​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!

Updated Profile

I spent a few hours the other night finding my most successful posts, ads, and web development.

I hope that this will give you all a solid glimpse of what exactly I am capable of in the world of digital marketing.

Please take a look at my site and offer any feedback you'd like! 

It is a work-in-progress, but I appreciate constructive criticism.

Adele Stewart Website

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

Digital Marketing for Gen Z: Can Facebook “Even”?

I originally posted this to Epic Web Studios' blog, but wanted to share it on here too.

Once upon a time in a far off digital land, there was a social media platform called Facebook that consumed much of Generation Y’s time in “liking” photos and posting comments. As generations grew and various interfaces emerged, Facebook seemed to remain popular with Gen X but would the younger Gen Z follow along with the Facebook trend?

Recent studies show that Millennials and Gen Z spend “a significant amount of their time online,” and a lot of that time has converted into spending actual dollars online. Gen Z spends almost twice as much money than Gen Y, thus making it important for marketers to follow along – what platforms are Gen Z finding ads from?

As a 25 year old female, a lot of the ads I wind up following come from Facebook.  I don’t always click on Facebook ads (come on – I’m in digital advertising, I know better) but when I do, I typically end up spending money on a dress or a piece of jewelry I really don’t need. Plus, Facebook’s cleverly installed Custom Audience Pixels follow me from the Designer Handbag page on ThredUp to my Facebook news feed the second I log back in. With Millennials dominating Facebook, where is Gen Z hiding… and where are they spending their hard earned babysitting dollars online?

Kids are leaving Facebook. In fact, most aren’t even on Facebook – they begin their social media exploration at ages 10 or 11 through Instagram – posting poorly angled selfies and discolored photos of One Direction posters.  With platforms like Instagram, Vine and Snapchat is it safe to say that Facebook is dead?

The latest Cassandra report found that “nearly half of young people] prefer that brands communicate with them on Facebook — over YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr. As they use Facebook more often than other platforms, it’s only fitting they want brands to reach them this way."

They also discovered that while each social medium has particular strengths and weaknesses for marketers, when asked, the young don’t just want to see content, but rather, according to Cassandra, brands "need to provide value, relevancy, and interactivity."

As for advertising, Facebook can help digital marketers customize specific “native” ad placements based on Facebook user data like age and gender, as well as advertisers’ customer data and Custom Audience Pixels.

So in the end, while it seems that kids aren’t quite on Facebook, they will be, and Facebook is already to welcome them to their privacy-intrusive digital marketing network with open arms.

What do you think? Should marketers continue to advertise for the big-spending youth on Facebook?

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

Social Media Effect

If there is anything you've learned this week, hopefully it is that social media works. In case you haven't been following along, on February 15, 2014, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, received a two-game suspension for punching his then fiancee Janay Palmer, in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino. Up until yesterday, the only footage seen was Rice dragging Palmer's unconscious body out of the elevator.

After the NFL's investigation, they suspended him for two games, much to many people's dismay. How is a "two game break" justifiable punishment for someone who knocked his fiancée unconscious?! By the end of July, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell claimed that Rice wasn't entirely to blame for the incident, saying Palmer provoked him and was even seen hitting her fiancée first. Despite the very public issue, Rice and Palmer wedded on March 28th.

On September 8, TMZ publicly released elevator footage of Ray Rice’s assault on his then fiancée, during the week of the Raven's first big rival game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The video was disturbing and so controversial that football players, journalists fans and even celebrities immediately took to social media to express their feelings.

Due to the outcries from many over the immorality of the situation, against Ray Rice and the actions taken by the NFL, the Ravens have decidedly terminated Ray Rice's contract with the team as of September 8th.. Following suite, the NFL, who have claimed that they "never saw this footage," have also terminated Rice indefinitely from the league. This is the "Social Media Effect” – had this not been brought on by a social media hurricane, action would not have been taken. 

“Ray Rice Wasn’t Fired Because He Hit His Wife, He Was Fired Because He Became a PR Nightmare.”

I believe that without Twitter, Ray Rice would still be sitting the first two games of the season out, and playing as their running back by week three. Your thoughts? Opinions?

Social School

Hootsuite recently asked their followers if they wished social media is a prevalent thing when they were in school. Users answered just how I expected:

So obviously they were very excited. It does make you stop and think, though... If I had social media when I was going through grade school and high school, Facebook and Instagram would have saved me my most recent hassle of pitching things from my memory box. If social media existed as it does now, I would have been able to upload some of my early dance recitals and concerts. I'd be able to delete some of the horrific photos of me with nappy hair, braces and thin wire framed glasses. I definitely believe if I had social media when I was in school, that the issue of cyberbullying would have been addressed years ago and that makes this idea a little bit scarier, even though there are so many other positives. 

When you really think about it though, we didn't need social media when we were in school. We were pleased with our back to school photos our parents would take in front of the school. We liked boasting to our classmates when we had straight As, and never felt the need to post our GPA as our status. We spent recess rolling around in dirt and left covered in bruises and pride, not engrossed in Pinterest boards or Kanye West's Twitter updates. We had fun without social media in our faces 24/7, and I think we came out okay.

What are your thoughts? Do you wish you had social media in school?