Opinion

Why YouTube is Google’s next big play in social

Nicola SwankieYouTube’s latest page redesign is more than cosmetic says Nicola Swankie and here’s why you should take notice.

It seems just when users are wrapping their heads around the revamped design of social networks, they change again. And there has been a lot of noise recently about Facebook’s redesign, while quietly in the background YouTube has been planning to roll-out its own fresh look for channels called OneChannel. 

This isn’t just a makeover for the video platform; it’s a significant play by Google to morph YouTube into a social network that could seriously compete with Facebook when it comes to the sharing of video content. There are three main reasons why this is significant for brands using social media as part of their marketing.

1. Facebook Open Graph Search

Currently in beta, Facebook is trying to cut Google’s grass with its new search tool Open Graph Search. It allows users to search their social networks for information such as restaurants their friends have visited. If Facebook gets it right, it could mean users no longer default to Google for every search they make. The YouTube redesign is one way Google is looking to combat this. Getting people to migrate from Facebook to Google+ does not look like it’s ever going to happen, so Google has looked to another of its great strengths, video and YouTube, to add greater social integration.

2. People already go to YouTube every day

While users visit Facebook every day to check up on friends and loved ones, YouTube has remained steady as a daily destination for Australians seeking video content. We are now seeing further integration of social graphs in YouTube newsfeeds making the content more relevant for users. This presents interesting opportunities for brands to promote more of their content in this space, using the social relevancy that has been so successful for Facebook in building brand following and engaging people in recommended content from the newsfeed.

3. The re-design is really Google+ in disguise

Some channels have already moved over to OneChannel and it’s clear to see that it looks a lot like Google+ and definitely feels more like a social platform. The channels have profile pictures, a cover photo and tabs very much like a Facebook profile which brands can customise and run incentives from. The new design also features a channel trailer to encourage new visitors to ‘subscribe’ to receive content in their home newsfeed. All this sounds suspiciously like what happens after you ‘like’ a Facebook page.

Increased integration with people’s social graph, incentivising and encouraging subscription to brand content shows that YouTube is no longer a video-only platform. It is shifting to more of a social/community model with the strong ability to build significant numbers of people following and engaging with brands across all devices.

With many brands becoming more content publishers than traditional advertisers, YouTube increasingly becomes a channel that should be prioritised as part of an overall marketing strategy.

My advice is to ensure that you, your brand or your agency fully understand the changes and how to use them to your advantage; by creating trailers, uploading eye-catching channel art and organising your content, as well as having a strong content approach for your brand overall.

Nicola Swankie is the social media director at Leo Burnett Sydney.

 

Encore issue 5

This story first appeared in the weekly edition of Encore available for iPad and Android tablets. Visit encore.com.au for a preview of the app or click below to download.

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