No More BS! Strike Social Can Predict And Analyze Your Next Online Video Campaign- Part 2

In our Part 1 of "No More BS! Strike Social Can Predict And Analyze Your Next Online Video Campaign" post we introduced the Contagious Index(CI).  This index is based on how much your video is getting shared around the various social media platforms out there.
Let's take one of our videos for an example.

Drifting Top 6 Reasons Why We Love It is a video we released on August 27th, 2015.  It has 30,387 views as of today on September 24, 2015.  So it's been a little short of a month since we released this video.

Our goal from the beginning was to produce a video that would get shared by many of our viewers.  That is actually the number one objective when coming up with video ideas these days.  We question ourselves, "hmm, that's a cool video concept but would my friends want to watch and share this video"?

We figured if we compiled videos from our library and made a humorous list of why we love drifting, our viewers would share the videos on social media. Everyone loves lists as Buzzfeed has proven.

On Strike, you are able to conduct individual video analysis and even predictions.  Let's take a look at our above drifting video.

The Contagious Index is 241 which is not too bad but not that great either.  There are substantially more "Likes" than "Dislikes" so that is a good sign. 

Below you can see the engagement on various social media platforms from YouTube, Twitter, G+ and Facebook.  YT and FB count for the majority of the engagement with FB doing just a little more than a point more than YT.  The 160 Shares on FB is not that bad I suppose.  So we can say we somewhat achieved our goal.  Except we would be happy with more. These things take time and the more we practice, analyze and re-try, we get better at it.  

The following tab "PREDICT" is where it starts to get really interesting.  With this tool, we can predict how many views we can generate both artificially/PAID and ORGANIC.  And even run the campaign via the site, by clicking on PROMOTE to run your own Programmatic ad campaign. 

Now creators and online video marketers can analyze video performance, also plan promotional campaigns and even implement campaigns all on this platform.   

Even after campaigns, we can go back to export reports on how the entire campaign performed.  We have used this tool so far to report back to brands on how their videos are performing on GTChannel.  

So partners, use these metrics when pitching to clients and brands and also understand that although you want to have a strong organic view baseline,  you have that option to buy views on YouTube to fulfill view count obligations. 

- TK

Claim your custom URL for your channel

Don't you want http://www.youtube.com/user/YOURCHANNELNAME instead of some random letters?
Having a custom URL is so much more SEO friendly and easier to search. YouTube has put in some minimal requirements in order to create a custom URL but we highly recommend you take the time to set it up for your channel.

Requirements:

1. Account in good standing: Which you should be if you're in our network.  
2. At least 500 subs: Don't have enough? Start promoting your channel to friends and family and social media!
3. Channel is at least 30 days old. 
4. Uploaded channel icon and art: If you're too lazy to do this, don't even bother about the URL.  

Here is a video on how to do it. 

(TK)

Top 10 YouTube Tips to Boost Your Channel

Evan Jones our YouTube Certified and Social Media ninja has given us top 10 YouTube Tips to boost your channel growth.  Many channels have followed these basic tips and grown substantially.  Make sure all of these things are done!

1. Video Titles: Use attention-grabbing, descriptive, and relevant keywords towards for the beginning of your titles and display branding and episode numbers towards the end. Keep titles concise so they fit on one line. Represent videos accurately without using misleading information. Thumbnails should reinforce the title but not necessarily duplicate.
 
See how we have used attention grabbing copy, "1000+ Horse Power Drift Machine..."?  Who doesn't like high power drift cars?   The series title "Controlled Chaos" and episode number follow to make sure these videos show up as relevant videos in the series.  

2. Thumbnails: Clear, in-focus, high-res images (640px by 360px minimum) that stand out at any size. Text should be legible at any size too. Thumbnails should never be misleading and instead, accurately represent content. Should be high-contrast, visually compelling imagery. Thumbnail support page on YouTube.  

3. Descriptions:  Explain your video in 1-3 concise sentences at the top of the description section. Use relevant keywords to help in discovery. Add experience-enhancing links like subscribe, similar videos, playlists, social media links, website, etc. below the video description. Titles and descriptions should be able to be understood by anyone, not just those who are subscribed to your channel or have previous knowledge of the content in the video. 

4. Annotations and End Slates: Annotations are clickable text overlays that can be used to boost engagement, give more information, and help with navigation within a video. End slates are title cards at the end of a video that ask the viewer to subscribe and promote more videos with the use of annotations. Annotation support page on YouTube. 

5. Playlists: These can be used to group a set of videos that you want viewers to enjoy in order. They can be grouped around a theme or event, can separate different shows, or can combine most-viewed pieces with new uploads. Great for helping viewers watch multiple videos on your channel. More on Playlists. 

6. Social Media: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are awesome tools to build your brand, give your channel exposure, and interact with fans. Promote every video you release, and go about this in a variety of ways - use links, photos, direct uploads to social media platforms, or simply text. Be a consistent, authentic and authoritative leader. Share videos on social media.  

7. Consistent Themes and Characters: Having consistent themes and characters in your videos will bring viewers back to your channel time and time again. They will learn what to expect from your videos, driving watch time. You can even be that character yourself! 

8. Program Schedule: If possible, make a set release schedule for your uploads and communicate that schedule to your audience.

9. Image Quality: It's important to maintain a professional level of work when it comes to cinematography. Try to avoid camera movements that are overly shaky, make sure to include a wide variety of shots, shoot images that are crisp and clear, and upload to YouTube in HD if possible. 

10. Editing Quality: Editing can affect the mood, pacing, and storyline of your videos, amongst other things. Make sure your edits are tight, are not monotonous or predictable, and create a coherent piece. Text and graphics can also play a major part in your work by providing appropriate titles, pushing the story along, and giving your piece a certain feel. Audio levels should not peak and be somewhat equal throughout the video, with fades between audio cuts.

There is more you can do but we feel these 10 steps are minimal adjustments you can make on your own that will help you not only immediately but in the long run to get more video views and subscribers to help you grow your channel.

(TK)

GTChannel New Partners Welcome Post

GTChannel Welcome -  New Partners - 2014 New Partners - Included are all the new partners joining the GTChannel community over the last month.  (I've also added a couple more partners that haven't accomplished all the starting line tasks to begin optimizing your channels.) This email could be 100 pages long, but I'll attempt to keep it short and to the point.  I've had the pleasure of working with several of you to get you into the network.  I've enjoyed it.  You come from all areas and you all have your individual goals for the channel.  Some started their channels as a hobby, while others are ready to create the next BBC.  Some are individuals and some are large businesses already.  But in all regards you are all committed to growing your channels and the community as a whole.  We are thrilled to have you and look forward to watching you grow and succeed. Let's get to it. GTChannel is here to help.  If you have any problems - youtube, creating content, equipment, music, ideas, social marketing, whatever - if you have questions don't hesitate to ask.   PARTNER INFO/PROFILE Many of you have signed up off-line.  Our online signup and partner profiles is back online.  We want everyone to go online and set up a GTChannel Platform user/password.  There is also info for partner's details that we want to have in the system. This will be redundant for some of you, but it will help us and you to have you on the platform.  If you already signed up this way - you are all set. Go to >>  https://www.gtchannelpartners.com/ Click Start to run through the process. You will also find info to do a couple important things. 1.  Add a logo, so we can use it for promotions 2.  Creating Channel Trailer - if you haven't started this it is very important to help get new subscribers.  Read up. 3.  Tax forms  (domestic US and international) Important emails to keep Scott@gtchannel.com - I'm always here to help. Newvideo@gtchannel.com - when you upload, please shoot us the URL.  We will look at all partner uploads and look for the best ways to promote them.   Remember the goal is to build YOUR channel not our channel, so we look for the best avenue to promote the video.  YOU will be promoting this yourself as well, which is critically important. Support@gtchannel.com -  We have set up a response system to make sure any request for help gets pushed to the right person.  While I'd love to help on social marketing, but I'm not the best guy for that - support@ will let us get that to the right person.  You should get a response in 24 hours or less.  If you don't - email me and I'll make sure you are taken car of. When you join >> for new partners We alway add new channel name on GTChannel.com Promotion: Our social media team will promote in a variety of ways depending on what we think will help best. 1. Google+ 2. Add to featured partner playlist on YouTube 3. Twitter 4. GTChannel.com 5. Instagram 6. Facebook 7. Press -  in these cases, we'll present some videos to press outlets that may pick up the video link.  It helps to have something special to get picked up.  8.  Cross-promotion - part of our effort is to utilize the power of the network and community.  You may be asked to help another partner to cross-promote.  This will help you both, so we encourage you to participate in these opportunities.  One of the big secrets to success is to introduce your channel and content to an audience that hasn't found you yet.  Cross-promotion is a great way to do this.  You may be asked to include a partner's video on your channel, or to like a video, or other - in turn they will do the same for you. Let's talk Social There is likely no better way to grow your channel than using social. If you don't have your social component set up - you need to get this going today! *  Facebook page for Channel/Brand - this should be the same name as your YouTube channel with same logo. * Instagram - same Channel/Brand as your YouTube channel * Twitter - same Channel/Brand as your youtube channel * Google + - VERY important, it ties into Youtube in a very powerful way. *  If you are a video gamer - set up a TWITCH Page as well. 1.  Let GTChannel know all your social info.  We need to have this on file to help promote them as well. 2.  Subscribe to GTChannel's FB, Instagram, Twitter -  we communicate through social, and  it is important to be in the on going conversation GTChannel Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GTChannel GTChannel Twitter - https://twitter.com/GTChannel   (@GTChannel) GTChannel Instagram - http://instagram.com/gtchannel/ GTChannel Google + -  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GTchannel/posts        (Here is a good video on how to set up google + from your YT channel >  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-x5fFYQ4uo Subscribe to GTChannel Blog.  This is one of the key ways we communicate with partners. http://gtchannelpartner.blogspot.com/ 3.  Take a look at your channel's about page -  This should include all your social links.  Here is GTChannel's about page. 4.  EVERY video that you upload should include your social (and web links) Example ... Much more on social to come ... 1.  how often to post 2.  how to buy more reach 3.  new technique to hit 10 time the reach as normal   more ...  UPLOADING Videos -  1.  Make sure you have the category set for each video you upload - many will  be auto & vehicles.  Make sure you include this.  Going through new channel's videos I've seen many with this unlisted.  Remember, when youtube sells ads to brands, they do this by category in many cases, so it is important to be included in a category. 2.  Content ID       This is very important.  You should ONLY be clicking or checking this if your content is 100% your content.  If you don't own all of the material and assets you should not select this.  It will cause a variety of issues.  We'll have more follow up on this and the copyright, music discussion. What's in a name. Looking at many of the new partners (and some older ones) you have not set up your youtube channel URL yet. You'll need to have your GOOGLE + account set up first very easy, and part of the task listed above, so let's add that again here. Watch:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-x5fFYQ4uo Once you've set up Google +  let's fix the name.  Go to your channel >  select "About"  -  look at the URL example:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE1AgM4t5184dyrkJdj643xg/about If your channel is listed as some UC + random set up numbers, we need to fix this so it shows your user name. This is important since it is quite unwieldy to use the random UC code (This is technically called your Channel ID and will always be associated to your channel - you just don't want it visible).  Trust me no one is remembering this, better to have your channel URL look like this ... Correct example:  https://www.youtube.com/user/GTchannel/about Here is how to do it - watch the video.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDWl_edtYfY GTChannel Logos - We have provided a GTChannel Network Partner logo for partners to use.   This can be used on videos, in your YT header, on social pages, and in your channel description.  This hi-res logo is attached here.  We will be putting out detailed info on how the logo should be used, and some ways we don't want it to be used.  We want this uniform to everyone so we are all building the brand in the same way. For now, feel free to use on your vids - but keep it short.  Remember - the first 15 seconds is the MOST important to retain the audience.  If you have 20 seconds of logos and openings - you'll lose the viewer.  You can also use the logo in your channel ABOUT in the description. MUSIC  Always an on-going discussion.  My co-founder Taro, wrote up a great piece on this last week.  In case you missed it. Royalty Free Music Libraries    We often get questions on what kind of music to use and how to get good music for your videos.   First thing we need to recognize is that the music you use in your video must be created by yourself or you have the rights to use someone else's music.   You can create simple beats with some bass using software like Garageband but finding royalty free music is an easy way to incorporate music for your videos.  We all know, lousy music can make or break a video.  Here are some of our suggestions on where to find royalty free music on the internet.   YouTube: Go to Video Manager>Creation Tools>Audio Library.  You will be surprised by the amount and quality of free music they offer here.  We strongly suggest you start here.https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary Activity Music: There are several YouTube channels that offers free copyright free music in exchange for crediting the artist and placing a download link in the video description.  Activity Music is one of them.  They have tons of electronic music if that is what you're looking for.https://www.youtube.com/user/ActivityMusic Incomptech.com: From African music to Rock, these guys have something for everyone.http://incompetech.com/music/ Dig.ccmixter.org: A site that has 1000s of songs with permission to use for your videos.http://dig.ccmixter.org/ Josh Woodward: This guy knows what he's talking about.  He has hundreds of videos for you to use free of charge. Only thing he asks in return is to credit and include a link in your video description.  He even has a note on his website for YouTube partners.   http://www.joshwoodward.com/#/  Here are some sites we go to buy or license music.  Jamendo.com: We have often turned to Jamendo to find high quality licensed music.  You usually pay what you get for and when free stuff just isn't doing it, you have to go to the pros.http://www.jamendo.com/en/welcome YouLicense.com: Another site that offers decent music for a reasonable price.http://www.youlicense.com   I would recommend you go visit these sites to see which one matches your needs as a video creator.  Many of them lets you create an account and save playlists for future projects.   RANDOM items  In trying to put together some new partner suggestions MILLIONs of suggestions come to mind.  We can't include them all, but I thought I'd bullet point some suggestions, comments, and tips here. *  Don't include dates in your video headlines.  They are great in 2014 ... but when 2016 comes along - no one will watch. You want people watching these videos for the next 10 years. *  Video constructions - Our goal is to increase TIME WATCHED.  This is the #1 factor youtube looks for and it is the one metric no one can game or manipulate.  The perfect use case is for a user to search or see your video listed on the platform.  They are interested, so they click it and watch all the way to the end.  That tells youtube that the viewer got what the viewer was looking for.  The video and your channel is rewarded for this through youtube recommendations, increased ad plays, and even higher CPMs (ad rates).  How do you do this? -   Headlines that attract, but realistic to the video you will show.  If you say - BRAD PITT THROWS UP and you show a video that has nothing to do with Brad Pitt - viewers will click out - BAD TIME WATCHED %.  Not what you want. -  Good Tags - that help the viewer that is searching to find your video - Thumbnails - engaging and interesting, and again NOT Brad puking. -  First 15 - Remember the first 15 seconds is super important.  Just think of television - or film - they use this all the time. You watch a James Bond movie and the movie opens with a crazy car chase or action scene ... then the movie open.  You are hooked.    If you watch a TV sitcom or drama - same thing - a tease scene up front.  Watch the news, they list the five stories that you might want to see - I always hate this because the one story I want to see is always last. But this can be done on your vids as well - show a teaser or tell the audience what the video is about to get them excited - then open the video or move on to the good stuff. Tell em' what your going to tell them > tell them > then tell em' what you told them. *  Think Shareable With the rise of social media platforms, sharing has become one of the most important ways to find and develop an audience. While you can't guarantee any video will go viral, you can make it more shareable by using some proven tactics. Identify trending subject matter Keep your finger on YouTube's pulse, and stay on top of popular search terms.  What words will viewers use to describe your video when they share it? Would you click on this yourself?  Connect through emotion Viewers are more likely to share a video that elicits a strong emotional response. Make videos that induce laughter or feelings of sweetness, excitement or nostalgia. Appeal to your audience's values People often share content because they feel the content conveys something about their own beliefs. Sharing funny content makes them feel funny, sharing informative content makes them feel knowledgeable, and sharing topical content makes them feel on top of the latest news. Keep this in mind: What will your video say about the people who share it? Create ongoing series with break-out potential Viral videos and recurring series are NOT mutually exclusive. Many of YouTube's top creators release series in which each episode enjoys high sharing and viral activity. Often one video will break out and then introduce massive audiences to the entire series.  >>>>>>  The next steps ... I've thrown quite a lot on you to start, but getting the channel up to speed with best practices is key to start building. Please let me know any questions or thoughts you may have.  Work on the above and we'll see everybody grow. Sincerely, Scott Schlichter CEO/Founder GTChannel