HOW SHOULD YOU INTEGRATE YOUR YOUTUBE STRATEGIES WITH OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS?
YouTube has done a tremendous job integrating with other social media
networks, and it’s definitely something that you want to leverage.
At the time of
writing, YouTube integrates directly with Google+, Twitter and Facebook and
has great options for linking to social media on your OneChannel page.
This list
of options will probably change in the future, but the concepts below are true no
matter what the list may hold.
What’s interesting is that for people who have connected their YouTube
accounts with Google+, Twitter and Facebook, many social things will happen
automatically. These vary in nature and impact, but they’re automatic and result
in additional social traffic (and social proof) to your videos and/or channel.
One
example: if you have linked your YouTube Channel to a Twitter account, and
someone who has done the same gives your video a thumbs up, a
recommendation will automatically be published on their Twitter feed.
Another example of such automatic integration is the “Social” category under
the “What To Watch” menu that will recommend videos shared, liked,
mentioned, etc. by friends in connected accounts. A YouTube video liked on
Facebook but ignored on YouTube will show up as well.
What does this mean? Why does this matter? You now have a reason to
promote your YouTube videos via other social networks. Now, a video liked on
Facebook will show up in both the social streams of Facebook AND YouTube.
This produces a considerably bigger impact for less effort. Let’s face it: it’s
easier to get a “Like” on Facebook than it is for someone to give you a “Thumbs
Up” on YouTube.
It is important to note that (at the time of writing at least) Facebook can only
integrate with your personal Facebook account, and not your corporate Facebook
page.
So this type of integration is something that you’ll want to examine further
to help you decide whether Facebook integration will be strategic or simply
distracting for you.
Google+
You’ll note in this book that I’m not a big fan of Google+.
I think its impact and
usefulness is greatly overstated and I don’t see myself changing my mind
anytime soon. The integration remains sloppy and hard to work through, despite
the millions of dollars they have thrown at it.
I do need to point out that this does not mean you should ignore it in your
YouTube strategies. Google needs Google+ to know what’s important and the
automatic integration of YouTube with Google+ only means that Google will
now send you more of the best possible traffic.
Action Items
What are the action items?
First, simply tie in what social networks make sense.
Obviously, since Google+
and Twitter integrate together automatically, those two are an easy decision.
As
a bonus tip, consider creating a Twitter account for every YouTube channel you
have.
However, at this point in time, Facebook only functions with personal account
integration.
In most cases, when you’re using YouTube for marketing purposes,
integrating with your personal account won’t make sense for your business.
YouTube and Facebook will probably solve this fairly soon, so keep looking into
this one.
On your OneChannel, YouTube lets you link to up to four social networks. Pick
the four social networks that you use the most and those which your audience
tend to use the most, not the ones you think are the most important. For
example, if you have no audience on Pinterest, despite what you may hear about
how popular it is, don’t worry about linking to it.
Remember, YouTube is social. Making sure that everything is integrated for
whatever automatic promotion YouTube might offer is an obvious strategic first
step.
Linking to the social accounts that you frequent the most will give your
audience a better understanding of where they can find you - and give these
networks the attention they deserve.
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