Social Media Advisors

Where Should My Videos Go?

Over the past few years, video has become a pretty integral part of my businesses. I use video almost daily to create new content to gain new clients, keep in touch with past and future clients, and basically run most elements of the companies. When I travel the country as a Social Media Speaker, the top subject I am asked to present on for the past 6+ years has been on video. I am a part of a few dozen groups on Facebook all related to video and one of the questions that gets discussed is where should I place my videos? Should I put my videos on Facebook or YouTube? Should they be on Instagram? What about Vimeo? Which is the best place for videos to get the best traffic.

While I’ve had some videos go somewhat viral and get over 1 million views on YouTube, I don’t consider myself a YouTube creator trying to do this for a career yet, so for those purposes, we are going to ignore Adsense and it’s role in videos today. On some of my channels I run videos for ad revenue, but it normally takes me a few months till I see any income from it. My other channel, I do not run ads on at all as it is for my real estate business in Myrtle Beach. If I were to run ads there, my competitors could place ads before my videos and steal my traffic without them ever seeing my video.

So, to answer the question, where should I post my videos, let me give you my opinion on this topic. I believe that you should post your videos onto everywhere you can. I’ve built up followings on several different platforms over the past several years. Each platform though works very differently. My YouTube followers is a different group of subscribers from those who I’m connected to on Facebook. Those who like my Facebook page are very different from those who follow me on Twitter. Each platform runs & acts differently, and each platform wants the content loaded natively into it’s own platform to give it the most amount of weight.

What About Auto-Sharing?

Just today in one of the video groups I am a part of, a gentleman shared the following post:

He was so proud that he had found a way to share his videos to more than one platform at a time and save some time & effort. But, what he doesn’t realize is that when you do cross posting of content like this, you are hurting your rankings dramatically on the platforms. Each platform is going to give you the highest ranking on your content if it is published organically in that platform versus something it can tell was published to various places at once.

Facebook in particular wants your content to live on the platform and doesn’t want you even sharing links anymore in your posts that can drive people away from the social network giant. I used to place links to my blog posts on my Facebook posts all the time, until I realized it was hurting my Edgerank by adding links to outside sources on my business page. Instead, what I do now is post links to my websites and other articles in first comment of the post instead. That way I’m not getting penalized for sending my Facebook fans out of the network when publishing a new update.

My Process For Posting

So when I’ve got a new video to upload, I start by uploading the video first onto YouTube. I upload it as an unlisted video most times first and then after it has completely uploaded, I then customize my thumbnail, create the captions for the video. I then download the .SRT file to use on Facebook and head over to my website. I will then write the entire blog post, embed the YouTube video, get everything into a written format. Once this is done, I then head over to Facebook.

On my business page, I then upload the video again natively. I then make sure to fill out the info on the video description, title, & tags on Facebook and hit upload again with the .en_US.SRT file inserted to add captions here as well. Thanks to high speed internet, it takes only a few moments, and the video is now loaded in both places. I then go to the first comment on Facebook and add the link back to my website where the full post is written that relates to the video I just uploaded.

My final step is then to go back to YouTube, edit the video and add a link back to my website in the video description and make the video go public there as well. Sometimes after a few days I will go back to my original video and create a condensed version that will get loaded onto Instagram to share it out again and give it a little more exposure, but if time is limited, this step will get left out. The final steps then include sharing images to Pinterest, tweeting out the post on my site to Twitter, and also sharing the link on Google+.

It’s a rather simple and basic process I use, but this system helps me get the most exposure for my content across all programs, and all of it is done individually. To do all of this, it may take me 30 minutes, of which 25 of it is normally spent writing the blog content. The other things are normally done within the last 5 minutes and is quick and easy. But, by doing this individually and taking the extra time, I get the most exposure for my content and get my content seen by more eyes than if it was simply uploaded to one place and then shared everywhere else.

So in the future, take the little bit of extra time and do the extra steps. You will see a much greater level of exposure on your content.

Creating An Online Community To Market For You Without Asking

Social Media Advisors, Social Media Training

I think one of the biggest values to social media is the ability to connect with large online communities and form connections with little to no effort. As I’ve traveled the country over the past few years sharing as a social media speaker, I love sharing success stories that either my clients or myself have experienced. Anyone who has ever attended any of my sessions on WordPress or blogging has heard the example of the Brazilian steakhouse in town that I wrote a simple 15 minute blog post about our great experience and how it made amazing connections with this very popular restaurant in town.

Well, yesterday it happened again. As I shared a few months back, I’ve recently ventured back into selling homes in Myrtle Beach. Because of that, I’ve been trying to focus a bunch of time over the past few weeks on creating good video about the communities and the best things Myrtle Beach has to offer. As NAR shared, that’s the types of video that will get watched much more than video about how great I am as Myrtle Beach REALTOR® or a video of a property I have listed for sale.

So before I go on, let me share the video I created. It’s a time-lapse video of the SkyWheel in Myrtle Beach. It has quickly become the icon of the Myrtle Beach skyline.

Pretty cool video right? Well, here’s where it gets better. Before launching the video I teased out to my Facebook community a still image of the video sharing about how I was testing out doing a time-lapse and hope it turned out well. As I did that, I tagged the Myrtle Beach SkyWheel Facebook page which notified the administrator there that I had mentioned them.

Then, after the video was created and sent live I shared a link across social media driving people back to my blog post where I had embedded the video. I could have just shared the link to the video and drove everyone to YouTube or kept the conversation going on Facebook, but my ultimate goal is to drive my traffic to my website that I own and can control to convert the traffic into leads. Because I mentioned them again in this post with the link over to my site, the SkyWheel then shared this post to their 30,000+ fans on their facebook page:

Post by SkyWheel Myrtle Beach.

Instantly, the roles reversed and they became part of my marketing team by sharing my content with their fan base of over 30,000 on their Facbeook Page. I instantly watched the analytics on my site shoot up as traffic began to pour in from their fans.

As you can see, the boost of traffic above was more than even what I could accomplish across all of my personal social network connections earlier in the day and almost five times the average amount of traffic that visits my site throughout the day.

So If you are trying to figure out ways to connect with other local businesses and get their social connections to learn more about you, take the time to pay it forward and share great things about others. You never know, you might just go from being a person they never heard of to someone they are bragging about to their large fan base overnight without even having to ask.

When Social Media Becomes More Than Marketing #ryderthefighter

Social Media Advisors, Social Media Speaker

Today’s post is going to be very different than the normal how to type of post in which I share a strategy on how to improve your social media marketing strategy. In fact, I’m not even going to talk about strategies or processes at all.

Earlier this month I was asked to come to Jacksonville, FL as a social media speaker to participate in a conference with around 500 attendees from the real estate industry. The conference was amazing, very well organized, tons of great content shared, and a lot of fun seeing old while making new friends. While the conference and everything related to it was great, my personal highlight of my trip happened after the event was over.

At the end of the day I waited around after the event was over to meet one of my personal heros and an “online celebrity” to me, Ryder. As many of you know this past year was quite a wild one for me with things that happened in my personal life with my wife. Last year during one of the more trying times in my life, someone I met at the same conference in 2013 and kept in contact with across social media was about to endeavor down a journey that would also be a life changing experience.

In June 2013 Cristina went from being a happy 26 week pregnant woman to the mother of a preemie in a matter of hours. Just like we had experienced, her online communities of friends from across all the social networks began reaching out to lend a hand and support in her times of need. Even though Cristina was going through so much, she still kept up with things with Katherine just like how we kept a close eye on Ryder.

We felt the emotional roller coaster as he had his good days and bad days. The highs of being able to come home after 100 days in the hospital to the lows of having to be re-admitted back into the hospital. Meeting this tiny 1lb 8oz miracle taught me more about social media than other concept, strategy, trick, or technique I’ve known before.

What he taught me is that power of social media is in the people you connect with. This trip to Jacksonville was one of the very few conferences I’ve attended since my wife’s accident. I was completely blown away by the masses of people coming up to me before, during, and even after the event not to say how much they loved my presentations, or asking about my business, but the overwhelming first question was: “How’s Your Wife doing? I’ve been following along and praying for you guys.”

As I drove home the next day from Jacksonville I had plenty of time to ponder this recent event and reflect back. I realized quickly that over the past few years I’ve thought of the social networks I am on as mainly for business and not that much about how it allows you to have great friendships with people all around the world.

I realized quickly that friends of mine that are thousands of miles away, I talk to more on any given day than close friends of mine that live down the street. I noticed that I seemed to know more of what was happening in lives of people I recently met on social networks than people I grew up with my whole life. I quickly came to the conclusion that those connections on social media can have just as much of an impact on your life as those you meet in person or have grown up with your whole life.

They care about what is going on in your life, how your family is doing, and want to be there to support you just as much as your life long friends. Relationships that start in an online setting can become so much more. I know many people who met online on a social network that led to greater relationships, friendships, and even marriages.

Heck, when I started this company back in 2009 with my partner Jason Crouch, we had never even met in person. We had both been bloggers on a real estate network and began our communication there through comments on blog posts. As time continued on, we then had a few telephone discussions and chat sessions and realized we both had the same values towards business, had the same passions towards helping others, and wanted to simply help others. It wasn’t till the spring of 2010 that we actually met each other in person.

Meeting Ryder, the 1lb, 8oz miracle has definitely done a lot in changing the way I view the friendships I have made online. It makes me value them greater and cherish the friendships and connections I have made over the past few years.

How Are They now?

Well, Ryder and his mommy are both doing well these days. Each day he becomes a little stronger and is now 10lbs and just turned 7 months old. From what Cristina told me, Ryder still has the Oxygen tank to wear and also has all kinds of monitors that go off at all wild times of the night while they try to sleep. Hopefully though, those will go away before long too.

If you want to follow along and see more of their journey, I’d highly recommend checking out their Facebook page, Ryder The Fighter. Also, be on the lookout soon of a new site being launched!

Katherine? Well, she is doing really well. When someone asks me how is she I normally reply “if you didn’t know she had the accident & met her, you would never suspect anything is wrong.” There are very few times that she ever mentions any type of discomfort or limitations anymore.

They told her she wouldn’t be able to play with the kids anymore, but if you were in my house just about every morning you can hear the kids laughing and playing as they all dance around in the kitchen to songs playing from Pandora.

It truly is a miracle how she has recovered condition she was in. One of her Doctors described it as “30 hours of death,” and now we call it complete healing.

How Much Consideration Goes Into Your Status Updates?

Social Media Advisors

First, off, Happy New Year! I know, it’s been a while since I have written new content here. The past few months have been extremely busy for me with building new custom WordPress sites for clients, speaking engagements, holidays, and moving.

While I haven’t had that much time for generating new content, I have however spent a ton of time interacting with others and observing things from a distance across the social networks. One thing I started to notice over the past few weeks is the way some people share on social networks versus in real life. As I continued watch updates from people I know in both realms, I started to categorize them into different types of groups:

The Martha Stewart- We all know at least one of these. You know, the person who updates their Facebook status every five minutes with new recipes, soaps, & every DIY remedy possible from Pinterest. If you are lucky like me, you are friends with several of these types of people to where you can’t look at Facebook for more than three minutes without feeling hunger pains or end up with a laundry list of items to pick up at Hobby Lobby for the next project you are going to tackle. If only these projects turned out like the pictures.

The Oversharer- Some people just feel everyone needs to know every single thought they have. When something pops into their head they run to the social network of their choice and post a status update. They are sharing sometimes 30-40 things in a day. Things like: just got a coffee, the mail is here, my car is dirty, I just sniffled, I’m cold, I’m hot. Is everything you say really that interesting or important to say?

It’s All About Me- In 2013 the word selfie became one of the biggest buzz words. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are being filled with random self portraits daily. In fact, this craze has became so popular it now has it’s own selfie olympics that started today. Do your friends need a new profile photo of you every day? What I’ve found is that whenever I change my avatar, it takes my connections weeks to recognize the new one since they get used to seeing your 180 pixel face one way. If it is constantly changing, I can only imagine the confusion it causes your connections.

The Gamer- We all at times need something fun to do to blow off some steam. Some like to go for a hike, others prefer hobbies like golf, but then there are those who love to play some of the many games connected to Facebook. Now, don’t get me wrong, at times I enjoy playing a few levels of Candy Crush to relax and chill out. But, do my friends care that I just completed level 18? My guess is that they could care less. Even more, those who are not into video games become even more annoyed by the constant requests to play games they do not understand just so you get another life in Farmville for your sick chicken.

The Crusader- Everyday there is a new crusade to conquer or someone to save. One day might be saving penguins, the next is global warming, or gluten in food, but everyday there is a new crisis in this world to overcome. I’m a strong believer in standing up for things you believe in, but does it really change every 24 hours?

The Complainer- They just got cut off in traffic, it’s too hot outside, now it’s too cold out, the $1.99 iced coffee was too sweet today after being too bitter yesterday, the neighbors dog just peed on the front lawn. We all experience these types of traumas every day in life. But do we need to experience your pain all day every day? I have a few connections where when I examined their feed almost 85% of their updates done in a day were negative or a complaint of some nature.

While these are some of the most common types of status updates happening in social media, I don’t believe they always do the best job of representing people in real life. Most of my connections on social media are with people whom at some point in life I have had some sort of face to face interaction with outside an online network. The time spent with these people in person is a much different experience than what their online personas represent.

So, before you submit your next status update (which will hopefully be to share this post or comment below, hint, hint) take a moment to analyze what you are about to say and make sure it is a good representation of the true person you are and not something that could represent you in a wrong manner.

Ask A Social Media Advisor- Generating Good Quality Backlinks For SEO

Custom WordPress Sites, SEO, Social Media Advisors

Today’s Ask A Social Media Advisor question came from Pam Graham, and it relates to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how to generate good quality backlinks to her custom wordpress site.

Here are a few simple ways you can start to generate good quality backlinks to your site while only using white hat SEO techniques. These are safe strategies you can implement today and keep you out of trouble with the various search engines.

The first thing I’d suggest is to make sure you have your bios up to date everywhere. Each one should have your photo, name, description, and also a link to your website whenever they allow it.

While some services like Facebook might add a <nofollow> tag, not all services do that and you can really gain some good links from that alone. Go back through all those various social networks you signed up for but never even completed your profile and make sure to get your links in to your website and everything else completed.

In the video I mention a few good places to get some nice backlinks to your site. Here are a few of those that take no time to set up:

In addition to services like the ones listed above, some blogs allow comments to be followed by search engines, so leaving comments that are valuable to the conversation and are not spammy can be a good source of links as well.

The final way to build powerful backlinks are by requesting to write a guest post on someone else’s site. I’ve been able to build some really good links by doing this for my site over the past few years. Not only do I write guest posts for others, I also LOVE having them from time to time on my site. In fact, I’ve had several guest bloggers here on this site over the past several years. If you would like to contribute, contact me about the possibility of being a guest blogger.

*Bonus Tip For Generating Backlinks: One simple way to generate good quality backlinks is by creating content on your site that others would want to link to. If you are a real estate agent and you are sharing valuable information about the current state of the market, there’s a good possibility a news source like the local newspaper or station might link to your blog post when covering the story on their site. Or, a business might link to your post if you share a nice review of their product or service.

If you begin to implement some of these different strategies above into your daily routine, it won’t be long till you are seeing the SEO benefits of backlinks into your site.

See other Ask A Social Media Advisor answers in this series:

Ask A Social Media Advisor