Vine just passed two big milestones. The app now has 13 million users and is available on Android.
Not familiar with Vine? It’s the six-second social video app that takes the visual feed of Instagram and applies it to easily shot videos. How easy? Tap your finger to record, lift to pause, and repeat until you’ve filled your time. Done.
If you think six seconds and a smartphone camera is limiting, you should see some of the amazing creativity happening on Vine. Filmmakers, animators, and comedians are making some remarkable (and hilarious) videos.
It isn’t just those used to camera work who are Vining. Musicians are creating content and using Vine to engage with and entertain their fans. Here are some ideas to get started with, along with some of our favorite Orchardites on Vine.
1. Create a teaser
You have six seconds, so playing an entire new song is out of the question. Instead, create a teaser for something new. Film the first spin of a test pressing, take quick shots of different pieces of album art, or record a clip of an upcoming video.
2. Go behind-the-scenes
Instagram opened up the world to backstage and behind-the-scenes photos from musicians, but Vine brings them to life with video. Have some friends hanging around? Check out Har Mar Superstar‘s Karen O 360 Vine.
On the heels of some major site-wide overhauls, YouTube is now introducing Google+ and YouTube integration. The feature is currently in beta, but open to all YouTube partners. As Google strives to make its multi-product experience more cohesive, YouTube can now be linked directly to Google+ brand pages. This association allows brands and businesses to take advantage of some key feature enhancements across both platforms.
Visibility
The most immediate advantage to integrating with Google+ is the potential boost in SEO. It’s important to remember that YouTube is a Google product (and the second largest search engine). Connecting a YouTube channel to a Google+ page gives Google’s search algorithm some key information about your brand. They’ll know that the channel and its associated Google+ page are the official representations of that brand and can populate search results accordingly. This also lets YouTubers know that your channel is the official destination for your content. Google+ page verification will transfer over to YouTube, making your channel verified as well.
Management
For companies that manage a number of YouTube channels, the necessity to store separate login information for each can become burdensome. Google+ integration quickly solves this, making channel management easier. Once a YouTube channel is connected with a Google+ page, other team members within your organization can be invited to manage the channel. Invite a new manager to your Google+ page, and they’ll automatically be able to manage the YouTube channel. This also means that other users can manage the channel without having to give up sensitive login credentials. For clients opted into The Orchard’s Multi-Channel Network, this means you are now able to grant access to our team to enhance channel performance and make programming optimizations directly within the channel.
Sharing
Google+ makes it easier to spread your YouTube presence to a larger group of potential subscribers. Once a channel is connected to a Google+ page, videos and playlists can be shared directly through Google+. This helps spread the word about video uploads to fans that might not be engaged with your brand on YouTube. You can also take advantage of Hangouts On Air. Have live video broadcasts with your fans and stream it straight to your channel. Hangouts can then be saved and managed directly like any other video. Your channel will also be able to gauge the impact of videos through Google+ tools like Ripples.
Google+ is still a relatively new social media platform. Many businesses are still trying to gage the value of dedicating time to building a strategy. Although it may take some getting used to, the potential benefits could be well worth it. You should first decide if YouTube is a place your business depends on. Adding another platform to your social media strategy could create more work, so you should be sure you have an effective strategy in place. For brands that rely heavily on YouTube and video promotion, integrating with Google+ is a must. To get started, refer to our Quick Start Guide for instructions on how to set this up.
If you’re a savvy YouTuber, you may already know about YouTube’s Playbook. Of course, if you’re a savvy YouTuber you already know everything in it. For a while, I’ve grumbled that it could use some reapplication to multiple types of creators. After all, not everyone is making cool episodic series or pioneering animation on YouTube. Therefore I’m sure the new Playbook Guides are all due to my influence!
They’re not yet converted to a user-friendly website, but you can download them as PDFs. Probably of immediate interest to most of The Orchard family is the music guide. While it’s not as heavy on strategy as the main Playbook, it does go in-depth on numerous successful tactics for promoting music on YouTube. I highly recommend it. Pay particular attention to the section on increasing watch time starting on page 27. It’s relevant to my last post on increasing engagement and helpful in mentally getting you over the hump of focusing on view counts.
Of course a big part of The Orchard family includes action sports. YouTube has a sports guide just for you. In particular, I recommend the section on programming starting on page 20. This is an area upon which I believe many of our sports clients could improve and the guide is fairly concise in this regard.
There are three other guides, one for educators, one for media companies, and one for nonprofits. I also recommend reading these. At first glance you may think they’re irrelevant, but you never know where a tactic used in one area could have applications in another.
YouTube is becoming more important to the music community both in terms of marketing and revenue as well as sharing and engagement. The platform is often confused as being solely a video player. However, as YouTube grows and channel creators become more ambitious, relationships are becoming the driving force of this video machine. The traffic controller in this system is YouTube’s Content ID.
Content ID is what dictates copyright ownership and monetization around YouTube. For bands, this is what turns YouTube into a store. YouTube differs from every other digital retailers in that its core functionality depends on user generated content (UGC). This is excellent for sharing and community around the platform, but also opens the flood gates to copyrighted material and piracy (songs, music videos, movies, etc.). Without rightful ownership, the proper owner doesn’t get credit and compensation for the work. That’s where Content ID comes in.
Content ID uses technology similar to Shazam. The system takes pre-loaded audio files from bands and labels and compares them with other videos in the system. If there is a video on YouTube that has audio or visual content that matches this reference, Content ID makes a claim. This gives the copyright owner a chance to claim the content as theirs and monetize if they choose. Here’s how it works for both players in the Content ID loop:
Bands:
Sharing is a powerful tool in the music community. New bands rely on people sharing their music to expand the potential audience. However, they would prefer to get paid for unofficial uses of their music (if users can hear your songs on YouTube for free, why would they buy the album?). Content ID provides the best of both worlds in that it still allows YouTubers to use your music in their videos, but your band makes money from the ads that Content ID places on this video. Win win!
Official Video:
Fans:
Fans use popular copyrighted material in their YouTube videos for many reasons (and it’s not necessarily malicious pirating). In most cases, these users are legitimate, diehard fans that love the music their using. These are the best kinds of fans for bands. You have passionate, genuinely engaged users creating content for you (for free!). Why not keep it coming? By using Content ID to find these UGC videos, you can automatically track who is using your material and monetize it if you choose. Win win… win!
Videos are by far the most engaging form of social content. This isn’t exactly a new discovery, but there’s a lot of missed potential by bands that claim to have a YouTube presence. The common misconception is that your music videos go up on YouTube and you’re done. Although MTV style music videos can create a big draw, they don’t keep viewers on your channel for very long (hopefully these are actually on your channel).
Luckily for musicians on YouTube, there are some relatively quick fixes. The main thing most bands miss is the opportunity to actively engage with their fans. Viewers want to see those extra details; the behind-the-scenes, authentic interactions with the band that they can only get on YouTube. Bands should make a point to announce news and updates with their fans directly through a quick video. This helps in two ways: 1. Fans get the info right from the source, and 2. Video updates build buzz and traffic around your channel for when one of those big official music videos comes up.
Bands should program their channel in a way that fans can expect regular updates. Videos don’t need to be any longer than 30 seconds and can be taken anywhere with your phone. Get creative and consistent. No matter what type of content you decide to use, keep your videos original, exciting and genuine. Fans will feel closer to the music and you’ll have some authentic feedback from the people that matter most. Here are some quick ideas to get you started:
