social media site is going to be pushing this new type of advertisement. The only problem is that the industry is still learning how to measure all of these things.

Metrics is not a new phenomenon, it’s just that technology has made it easier to measure things. Unfortunately all of us are trying to figure out ways of packaging and measuring this “new type” of advertising while at the same time selling it “as is”. Fortunately for the industry there are brands that are willing to experiment and test the waters but the windfall profits we are seeking from social media may no longer be just over the horizon.

Rather than just measuring the impact of advertising on direct sales we are now entering a phase where we monitor the impact of advertising on conversation. While there are already systems in place to monitor the conversation, it was previously challenging to influence the conversation on a large scale. What social networks are now providing is a way to influence consumers’ conversation en masse.

The real question now is: can influencing the conversation on a large scale result in sales? If it can, how do we measure the correlation between conversation and sales? Is this really the secret key to social networks generating large amounts of revenue?