touchstorm's jeff martin on youtube tools & techniques for success

March 9, 2011

©2011 TouchStorm, LLC. A Diginary Holdings Company. All rights reserved.

YouTube Tools & Techniques For Success

©2011 TouchStorm, LLC. A Diginary Holdings Company.

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We create TV-quality editorial video content.

We distribute video content with TV-like reach as earned media.


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What We'll Cover

YouTube Techniques for Maximizing Views •  Annotations •  Call-To-Action Overlays •  Video Responses

•  Playlists •  Activity Feed

Using 3rd Party Tools – Being Careful •  What To Avoid •  What To Look For


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Disclaimer

If you've got crappy video content there isn't enough holy water nor a big enough crucifix to get the demon out of it. Period. At best, even these tactics will only delay your video from eventually being dragged straight down into Hades. Remember, the users are in charge.


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“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.”

- Sun Tzu


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What We'll Cover

YouTube Techniques For Maximizing Views


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YouTube Search


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Google Organic Results


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Driving Reach On YouTube


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YouTube Tactics

Example of “spotlight” and linked “note” annotations: Annotations •  Can be areas of text and/or “hot spots” that you

create after you upload a video. •  You can display simple text or create click-able

elements as well.

•  Favorite uses:

–  Create a “subscribe” link to encourage subscriptions

–  Link to other videos/playlists to gain related views

–  Pause a video to allow users to focus on an item such as a landing page URL


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YouTube Tactics Call-To-Action Overlays •  Why use them?

–  Promote other videos in your library

–  The only way to drive viewers from within the video directly to your site

•  How do you get them?

–  Enter a video into the Promoted Video Program which opens the option to you on the video edit screen

–  They are at no-cost to you...so no reason not to use them!

•  What's the format?

–  Same format as AdWords text ads, except:

•  Can use a 56x56 image (that you host)‏

•  Can use tracking/shortened URLs (ex: bit.ly)‏


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YouTube Tactics Video Responses •  Great for getting more of your content in front of viewers

•  Rotate your videos out to give new content more exposure

•  Users can respond with their own videos which are good for engagement and serve as a signal to YouTube

Note •  A video may only serve as response to one video at a time

•  Only the last two responses will be seen by default

•  You can only use your latest 100 videos as responses

•  Encourage users to post video responses by asking for them


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YouTube Tactics Playlists

•  Great for getting your content at the top of “related videos”

•  Use the "series" playlist option to have it appear at the top of related videos on each video page in the playlist

•  Use more popular videos to drive views to your new/less popular content

•  Can appear in search results but visibility seems sporadic

•  Visibility factors may consist of:

–  Playlist views (separate video views)‏

–  Frequency at which new related content is added

–  Titles of added videos (and perhaps their related meta data)‏


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YouTube Tactics


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YouTube Tactics Captions

•  Indexed by YouTube and Google and have proven to be a signal for search

•  Opens your content up to the hearing impaired

•  Can create international appeal when translated –  YouTube currently supports ~140 languages

Notes •  Don’t force optimization into the captions. They'll appear

unprofessional when what is spoken isn’t matching the text on the screen.

•  Draft your scripts beforehand with your keywords in mind for natural optimization.

•  SubViewer (*.SUB) and SubRip (*.SRT) formats are fully supported


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YouTube Tactics Activity Feed •  The only tool that allows you to mass

communicate with all of your friends and subscribers

•  Specific actions can be automatically inserted into your feed:

–  Each time your upload, like or comment on a video or when you subscribe to a new channel

•  You can insert a message (called a bulletin) with a video into your "Activity Feed” as well

•  Your activities feed into the YouTube home pages of your subscribers and friends

Note •  As tempting as it may be - don't overdue it.


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What We'll Cover

3rd Party Tools – Being Careful


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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

- Sun Tzu


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3rd Party Tools Avoid “Features” That: •  Try to simulate video watching to inflate view counts

•  Automate liking and disliking by using multiple accounts

•  Flag 3rd party videos in an attempt to get them removed

•  Spam comments or auto vote on comments to promote unrelated videos/URLs

•  Spam users' inboxes who have no interest in your content and where you're not looking to create a relationship

Be Cautious of “Features” That: •  Promise to send real users to your videos without disclosing the source

•  Send untargeted traffic to your videos

•  Facilitate mass view for a view or like for a like engagements


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3rd Party Tools Look For Features That Help: •  Find related, popular videos you could comment/respond to that adds value

•  Find engaged users with whom you might form a relationship with that can become influencers

•  Find related channels you can cross-promote with

•  Keep track of your YouTube visibility and engagement levels

touchstorm's jeff martin on youtube tools & techniques for success

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