Social Media

Jan 22, 2013

YouTube compilation – winter wonderland

The power of YouTube compilation videos.


YouTube compilationsThe last YouTube compilation I posted was two years when I shared the BBC Wildlife voiceover clip. Since it’s been below freezing for the last week in the UK, and it’s snowing heavily outside right now, I thought I’d add a bit of humour with this YouTube compilation video of pratfalls in the snow and ice.

What’s so special about YouTube compilation videos?

YouTube compilations have the possibility of going viral. The one I’m sharing here only has 1310 views so far but could blossom into an online hit. Which means that you can get some reflected glory from Google by posting it on your blog from YouTube. All you need to do is click on ‘Embed’ under the video, copy the code it gives you and post this into your blog post. (This was a secret shared by one of the top internet marketers in the US!)

So I’m not only sharing something that might make you laugh, wince or stay indoors until the ice goes. I’m also giving you a heads up that sharing a top YouTube compilation video could help your blog get some exposure.

Of course it would be better to produce your own viral YouTube video like Dave Carroll’s brilliant “United Break Guitars”. This video has had almost 3 million hits and propelled its maker into fame and fortune. So much so that he now does the speaking circuit talking about complaint resolution.

So with all the technology available to you it’s not too difficult to get creative and produce something a bit ‘off the wall’ which catches on. Who knows. You could be the next big thing on YouTube!

Warning – some people were hurt in the making of this YouTube compilation!


By Andy Britnell YouTube 9 Comments Tags: , , ,

Jun 16, 2011

This blog has its tail between its legs!

Facebook Competitions - careful you don't get bittenI decided it was time to launch ‘See a Man About a Blog’ on Facebook so set up a page in order to share my knowledge and expertise there. Having helped others set up Facebook pages and knowing that it can take time to attract likes I decided that my best strategy was to have a competition where the first 50 people who liked me would go into a hat and one lucky winner would receive a 1-hour blog consultation.

The reason for having my tail between my legs is that I subsequently found out that using any of the Facebook features, such as the like button, adding comments, posting pictures,etc, to enter someone into a competition is against their terms of service and they could quite legitimately take down the page.

So my strategy was blown out of the water and I will now need to take that competition onto a different platform. So a big apology to those who have liked me already on Facebook as I have now migrated the competition to Twitter.

How to Win?

This will be a Twitter exclusive contest. To win you just need to follow me on Twitter and I will pick a winner randomly to win a 1-hr blogging consultation from my first 100 followers.

Note: for those of you who liked me on Facebook and do not have a Twitter account, please send me a message via my contact form and I will enter you into the draw.

I will either contact you via email or by direct message to advise if you have won.

Of course you can still like See a Man About a Blog on Facebook if you wish to get my tail wagging again!

Best wishes and good luck in the competition

Andy

Other posts on Facebook Competitions and how not to get bitten

Facebook Competitions – 5 Things You Should Know Before You Start One

Unofficial Guide to Competitions on Facebook

Facebook Competitions can seriously Damage Your Health

By Andy Britnell Facebook, Shaggy Blog Stories, Social Media 12 Comments Tags: , , ,

May 26, 2011

Social media traffic

Google search ranking and social media profilesIf you look closely at your your website or blog traffic figures you will notice that social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, deliver much more loyal, targeted and engaged visitors. That is they spend more time on your site, search deeper and are more likely to comment on your blog or buy from you. I call them ‘sticky’ visitors as they don’t bounce away from your website easily.

For my site and other sites I look after they make up to 25 – 30% of all monthly traffic.

The other aspect is that if you have a presence on social media sites you get an extra tick in the box from the search engines. The search robots recognise that your blog or website is associated with a high ranking site and you get kudos because of that.

Although you may feel that writing yet another online profile is tedious, they do help you to dominate the first few pages of Google when someone searches for your name. There are four other ‘Andy Britnells’ who have a good presence on the web. My website, blog, Twitter and Google account profiles are on the first two pages and I have the majority of entries on the first 6 pages. (Click on the image above and then click again to see first page on Google in more detail)

I will need to work on my Facebook and LinkedIn profile if I want a clean sheet. Not that simple when you have a racing driver and two managing directors of largish companies competing for the space.

How do you rank for your name on Google and what do you do to keep your profile high on the search engines?

By Andy Britnell Social Media 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Feb 16, 2011

Resistance to blogging and social media

Resistance to social media and bloggingI wish I had a pound for every person who says that blogging and social media are a complete waste of time. Mind you, they said that about telephone and online banking and see how that has changed the way we interface with our financial institutions. It has brought transaction costs down from about £1.50 to about 6 pence and with millions of transactions happening every day the banks have saved a lot of money over time.

The problem here is that change is happening so fast that people feel threatened every time a new channel to market is introduced. It is only recently that people have started surfing using mobiles and having a blog that can be read on a mobile platform is getting more important.

From a business perspective it is now quite crucial to interface with your customers in a myriad of ways. People will start to know and trust you after spending about 7 hours with you – only after this time will they be convinced enough to buy something.

The thing is that it doesn’t have to be face to face. Being connected online is just as effective. Why would you not wish to have as many touches with your clients as possible and build the relationship? It puts you at an advantage over competitors who aren’t catching on as quickly.

Blogging and social media is a skill and an art that needs to be done in the right way by the right person. Relationships don’t build overnight so they need enough time to build momentum in order to show that there is a return on investment. Very often business people want an immediate return on their investment. In reality most large businesses are happy if there is a return on their investment after 18 months.

So blogging and social media takes time, money and expertise before the return is realised. And if you build relationships effectively you will have customers for life who will be advocates for your business both online and offline rather than fly-by-nights just after a good deal. And research shows that your loyal customers give you most of your profit.

What’s not to like about social media and blogging for business?

Strategic advice on blogging in business

By Andy Britnell Business Blogging, Social Media 8 Comments Tags: , ,

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