It has been 17 years since Bill Gates proclaimed, “content is king.” Though some first cast doubt on its claim to the throne, and many have since been unable to articulate what the ubiquitous phrase means, quality content is now the most powerful tool for engaging audiences and sharing ideas. For proof, look no further than YouTube’s recent update to its search algorithm.

Last year, YouTube announced it was altering the method used to rank videos. The better a video’s rank, the more likely it will appear as a search result. YouTube’s previous algorithm favored videos with the most clicks. The new algorithm ranks videos based on the amount of time users spend watching them. In short, the new algorithm favors content that keeps users on YouTube for longer periods of time.

This information caused a minor stir among content creators who felt YouTube was putting a higher priority on its advertisers than its users. Increased time spent on YouTube means increased exposure to ads. Advertisers will certainly benefit, but ultimately I think the changes are a move towards a better Internet.

The original algorithm was easy to game and users were often bombarded with irrelevant, sometimes offensive, content. All one needed was a provocative thumbnail, often referred to as a “cleavage thumbnail” and the clicks would roll in. The new method takes a step closer to evaluating videos on the quality and relevancy of the content.

Content creators and syndicators who have relied on search engine optimization (SEO) tricks will likely see a drop in the number of views their videos receive. YouTube views in general have dropped 28% since the change, but time spent watching videos has increased 57%*. In other words, viewers are spending more time with good content and are encountering fewer videos that do not relate to their search queries.

None of this diminishes YouTube’s role in a robust digital strategy. With more than 4 billion videos viewed per day**, YouTube is the world’s second most popular website and it’s the second most used search engine, behind Google, which acquired YouTube in 2006. Incorporating YouTube into your strategy requires putting an emphasis on engaging content.

Here are a few suggestions to get you on your way:

1. Search for your brand and take note of how the results are connected. These connections may provide valuable insights into your customer base and the content they’re looking for.

2. Repeat step 1, but this time insert your competitor’s brand.

3. Find new ideas for videos in your current content. Which blog posts were the most popular? Which tweets were retweeted? How can that content be turned into your next video?

4. SEO is still an important factor. YouTube should not be thought of as a repository of video content. YouTube’s high ranking as a search engine rests largely on the fact that in addition to hosting videos, it connects users to relative content and information throughout the web. Research the keywords people use to find your brand and tag your videos accordingly. Include links in your description and engage with your fans.

Lastly, be a force for raising the quality of the Internet and your content will find viewers. Don’t post videos you wouldn’t be proud to see go viral and always use the best resources you can afford. Make it funny, informative or off-the-wall, but make sure it’s engaging. There is too much Internet to spend time on boring content.

*Ad Age, “YouTube’s Video Views Are Falling — By Design May”, 14, 2012

**YouTube Blog, “Holy Nyans! 60 hours per minute and 4 billion views a day on YouTube”, January 23, 2012

Brands are starting to see fewer impressions and less fan interaction on their Facebook pages, and the issue is now getting negative attention online. NST first shared this problem in a previous blog post that discussed how Facebook’s algorithm was preventing fans from seeing all of a brand’s posts. As Facebook expands its advertising products, brands that aren’t using Promoted Posts or other advertisements may see less interaction and fewer organic impressions.

Some of Facebook’s popular users are speaking out in frustration as they watch their impressions diminish due to Facebook’s algorithm. Per an All Facebook article, actor George Takei and basketball team owner Mark Cuban “… posted in anguish over their fans not being able to see all of what they post.” Takei asked his fans to add him to their Facebook “Interests” and Cuban vented on Twitter after a recent post was only seen by 27,000 of his 2.3 million fans.

Can Interest Lists help? Interest Lists, which allow users to group updates around similar topics, haven’t helped because they appear to the left of the New Feed, far down the page. It’s important to note “…you can’t replace your News Feed with an Interest List, and adding a brand’s page to an Interest List still doesn’t guarantee you’ll see all their posts.” 

Is there hope for brands? Facebook recently announced the addition of Page Notifications. Users will soon be able to be pinged about Page updates and then users will not miss updates from a specific brand.

Facebook is also testing a separate “Pages Feed” where users can view all the updates from the pages they like in a single stream. Per Adweek, a Facebook spokesperson said

“…the Pages Only feed won’t affect how posts get surfaced in the regular News Feed but is instead designed to surface posts that brands’ fans may not see in that feed. That doesn’t mean that every page post will be seen by every user checking their Pages Only feed. While brands should expect their fans who are fans of only a few other brands to see every post in the Pages Only feed, that won’t necessarily be the case for users who are fans of many brands. In those cases Facebook essentially weighs the page posts as they do any content to the regular News Feed, taking into account engagement signals to make sure the stream isn’t lame. ” 

The question is, will people want to be notified every time a brand page sends out an update? Will people switch between their regular News Feed and a Page Only News Feed to see what brands are posting? Do they really ant to see that information? Time will tell.

What can brands and Facebook page administrators do in the meantime? Create engaging posts by including an image and a link, use action words (watch, like, etc.), and write short attention-grabbing copy. Pay attention to the types of posts getting the most engagement. Some research says text-only posts,others say posts with images, which is why you need to pay close attention to your brand Page’s Facebook Insights. Also, pay attention to which days and times are best to post  and keep up to date on the latest information about Facebook’s News Feed algorithm and EdgeRank.  If you have questions, NST’s team is well versed in social media marketing and can provide thoughtful, researched guidance.

Facebook has given new meaning to words and phrases not previously associated with the Internet and social media, including: news feed, tag, poke and like. Soon we may be able to add other words to the Facebook repertoire: want and collection.

Facebook is testing a new feature with some big name brands, including Victoria’s Secret, Pottery Barn and Michael Kors. The concept is simple: brands create “collections” of their products in fashion similar to Pinterest; each item in the collection has a “want” button and a “buy” button linking back to the point of sale on the brand’s website. When a user clicks the “want” star the action goes onto that user’s timeline. (NOTE: When NST tested the “want” feature, we didn’t see the action appear on the news feed of friends. This could be a potential downside, because if users have to go hunting to see their friends’ wants, there are ultimately less impressions for the brand than if it appeared in news feeds automatically.) Facebook users also have the option to add a comment to the “want” action and are prompted with the question “Why do you want this?” These comments can give brands valuable insight into what customers like about their products.

When perusing the Victoria’s Secret Facebook page, I noticed the brand’s collections didn’t appear in the tab portion of their pages. Instead, the collections were only visible as news items on the wall. Facebook may be holding off on integrating collections into the tab until the testing phase for “want” is over. It would be a logical next step to give collections a permanent home on the profile so fans of the brands can find the feature as quickly and as easily as they can now browse photos, videos and other branded features.

The addition of a “want” button has enticed companies for some time as it adds another layer of brand engagement to the “like” factor already in place. But the “buy” feature is what intrigues me and it’s something Pinterest lacks. If Facebook analytics can shed some light into just how many people are purchasing a product after first engaging with the brand’s Facebook page, marketers may be able to more clearly delineate the ROI of social media.

Until this feature is rolled out to more brands, we’ll have to cross our fingers and hope one of the brands implementing “want” and “buy” right now will share some of their insight. In the meantime, be sure to check back to stay updated on the latest social media happenings.

Social media has made an indelible mark on how brands communicate with their customers – no one can deny that. Over the past five or so years, we’ve seen social media rise to new heights and now the question for brands isn’t “should we get involved in social media” but “how best can we use social media to our advantage?”

I recently attended Social Fresh, a conference dedicated to shining light on all things social media, much like Nuffer, Smith, Tucker’s own San Diego Social Media Symposium. Here, I heard from San Diego-based Intuit’s Adrian Parker regarding how the company handles social media, an approach Adrian likens to cooking.

People approach cooking in different ways. You can open a recipe book, make a list of ingredients, go to the grocery store and purchase ingredients, prepare your cooking space, follow directions, and finally serve the meal. This technique is full of calculated moves and would often result in a delicious dinner, but it lacks spontaneity.

Another approach would be to open the pantry, look for interesting ingredients, brainstorm combinations, develop your own recipe, improvise cooking techniques and finally serve the meal. There is a lot of room for error in this methodology, but it also opens the door for innovation and learning.

Adrian’s insight served as a fresh reminder to not rely on cookie-cutter social media techniques. While it may seem scary to take risks, it can give your brand the voice or reach it needs to make a splash in the social media landscape. Next time you log in to Twitter or Facebook on behalf of your brand, remember to blend tried-and-true tactics with new ideas to develop your own recipe for success.

According to The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism report, how people get their news has changed. The State of the News Media 2012: An Annual Report on American Journalism states:

[T]he majority of Americans now get news through at least one digital, web-based device. While the desktop or laptop computer remains the primary digital platform for news (54% of Americans get news there), the number of consumers who get news on multiple digital devices is growing. Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults, 23%, now get news on at least two devices.

As people get more of their news online, news organizations are also making adjustments. Twenty percent of U.S. newspapers require a paying subscription for full digital access – a number that has doubled since last year. For those going online to get news, what better way to bring readers to the heart of the action as it happens than video?

The Wall Street Journal created a hub called WSJ WorldStream, on the video-sharing site Tout, for mobile video shot via smartphone by more than 2,000 journalists around the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, their video viewership has more than doubled in the past six months so it makes sense for the paper to expand video creation.

Video storytelling was also used during New York Fashion Week by ”… several fashion reporters … turning to Viddy and other forms of mobile video distribution to compliment their coverage.” Many felt video brought the clothing to life in a way still images couldn’t, and the format was perfect for short interviews with designers and fashion show attendees.

What can brands learn from these examples? Share the latest news about your brand, details about events as they happen, and provide how-to videos. When Apple released iOS 6, Mashable shared a hands-on how-to video about the new features, which brought the information to life and made the changes easier to understand.

Creating videos to share information with customers is not a new concept for many brands. However, with the advent of video sharing sites like Viddy and Tout, brands don’t need to – and are not expected to – create long, edited, fancy videos. Instead, information can be shared quickly and in easily digestible, 15-second clips. Bring brand stories to life with video, make your blog posts and social media updates more interactive, and give customers an authentic feel for what your company is doing. Social media has created platforms for closer connections between brands and customers, and video can only help strengthen this connection.

One of our clients, Markon Cooperative – a produce provider to the foodservice industry – does a nice job of providing timely produce updates to their customers and buyers via a weekly “Live From the Fields” video series. Markon’s Aug. 30, 2012 episode focused on the elevated insect pressure in the Salinas Valley at the time and what harvesters were doing to address the issue.

What do you think about companies integrating video into their communications? How could your company use video? What are the benefits?

It’s no secret public relations professionals aim to create content that elicits an action, especially through social media channels. It’s called “social media” for a reason – we want people talking about, engaging with and sharing our client’s content and messages.

Nuffer, Smith, Tucker co-hosted the “Content Marketing Insider Secrets” webinar last Tuesday with Social Fresh, a social media education company, that discussed content creation in-depth. The webinar gave attendees a glimpse of the dialogue that will take place at the Social Fresh WEST conference in San Diego on September 27-28, and featured conference presenters Anna Lingeris of Hershey’s and Zena Weist of Expion along with NST President Bill Trumpfheller.

The lively discussion focused on the importance of knowing your brand’s voice, prepping your content with appropriate research, and being an engaging participant and curator. Here’s a recap of some key points:

• Content shouldn’t repeat your traditional ad copy. Figure out what voice will resonate with your target audiences and tailor it accordingly per social media platform.
• Identifying a focused brand voice helps all employees within your company understand social media goals and activity. It also makes it easier for people to participate.
• Listen and respond to the needs of your audience.
• Create content, but also let others’ (your audience) voices and opinions come through.
• Metrics and data are available – use statistics and data to create a plan, and see what’s resonating with your audience.
• Cross-pollenating content per platform can increase the shelf life of your campaign.
• You want people to trust your brand – engagement helps build trust.
• Listen first; talk later.
• Create content that your audience can easily share on and offline.
• Engaging content must have a personal relevance. Find out what matters to your audience and create content that sparks a discussion around those topics.
• The top three types of engaging content are: personal questions, loyalty questions and call-to-actions with photos or links.
• Figure out how to make a local tie to your audience for increased interaction.
• Content marketing research is critically important and should be a large part of the resource pie.
• What experience are you trying to deliver? Use this to drive content creation, but realize in the end it, your content may not be all brand focused.
• Don’t succumb to “shiny object syndrome” each time a new platform emerges. Do your research before diving in.

Did you join “Content Marketing Insider Secrets?” What were your takeaways?

Digital engagement, in particular social media, has given marketers an unprecedented new way to participate in a two-way dialog with consumers. As we often coach our clients, with earned media channels such as PR and social media, a company needs to be comfortable giving up a certain amount of control of its message to be able to have authentic conversations online.

Recently, our newsfeeds have been rife with a number of examples of companies relinquishing control of their brands’ message and the outcomes have been somewhat mixed.

Performer Pitbull and retail behemoth Walmart recently earned kudos for rolling with the punches when a contest didn’t go quite as planned. The promotion offered a visit from Pitbull to the store location that received the most new Facebook likes, but Facebook users rallied to send the artist to perform in Kodiak, Ala., the most remote Walmart in America. The company and performer responded with enthusiasm and made good on their promise.

Mountain Dew recently asked consumers to select a name for its newest soft drink flavor. Instead of clever, feasible options, the top trending name suggestions were at worst disgustingly inappropriate and at best simply unusable, with entries such as “Diabeetus.” An online hacking group also established inappropriate banner messages throughout the brand’s microsite, which was later taken down.

The branding/PR world has erupted into debate on how to view these types of situations. Some warn against performing any crowd-sourcing campaigns, saying they put too much control in the hands of the public. Others say marketers should loosen their controls on such sites to encourage tinkering with the hope these antics could potentially provide the campaign with more media exposure.

While it certainly depends on the clients’ overall goals, I think with a solid understanding of the public perception of your brand, a good grasp on current issues/challenges facing the industry, the right technological safeguards in place, and a plan for if/when things change course, crowd-sourcing is still an opportunity worth pursuing.

What are your thoughts on the future of crowd-sourcing? Will brands see this as an opportunity to extend their reach or as a canary in the coalmine for digital campaigns gone awry?

A lot of companies place emphasis on ensuring their organization or brand “looks good” online – and that’s important – but they often focus only on the graphic, visual elements of a website or social media platform.  More importantly, who’s the voice of your brand online?  Who’s communicating with people via social media on your behalf?  Is there a consistent tone?

I recently sat through a Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) webinar that explained what things companies should want in an online community manager and helped paint a picture of what he/she should look like.  Below are seven qualities you should look for (or develop) in your online community manager:

1. Articulate:  An online community manager should be able to communicate effectively in a variety of media.  He/she should be capable of clearly expressing the organization’s messages in a language your community members like and understand.

2. Social:  He/she should be able to easily engage in authentic conversations online.  In other words, just because your I.T. guy knows about computers doesn’t mean he’s automatically the right fit – this person needs to be comfortable participating in online discussions and come across as natural.

3. Professional:  Having a personality is great, but coming across as professional is equally, if not more, important.  The person should act as a responsible ambassador for your organization and carry an appropriate, consistent tone across multiple mediums.

4. Adaptable:  An online community manager should be able to make decisions quickly during crisis situations.  This often involves knowing where to look for information, working across multiple departments, understanding the company’s values, and not getting frazzled easily.

5. Enthusiastic:  It’s easy to tell when the person “behind the post” actually cares about the brand and about helping or informing others.  Your online community manager should be energetic, passionate and engaged in relevant topics.

6. Connected:  Key members within your community can come to your defense and/or be your best ambassadors, so the person you choose as a community manager should have ties to the right people within the community, or at least be able to identify them.

7. Organized:  When managing a community, staying organized is key.  A community manager should be able to keep track of data, relationships, content calendars, and a variety of assets essential to maintaining your community.

WOMMA is a fantastic resource for social media newbies and experts, as it puts together case studies, ethics guidelines, and online and in-person educational seminars.  You can follow the organization on Twitter and keep checking back to the NST blog for more information on best practices, trends and updates related to social media.

You may have noticed some numbers appearing under each of your Facebook Page’s posts. Facebook now shares post metrics at the bottom of each status update, and for many brands, those numbers are low.

Coincidentally, (read: likely not coincidentally) Facebook recently announced the launch of Promoted Posts. Brand Pages can now pay to have posts seen by more fans.

To create a Promoted Post, write a status update. Then, select the Promote button at the bottom of the post to get a list of prices. Each price point has an associated estimated reach – the percentage of fans who will see your post.

Facebook's Promoted Posts

After you make your price selection and post your status update, Facebook also recommends you Pin the post to the top of your page to make it more visible and accessible.

Per Facebook, promoted posts will show in the news feeds of the people who like your Page. If the people who like your Page interact with the post, it can show in the news feeds of their friends. These posts will be labeled as “Sponsored” in the news feed. Unlike ads and sponsored stories, Promoted Posts will not be shown in the right-hand column of Facebook.

We have been told Facebook fans are more likely to purchase, consider and recommend brands to friends. But since Facebook has admitted using an algorithm to rank content based on the likely interest to a user to deliver the most relevant content – a non-paid status update may not reach a large number of your fans.

The new Promoted Posts – and the growing inability to organically interact with fans to grow your Brand Page – shouldn’t be a surprise. Once Facebook went public, it had to keep investors satisfied through significant and continued revenue growth, which means Facebook needs to focus on advertising dollars.  The article 5 Ways Facebook’s IPO Affects Brands from Mashable points out,

…with a greater focus on ads, it will become increasingly more challenging for brand managers to fuel organic growth. Valuable, engaging content will always be vital, but without content working hand-in-hand with Facebook advertising, your brand will be unable to keep up in the social space. The days of brands getting significant traction on Facebook organically are over.

What does this mean for you and your brand’s Facebook page? Pay attention to Facebook’s ad offerings. Read case studies about what’s working for companies on Facebook and what’s not, and keep up-to-date on the latest Facebook changes by regularly reading NST’s blog. Create engaging content and try some of the different ad platforms including Promoted Posts, but watch the analytics carefully to see what is increasing engagement. What works for one brand may not work for another.

Will you try Promoted Posts? What do you think about the future of Facebook advertising and what it means for brands?

AT&T Park, San Francisco

The return of baseball season is an exciting time at Nuffer, Smith, Tucker– it’s something to follow, discuss and tease each other about.  It represents hope (although Kerry has expressed “limited optimism” in the Padres management this year) and a renewed excitement in our downtown office, where we have a great view down the third-base line at Petco Park.

If you’ve walked by my desk, it’s not hard to tell I’m a San Francisco Giants fan (hint: you may’ve noticed the “Beard Yourself Like Brian Wilson” poster behind my computer or the Barry Bonds bobblehead on the file cabinet), but above all else, I’m a baseball fan.  I can watch a 0-0 tie going into the 9^th inning of any game and be perfectly happy.  I’m intrigued by matchups, left-handed pitching vs. right-handed hitting, fielders playing close against certain hitters, late inning switches… It’s all fascinating and predicated on the idea of playing to one’s strengths.  Sure, you can put a lineup out there and hope for the best, but good managers are active – they know their competition inside and out, they know who hits better against certain relievers, and they’re thinking several steps ahead for the good of the team.

Public relations done right is a lot like baseball.  It involves analyzing trends, assessing your competition, identifying your strengths and key differentiators, and putting together a solid game plan for success.  We’d be happy to help you think through some of those things for your business and how to best utilize that information to reach your strategic business goals through branding, media relations, online marketing, social media and/or graphic design.  And, if you want to talk baseball, we’d like that too.

“Hitting is fifty percent ‘above the shoulders.’” – Ted Williams