This social media giant has 1 billion monthly users worldwide, generating billions of views on a daily basis. Let’s not forget that these page views likely include unregistered users as well.

Video Marketing and YouTube Stats

According to statistics, YouTube is the second favorite search engine in the world and 50% of its users spend their time viewing business related videos at least once per week.

Every year, the hours that people around the world are spending watching videos on YouTube, increases by an astounding 50%.

With 75% of site users clicking through video links to visit company websites following a successful video, you can’t go wrong by attempting to leverage the potential here.

The Problem – Not Enough Views

With all of this good news, what’s the problem?

The bad news is that while businesses have increased their video uploads, monthly views are not looking good. In fact, 50% of brand videos receive less than 1000 views. This equates to a complete waste of time and money on the part of the marketers.

It’s All about the Content

To find YouTube content marketing success, you do not need to create a viral video.

Consider your content approach carefully. Many brands are finding success with the creation of a specific content approach: hero content, hub content, and hygiene content.

Hub video content takes the form of videos that include your key target audience’s specific likes, passions, and interests. Basically, all of the things that really gets this group fired up in life. And finally, hygiene content – this type of content is your go-to guide for learning how to do something. These are the ever-popular “how to videos” that the world never grows bored of watching and that there always seems to be a demand for.

The post The Secret to Brand Success on YouTube appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.

Every day, people all over the world connect to the world-wide-web in search of fresh content.

Content that is new, content that is educational, content that connects them with a new product or service, content that will make them laugh, content that will make them cry, and content that is sharable.

This content could be in the form of written word, trending videos, or funny photos. It could be anything, really.

Many people start their days with a quick web search. Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’ve probably done this yourself.

We either head straight to our favorite sites via the URL bar or we hit the search engines up for something fresh. We’ll get our quick fix before heading off to work or school, until we have a moment to ourselves to head back for more later.

Maybe you want to check the news, your favorite social site, check the weather, or you thought of something you'd like to research. Whatever the case may be, you're back on the web.

Types of Content Most Frequented

When considering the types of content frequented most and favored by web users, it’s important to remember that what works for some content marketers may not work for others.

The types of content frequented and preferred by web users, generally depends upon the age group of the web users. So when considering the type of content to post that will satisfy the appetite of your target audience, you’ll want to deeply consider the age group of your readers.

According to Statista, with more than 2.5 billion web-users world-wide accessing the Internet, the potential to reach the masses with fresh content is huge.

Further studies of Statista conclude that the most common types of websites visited by users worldwide are social media sites and search engines. Statista is a great place to search for statistics of online activity when researching your target audience’s likes and dislikes.

In some of their other studies, they’ve broken down age groups into Millenniums (18-34), Generation X (35-54), and Baby Boomers (55+).

Understanding the likes and dislikes per age group is highly-beneficial when devising a plan of action to unleash content that will be liked by the masses in your target audience.

Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Things

People both like and fear change, but some change is good.

When things become repetitive and expected, they can become boring. However, this is also a Catch-22, because some types of change can throw people off and cause confusion.

Introducing different types of content gradually and occasionally is your best bet in keeping readers engaged and from growing bored with what you have to offer.

Change could be:

• Infographics
• Opinion – Tread carefully with content that is opinionated.
• Debatable Content – This should create engagement for sure, but approach and tread carefully.
• Videos and Photos – How can we forget? When adding photos, why not get creative and make your own inspirational photos or memes? People love inspiration and a good laugh.
• How-To Articles – Every day, people everywhere are searching for how-to-do things. They may be searching for tips on how to do something that you're an expert in.
• Lists – This is a favorite for many and the list doesn’t have to be long. Get creative.

This is not all. There are actually a ton of other great ideas that you could consider when you’re looking to mix things up a bit with your content.

Don’t be afraid of change, but tread carefully as you would with any other type of content.

Remember, your brand’s image is associated with everything that you share.

The post Satisfying the Appetite of Web Users with a Hunger for Fresh Content appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.

Operating your business through popular social media outlets is sort of like tight rope walking or walking on egg shells.

One false move and you’re toast.

When sharing with the entire world, once you hit “post” you can’t take back that post later if it begins to trend for the wrong reason – because it was an epic fail.

Once it’s out there — it’s out there. Unfortunately, there have been many untimely epic fails over the years as businesses around the world take social media by storm to grow their brands and followings.

These epic fails are avoidable with extreme caution and care.

Common Epic Fails by Category

There is an unfortunate number of social media epic fails that fall into the categories below:

1. The Hashtag Epic Fail:  Hopping onto the trending hashtag to plug your business’s products or services is poor social media etiquette, especially when you’re hi-jacking a trending hashtag for a charity.

2. The Lashing Out Epic Fail:  Lashing out at co-workers, especially the boss of the company via a popular social media outlet is the "wrong time, wrong place" and could cost you, not only your career, but your reputation as well.

Even an accidental fail that could be blamed on a “new phone” could cost you your career. 

3. The Inappropriate Time to Advertise Epic Fail:  This seems to be a popular, unfortunate epic fail and is avoidable by staying up-to-date with the latest news. Advertising your company’s products or services when there has been a nationwide catastrophe is more than embarrassing – it’s mortifying.

Sure, you can delete this mortification, but rest assured that someone somewhere has already taken a screen shot and saved it to their computer with the hope that it will become the latest social media epic fail trend.

4. The “Be Careful What You Wish” for Epic Fail:  Think long and hard before posting a hashtag encouraging consumers, clients, or customers to post “stories” of experiences with your business.

The reactions that you get may not be what you had hoped for and could be bad for business.

5. The Don’t Confuse Your Audience Epic Fail:  If your audience is used to seeing cars on Instagram they may get a little confused if you start posting pictures of things that they’re not used to.

This could result in a loss of engagement and followers. Your audience will be like, huh?

When you play your cards right, social media can be a powerful, versatile tool to use when building or expanding your brand. But if you inadvertently lay the wrong hand down, you may live to regret it.

Avoid epic fails with the use of extreme care when posting, avoiding social media at all costs if you’ve “had one too many,” and by staying up-to-date on current news and trends to avoid accidental fails. 

The post 5 Social Media Fails and How to Avoid Them appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.

And if you don’t know this yet, we’re sure you’re still “somebody,” but it’s definitely time to embrace the future of marketing – providing fresh, engaging, killer content.

What is killer content?

Content that immediately draws in readers, entertains, keeps them engaged, makes them want to share, and keeps them coming back for more…and more…and more.

The post Is Your Content Killer or Mediocre? appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.