1.0 The Fundamentals
It’s no secret that Google, YouTube and Facebook like to keep their algorithm well under wraps, but as 2018 kicks off it looks like there’s been a few further changes to the algorithm that’s impacts content creators.
Content creators invest a lot of time trying to climb the ranks of the search results. Looking at some of the metrics that YouTube gathers: videos tend to get a lot more views via suggested videos rather than organic searches.
Instead of spending quite as much time trying to conquer the search results, it is important to really invest some time in working out which other videos you want to have your videos associated with as ‘suggested videos’ and then optimise for those.
The two go hand in hand really, if you can get your video appearing in the suggested videos theoretically it will get more views and you’ll see an increase in the videos search result position.
2.0 Watch Time
Watch time has long been touted as one of the major influencing factors in how well a video will do. It was thought it was a determining factor for:
- a) how much YouTube will promote your video?
- b) what spot it can claim in search results and
- c) whether it appears in the suggested videos.
But watch time isn’t quite as simple as you might think. It’s not just about the watch time on your latest video, it actually encompasses the watch time of your entire channel, the watch time of your recently uploaded videos, and your most recent upload.
It’s thought that uploading a video that performs badly can affect the next couple of videos you upload, as well as the previous couple.
If you can nail the watch time on your newer content you could find that your previous videos will start to rise from the depths and start getting more views. But if you have a few videos lingering in your library that are performing particularly badly it might be time to get rid of them because they could be hurting your channel and your future uploads.
3.0 Relevancy is EVERYTHING!
Your videos relevancy across all your video content channels should be at a super-critical focus with regards your group social media strategy. If a channel that focuses on sports releases and then a makeup tutorial the chances are it’s going to be hard to get much success from it, it’s not relevant to viewing audience. It sounds so simple but the most basic mistakes are still make with brands.
Creating content that is relevant to what your channel produces helps give your channel authority on a particular subject area. YouTube, Facebook and Instagram can work out if your channel is all about sports and can measure your success in a particularly niche.
It’s a bit like stepping into the unknown – like when a film star tries to start a music career, it’s a mystery how successful they’ll be in the new industry and there are often no relevant examples to get a frame of reference.
This is why a lot of Facebook brands and YouTubers run multiple channels (or sub-verticals), this is super clever as it manages both the expectations and relationship of your viewing audience and also the channel algorithms.
4.0 What the viewers are watching
If you’ve got a video appearing in the ‘suggested videos’ category then the number of users that choose your video to watch next, are going to help make or break it. YouTube wants to keep viewers on site consuming content for longer and the easiest way for them to do that is to be presenting them with relevant content that they might want to watch next.
Each time a viewer chooses your video to watch after a related video it’s like it gets a little bonus point in the suggested videos (this is affected by other metrics like how much of your content they stay to watch etc). Get enough of those bonus points and it’ll start to bump your video up organically.
This is part of why parodies are so successful on YouTube and lad’s content on Facebook, they’re relevant to an already popular video that is getting a lot of views. If you can end up in the suggested videos for a highly viewed video by doing a parody or a prank then chances are you’ll be getting a growing amount of consistent views.
Note: views of videos and the comments within them are a fantastic metric – not all viewers will want to ‘like’ a branded page if they are already seeing the content that is being correctly serviced by a platforms algorithm.
5.0 Engagement
Engagement has always been thought of as a big determining factor in your videos success, but engagement is always changing. YouTube (for example) isn’t putting quite as much weight on likes and comments as they once were and this could mean the end (or at least a decline) of all those begging for likes and comments that is so prevalent on YouTube.
While you don’t want to ignore engagement because it’s still a part of growing your YouTube community and probably does factor in to an extent, engagement has changed.
It looks like YouTube is favouring looking at viewers path through the content to work out engagement. How many viewers clicked on your video in the suggested videos and what did they do after watching your video? Did they leave YouTube? Did they consume more of your content? Did they click onto another related video from a different creator?
It makes sense to go this route because as creators you have little control over what your user decides to do after they’ve watched your video. You might ask them to like or comment on your video, but you’re probably not going to ask them to try and find your video in suggested videos and click on it.
5.1 The first few hours/days
Another reason creators are all over social media trying to get their viewers to go and watch their newest video asap is because getting views on your freshly uploaded content will help give it a boost.
It’s thought that if you can get a decent viewership on your videos in the first 48 hours then chances are you’ll end up appearing in the suggested videos and earn a decent spot in the search results. This can be a tough pill to swallow for new creators with small followings as it’s tough to get views, let alone get them in the first 48 hours.
Going into 2018, it looks like the importance of an integrated social media approach to promote content and bringing the audience closer to your heartbeat of your brand will be a no-brainier!
So what does this mean exactly for your new hero video asset?
- Instagram is great for short snapshot video (10-20-seconds) edit for brand awareness and/or an easy to navigate ‘swipe-up’ call to action. Ideal for verticals such as fashion, travel, film, music, gaming, tech, food.
- Snapchat is excellent for those really behind-the-scene moments that are for the inquisitive and hard-core fan
- Facebook is a great place to extend the Instagram content snapshot video to a longer 30 second editorial (also with a call to action or tagged brand)
- YouTube is a great place to house related content, UGC and also more documentary length formats.
These four distinct approaches conveniently align to a brands sales funnel and provide a hybrid approach to your new campaign video
content, creation, featured, mobile, online, Social media, video
