​YouTube Video Shares Decline as Facebook Video Shares Increase

This was originally posted for my company, Epic Web Studios on 2/10/2015.

If your company isn't using Facebook Video to advertise, it should be.

Facebook Video is now bigger than YouTube for brands according to an article on Socialbakers. In October the website shared data showing an increase in Facebook video shares that was quickly catching up to YouTube. In fact, Socialbakers analyzed over 180,000 Facebook Video posts across 20,000 Facebook pages.

From January 2014 to December 2014, analysts watched YouTube shares decline from almost 100,000 shares to below 60,000 views, while Facebook video shares went from 40,000 to nearly 80,000 giving them the upper hand by 20,000 shares.

Though this is a serious threat to YouTube, it does not necessarily mean the death of YouTube will be any time soon. YouTube videos can still be embedded into brand’s websites. This is definitely a significant advantage to YouTube, as having content on multiple platforms only aids in promoting brand visibility.

Personally, I host most of my clients’ videos on YouTube and download them to share on Facebook. I only like to use Facebook videos for the fact they play right in the news feed, as opposed to taking viewers to a separate site by force. I use both sites for video marketing, but still rely heavily on YouTube to share videos on other platforms while also embedding them on other sites.

At this time, I don’t foresee myself dropping YouTube entirely, though I will be following trends from both sites a bit more closely.

So, will your brand be making the switch from YouTube to Facebook video this year? What are your 2015 predictions for Facebook video shares versus YouTube shares?

Adele Stewart is a Digital Media Strategist at Epic Web Studios, a web development & strategic planning firm in Erie, PA, and Public Relations blogger. If you have questions about running a successful digital advertising campaign, contact Epic Web’s Social Media team today!

T: @adelemariestew​LinkedIn: /AdeleMarieStew

Working From Home vs. Being in the Office

As many folks already know, I took quite a spill recently, shattering my ankle in two different areas when heading into work one icy Monday morning. At first I thought I could handle sitting in my small space at the office and having the ability to prop my foot up on the community couch when I needed a break. That lasted a full day, and barely. I was in sheer discomfort for most of the day. By the time I got home at 6pm, I was ready for bed. 

Because of how exhausted one day made me, I was able to get my work’s network setup on my house computer so I could access everything on the company’s shared drive when I needed it. The first day of this stressed me out a bit, I couldn’t figure out where files were, and it took a while for my co-workers to get back to me on things I considered kind of urgent. Even my boss was stressed and kept me on the line for 30 minute increments at a time which made it nearly impossible to get things done. 

I spent a good hour that evening pulling my hair out, and getting things organized into a “To Do List” for the next day. 

When I woke up and crutched to my computer the next morning, I found that working from the comfort of my own heat, my own windows, my own computer was actually a wonderful feeling, now that I had a game plan. 

I was able to barrel through my list in a few hours, take a nap, eat a hearty lunch and then get ahead of more work when I returned to my desk. Although it seems like a dream come true, I think it’s beneficial to sort through the pros and cons of working from home versus being in the office. 

Pros of Working from Home

Comfort

At work, there are three of us squished in a small(er) room with windows leading to nowhere and no carpet or insulation to absorb heat. Being at home during a Pennsylvania winter is nice. I have access to natural light, and I can control the heat. I can even grab a blanket and keep my pj’s on while I crank out work. 

Focus

There’s no one to talk to, so I am completely zoned into what I’m doing at all times. Aside from the occasional text message or package delivery, I have no distractions at home. I’m pretty lucky in the sense that there aren’t a lot of people in my house or even in my neighborhood during the day, so there is no dire need to pull away from my work. I seem to have more of a drive to get work done when I’m at home, knowing that once I’m done I can sit in front of the television and binge on Netflix all evening. 

Cons of Working from Home

Phones

I don’t have access to the work phone when I’m at home. If someone calls the office looking for me, my co-workers have to give them my cellphone number – which I don’t feel everyone needs to have. I thrive off of my privacy and being in the social media field, I don’t get as much of it as I would like. From past experiences, I have had clients call me over the weekend to request something that could easily have been worked on the next week. I can turn off email notifications when I’m away from my desk or over the weekend, but I can’t just stop receiving calls. 

Interaction 

I really like my co-workers. They are my work family and we come up with some really great ideas when we’re all together. When I am working from home, I find myself messaging them through Google Hangouts throughout the day, or sending detailed emails of ideas I’ve just come up with. Though the focus is great, I miss being able to turn around to say, “Hey, what do you guys think about this post -” and instantly get their feedback. It’s quiet, it’s weird, and doesn’t feel social enough for a Social Media Professional.

That’s my brief list for my short time away from the desk. I suppose it really could go one of both ways – I could stay home and get nothing done, or stay home and get everything done. 

What is your preference? At home? In the office? Pros? Cons? I want to hear your thoughts!

Snapchat Cashes In with Snapcash

This article was written by Adele Stewart for Epic Web Studios Blog on 11/18/14 and can be found here.

On Monday night, Snapchat users were surprised to find a Snapvid from “teamsnapchat” announcing their new feature “Snapcash.” Snapchat revealed their recent partnership with Square Cash accompanied by an over-the-top and almost unnecessarily flashy “A Chorus Line” style song and dance video.

For those of you who need clarification, the quick picture/video sharing app Snapchat is partnering with Square Cash, an app that allows users to send and request money for free. Square Cash hopes to make splitting the check, lending money and pay backs a lot easier between friends. Like most mobile wallets Square Cash hasn’t really broke through the system quite yet, but with the help of Snapchat’s 100 million (and then some) monthly users, this might be just the thing they need to edge out apps like Venmo, PayPal, Soft Card and Google Wallet.

As many are already aware, Generations Y and Z spend most of their time buried in their smart-phones and most of their money is laid to rest within those phones’ apps. Snapchat has found a way to quickly infiltrate this market by offering p2p payments between close friends, and emerge into a group of young people who haven’t really thought about the importance of financial awareness before.

Some digital marketing sources see this as a way to better target Snapchat’s newly released ads feature. Square Cash’s terms of service permit “third-party advertising and analytics,” which release user’s age, phone number, and bank card information. With these specific details, they are now able to target paid advertising to exact demographics instead of blindly shooting movie trailers at the general public.

Personally, I knew that Snapchat was going to “cash in” at some point, but I was not anticipating such a quick and ironic sequence. During the World Cup when Snapchat allowed users to upload chats to a Live Story, I figured that maybe they were getting paid to allow attendees to subliminally advertise the event itself. These Live Stories of video and imagery occur regularly now during highly attended about events like D1 college football games, NBA games, and even India's Diwali celebration. Within the next few months, I started seeing ads for movies – namely ones I was never going to see like “Ouija” and “Dumb and Dumber To” – which led me to believe Snapchat was tired of being an ephemeral media sharing app, and was seeking to finally monetize off of their popularity.

With all of this in mind, do you see yourself sharing cash with your friends via Snapchat? With the constant ads being thrown into your feed much like Twitter and Facebook, do you think you’ll continue to use the app? Or do you see yourself deleting it and waiting for the next best thing?

Sound off in the comments below!

Adele Stewart is a Digital Media Strategist at Epic Web Studios, a web development & strategic planning firm in Erie, PA, and Public Relations blogger. If you have questions about running a successful digital advertising campaign, contact Epic Web’s Social Media team today! 

T: @adelemariestew​LinkedIn: /AdeleMarieStew