YouTube Creates Highest Brand Engagement, ListenFirst Reports

In today’s world of Google searches and viral Internet videos, it is no wonder that YouTube has had a profound effect on brand engagement. Companies are utilizing the site to spread brand awareness across the globe, and it appears to be working.

LEGO was the most highly engaged brand in Q2, with over 189 million engagements, most of them on YouTube, according to the ListenFirst Digital Engagement Ratings.

The ListenFirst DER analyzes “owned, earned, or organic consumer behavior” for companies in the Redbook 500, which includes brands based on their advertising spend, revenue and social media engagement. ListenFirst looked at these companies’ engagement across multiple social media channels including Facebook, Google+ and more.

Writing on SmartBriefs’ SmartBlog for Social Media, Jonathan Farb, chief product officer at ListenFirst Media explained:

“This quarter, LEGO’s social channels were very content-heavy, with Lego sharing more than 700 new pieces of content, with a special focus on YouTube content. The content that accumulated the most views and engagements on Lego’s official YouTube channel were a series of promotional videos for ‘Jurassic World’ with the video ‘A Day in the Life at Jurassic World’ standing as the top post across all channels for the quarter when it accumulated over 3.2 million interactions.”

See the complete video below:

LEGO was followed by MTV, Hasbro, NFL and Coca-Cola for the five most engaged brands in the second quarter. Top brands overall included companies from the toy, gaming, food and beverage, retail, health and beauty, fashion  apparel and tech industries.

On YouTube, the highest performing single post of all was one for Gillette’s body razor, though this was not enough to push the company into the top 20 DER brands.

Other channels seeing high engagement with brands included Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And brands bringing in that engagement included Victoria’s Secret, Denny’s and Kleenex.

Payless ShoeSource saw the greatest growth in engagement with an increase of 10,000 percent since Q1. Payless saw most of its engagement on YouTube.  The company is focusing on boosting sales and promotions over the previous quater. A video posted in June for their sandal sale has had over 4.5 million engagements.

Your business may not be the size of most of these companies. But the study does reveal the importance placed on social engagement by some of the leading brands. And it may hint at which channels may be most effective in gaining engagement for your small business too.

Image: LEGO/YouTube

This article, "YouTube Creates Highest Brand Engagement, ListenFirst Reports" was first published on Small Business Trends

Meerkat Introduces Live Hashtags: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week Meerkat Introduces Live #Hashtags: “This new approach to stream discovery is the quickest way to meet people around shared […]

This post Meerkat Introduces Live Hashtags: This Week in Social Media first appeared on Social Media Examiner.
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Finding Your Spoken Voice: How to Become Believable

Do you talk on podcasts or in video? Want to be more comfortable in front of the microphone? To discover how to improve your spoken presence, I interview David Lawrence. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners […]

This post Finding Your Spoken Voice: How to Become Believable first appeared on Social Media Examiner.
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Instagram Ad Rollout Will Make It the Top Media Buy: New Research

Are you using Instagram for your business? Have you thought about advertising on the platform? Instagram just began offering paid advertising opportunities through select developer partners. In the coming months the platform is expected to create a Facebook-like self-serve option for any budget. In this article you’ll discover findings from studies about Instagram’s current reach, […]

This post Instagram Ad Rollout Will Make It the Top Media Buy: New Research first appeared on Social Media Examiner.
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Why Isn’t Your Video on LinkedIn?

As the business owner of a company that creates commercial videos, I often get asked where the best place is to post video content.

The obvious answer is your website and YouTube.

But there’s another less obvious place I’d like to suggest: LinkedIn.

If you’re in business, you probably know it’s about getting more people to know, like, and trust you and your product or service. You probably also know that great video content is one of the best ways to do that.

So, if you have great video content you’ll want to post it where ever you can. And, that includes posting video on LinkedIn. As we all know, LinkedIn is often the first place people go to check someone out. So why don’t most people post video on LinkedIn?

I have my theories:

• They don’t realize they can.
• They assume they can, but don’t think it’s a big deal not to, especially since most don’t.
• They aren’t technically inclined, assume it’s a pain, and can’t be bothered to learn.
• They have no video to post.

Regardless of the excuses, as more and more people fully realize the need for video content — which is happening — I predict you’ll be seeing a major shift in video on LinkedIn.

For those that don’t need convincing the only question is: “What kind of video do I need?”

If you have a business, you’ll obviously want to post something that explains your product or service in a way that gets folks interested and, ideally, excited.

Whether you have a business or not, you should post video content that helps people know, like and trust you. How you successfully do that is probably the subject for another article. But, whatever it is, it must be decent quality and a positive reflection on you.

So, are you ready to create and post video content?

LinkedIn Mobile Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Why Isn’t Your Video on LinkedIn?" was first published on Small Business Trends

Why You Should Blog Before Breakfast

Are you a night owl or do you like jumping out of bed at the crack of dawn?

For most of my life the evenings were the time I read, watched television and socialized. Reading a book sometimes took me into the small hours. That’s the time when the clock numbers are starting with one’s and two’s. The books were novels, self help and business. I was consuming and learning but not creating.

When I discovered Twitter it was fun to see the other side of the world wake up while I was contemplating sleep. But the immediacy of Twitter conversations when there were only a few of us tweeting (a couple of million), was intoxicating, exciting and compelling.

Then the blog was created. I hit the publish button for the first time.

Creating posts then were still part of my late night habit. After a good night out and sharing a wine or two with some friends over a kangaroo steak there were still some tasks to do. The blog post still had to be written, polished and shared. That was a struggle.

Distraction, diversion and tiredness were a constant battle in my new writing pursuit.

Then something changed

There was a random event.

One very early morning I needed to drop my son off to catch a train. I had some time on my hands and I was awake and the rest of the world was still asleep. So I sat down and wrote. The quietness was welcome, the coffee tasted good and the phones weren’t ringing.

I also had muted the social media networks and the email was ignored.

I discovered something

Mornings were distraction free and precious. It was my time and there was no one to intrude.

Because they were asleep.

I had discovered that old habits can be changed and that new discoveries were possible. Despite being on the wrong side of 40. The night owl had become the early bird.

The habit continued.

Another revelation..or two

Creating, publishing and sharing in that distraction free zone was invigorating. I wrote blog posts before my day job. It meant getting up at 4.30 am and wrestling and wrangling content into a shape that I was proud enough to share. At 9.00 am it was employer time.

I was living in two parallel universes. The day job and the passion project.

The day job was fun at times and rewarding. But it was an investment in someone else’s dream. The 5 day work week routine stretched to years. But in “my time” I was creating a personal investment that was building a digital house one brick at a time. It was incremental but so satisfying that it distracted me from my employers goals. We came to a mutual understanding and we parted ways.

I was free.

The passion project

That passion project involved writing one article a day 5 days a week for years. It was on topics that tickled and touched my innate curiosity. Along the way I discovered that I loved the art of word wrangling. Putting one word after the other was also producing a body of work.

One step at a time produces an epic journey that can leave a dent in the universe.

1,500 blog posts and over 1 million words later the passion project is now a serious online investment and asset. That bootstrapped passion project became my life and my work. In fact, it became my life.

Work and life were not separate but one.

Small investments

Those one word investments had added up to something much greater.  Stephen King was once asked how he wrote.

“One word at a time,” and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time“.

The artist creates a masterpiece one brush stroke after the other.

We are all artists and creators but some don’t know it.

Investing in you

We all have to make a living.

Paying the bills, putting food on the table and caring for the family. It sometimes means working for the man. But if that is all you do…reach 65, get the gold watch and buy those nice slippers, you may feel cheated. That you gave the best of your life to the corporation.

With little left to show that is just you.

This modern digital world has opened up global opportunities to create, publish and share. You need to take those innate abilities and passions and find that intersection and start the journey of creating. Sharing on the social web will allow you to get feedback in real time.

You will discover that your online publishing will change others and they will change you. It becomes collaborative creation.

But you will need to set aside the time to invest in you.

That may mean getting up early.

Find time

I don’t care if you are a late nighter or early riser. The reality is that a dedicated slice of the day that is just yours can turn into a legacy and a life that may surprise you.

Do you want that possibility or are you happy to settle for today’s life?

If you just start you will be surprised by what that will produce in terms of motivation, self-worth and also the impact of creation will have on your long term future.

The magic is in the motion.

How is the time commitment to invest in yourself going?  Are you dedicating a couple of hours a day?

Are you brave enough to leave a legacy that is just you?

The post Why You Should Blog Before Breakfast appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

Should You Crowdsource Your Logo Design?

Don’t know your CMYK from RGB or your typefaces from fonts?

For anyone who doesn’t “speak design” (which is about all of us!), the prospect of managing a major design project like logo development can seem overwhelming and downright intimidating.

For those of us lucky enough to work for a company with a seemingly endless budget, you can afford to hire a major design firm. They’ll handle your logo creation, color palette, and typeface selection, and all the different design elements that will go into creating your brand identity.

The trouble is that for the rest of us who are solo-prenuers or work at a small business startup, hiring a major design firm is often times a financial no-go.

Your solution: crowdsource your logo.

Crowdsourcing is the practice of outsourcing ideas by soliciting contributions for a large group or online community. Don’t confuse it with freelancing. While hiring a freelance designer is certainly cheaper than a major design firm, a freelancer is still similar to a design firm. You pay a retainer, receive a set number of options, and are limited for the number of revisions.

Crowdsourcing is quite different.

Most of us crowdsource every day and don’t even realize it. Ever posted a question on Facebook or Twitter asking for restaurant recommendations or what folks thought about the latest summer blockbuster? Yep, you’re crowdsourcing!

I know what you’re thinking. When it comes to getting dinner recommendations or a yay/nay on the latest movie, the stakes are a lot lower. Suffer through a forgettable meal and you move on. But make a major blunder on your logo design, and you’re not only wasted time and money but also you risk hurting your brand identity.

Many designers will argue that entrusting your brand’s future identity to a team of relative unknowns is risky, and they have a valid point. Working with a professional firm is certainly a valuable experience. But if you’re strapped for cash and just don’t have the funds to invest in design right now, one option for generating fresh ideas without breaking the bank is to crowdsource your logo.

Here’s why you should consider going straight to the (crowd) source for your next logo design.

Reasons to Crowdsource Your Logo

Stay Within Budget

Sure, you may dream about working with a Madison Avenue ad agency to build your brand, but if your budget can only afford the Microsoft clip art version of an ad agency, it’s time to think outside the box. Hiring a design firm can cost thousands of dollars; most insist on a retainer prior to initiating work, which means you’re stuck paying for the final results whether or not you like them. Additionally, you may be limited to a fixed number of initial options or revisions. Crowdsourcing provides more variety at a much lower price point.

Expand Your Options

When you’re just getting started with your business, more options are better! Maybe you have a clear vision that your logo should be in the color green and contain a natural element (like a wave or a tree) but beyond that, you’re totally lost. With crowdsourcing, you submit a basic design brief that’s open to creative interpretation by designers. The result: hundreds of options you might otherwise have never considered.

Build Word-of-Mouth Buzz

When you crowdsource a design, you first get to review all the options. Once you’ve narrowed it down to a handful that you like, you can then invite friends and colleagues to vote on their favorite design. Post a link on Facebook or Twitter to get customers, clients and fans in on the voting. Not only do you benefit from a wide range of feedback outside your immediate bubble, but savvy businesses can also use this as a free PR opportunity.

Optimize Creativity

While most design firms truly want the very best for their clients, sometimes firms will sacrifice good design in order to please a difficult client and secure future business. With crowdsourcing, designers are only concerned with presenting the very best options for the client; there’s no concern about retaining future work. This means that designers are free to think creatively in ways you might never have considered!

Bottom Line

While there are certainly drawbacks to crowdsourcing – you may end up sorting through a hundred designs you hate! – If your business is on a budget, it’s undeniably the best option to source quality design. Plus, with some crowdsourcing platforms offering a money-back guarantee, it’s definitely an option worth considering.

Colored Pencils Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Should You Crowdsource Your Logo Design?" was first published on Small Business Trends