Archives par mot-clé : video

Ryan promises to keep government open — and makes no promises on health care

Video Marketing,

House leaders told GOP lawmakers Saturday that they plan to devote their energy in the coming week to keeping the federal government open, conspicuously avoiding an immediate commitment to take up health care despite pledges to do so by conservatives and the White House.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), speaking on a conference call with GOP members Saturday afternoon, offered no specific plan on how or when lawmakers might see details of a new proposal to revise the Affordable Care Act, which White House officials suggested might receive a vote by Wednesday.

Ryan also made clear that his top priority was to pass a stopgap spending bill to keep government open past April 28, an objective that requires Democratic support. “Wherever we land will be a product the president can and will support.” Ryan said, according to a senior GOP aide on the call.

Less clear was whether even a narrow focus on spending would allow Republicans to avoid a showdown with President Trump, whose top aides have in recent days that any spending bill must include funding for a border wall. Such a demand would almost certainly prompt Democrats, whose support is needed to pass the budget bill in the Senate, to vote no.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said leaders in Congress could reach a spending agreement, but only if the White House stays out of the negotiations.

“I want to come up with an agreement,” Schumer said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. “Our Republican colleagues know that since they control, you know, the House, the Senate and the White House, that a shutdown would fall on their shoulders, and they don’t want it.”

On the flip side, there was no guarantee that Trump would sign a spending plan without funding for the wall, several aides said.

The Ryan call comes as GOP leaders find themselves trapped between proving that they can complete basic tasks of governing such as funding the government, while also meeting the demands of Trump, who is looking for a legislative win ahead of his 100th day in office next Saturday.

Trump and his top aides have been calling on Congress to take dramatic action in the coming week: vote on health care, take up tax reform and demand that Democrats agree to a stopgap spending measure that includes funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ryan’s comments suggested that he and other House Republicans are pushing back on that pressure. He said, for instance, that the House will vote on a health-care bill when Republicans are sure they have the support to pass it, according to several GOP aides on the call — suggesting that he does not believe that to be the case currently, despite renewed negotiations between House conservatives, moderates and the White House.

[@PKCapitol: History tells us that Republicans are taking on too much this week — and it isn’t likely to end well]

The direction of the border wall fight was less certain. Ryan and other Republican leaders have suggested that it is more important to protect a spending deal with Democrats, who have vowed to oppose spending on the wall. The speaker assured members on the call that the spending talks were still promising and ongoing, but close Trump aides continued to insist in public that the spending bill should include money for the wall.

“I think it goes without saying that the president has been pretty straightforward about his desire and the need for a border wall,” Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper scheduled to run Sunday morning. “So I would suspect, he’ll do the right thing for sure, but I would suspect he will be insistent on the funding.”

The comment is likely to further threaten bipartisan budget talks, which were jostled after Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, was the first suggested that Trump would demand border wall funding in the upcoming spending bill.

“This president should be allowed to have his highest priorities funded even though the Democrats rightly have a seat at the table because of the Senate rules,” Mulvaney said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Live. “You cannot expect a president who just won election to give up very easily on his highest priority.”

Mulvaney repeated his expectation that the spending talks will include border spending at several events throughout the week, causing a flurry of confusion among congressional aides who say the spending bill must remain free of major controversies if it is to pass.

Aides on the Hill and inside the White House, who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity, said they believe Trump sees a demand for wall money as the best way to prove that his most controversial proposals can be fulfilled.

The border wall confusion was one of many instances in recent weeks where aides, who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity, said they were receiving mixed messages from the White House. Public statements from the White House have often contradicted private discussions on the spending bill and other issues, the aides said, leaving some to question who in the administration represents Trump’s final position.

Ryan attempted to calm the disorder Saturday by telling members that spending talks were still ongoing and promising. Ryan has vowed for weeks that there will be no government shutdown, and many Republicans and Democrats have said in recent days that negotiations are proceeding apace.

At the same time, Trump has publicly downplayed the significance of achieving a victory in the coming week. He dismissed the symbolism of the 100-day mark — despite his repeated promises on the campaign trail that he would meet many of his goals by that date.

Trump also began walking back the health-care promise after signs emerged that GOP leaders were not prepared to take it up because of the risk that it would anger Democrats.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said on Friday. “No particular rush, but we’ll see what happens.”

Then, on Saturday, Trump added to the confusion with a promise to release details of a tax overhaul next week.

“Big TAX REFORM AND TAX REDUCTION will be announced next Wednesday,” he tweeted.

[‘Big announcement’ on tax reform unlikely to reveal details, White House official says]

The bipartisan budget talks were seen as a rare bright spot in an otherwise acrimonious relationship between Republicans and Democrats in Washington. One particular area of agreement was not to include border-protection funds in the stopgap budget, which, it was agreed, should be debated separately, after government is kept open.

The demand for border funding, as well as the push for a vote on health care, came as a surprise to Democrats, who have been working for more than a month with GOP leaders to craft a bipartisan spending bill that would keep the government open through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

“Floating the possibility that the House could vote on this amended health care bill next week is irresponsible when the government could shut down on April 29,” said Joseph D. Crowley (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Conference. “The focus must be on keeping the government funded — the most basic legislative responsibility we have.”

On his call, Ryan encouraged members to continue discussing ideas, but he did not open the conversation to questions, leaving members to wait until Wednesday morning before they can weigh in on spending or health care.

Some conservatives had hoped Ryan would use the call to reveal details of a revised health-care plan. Members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus spent the two-week Easter recess working with House GOP moderates, the White House and Ryan’s staff on changes to the health-care bill. Conservatives said Friday that the legislation was nearing completion, but no details have been released.

Damian Paletta contributed to this report.

Read more at PowerPost

Advocates fan out in global show of support for science

Video Marketing,

Thousands of people gathered in the rain Saturday on the soggy grounds of the Washington Monument to turn Earth Day into an homage to science. After four hours of speeches and musical performances, they marched down Constitution Avenue to the foot of Capitol Hill, chanting “Build labs, not walls!” and “Hey, Trump, have you heard, you can’t silence every nerd!”

The March for Science began as a notion batted around online on Reddit after the Women’s March on Washington, which was held Jan. 21, the day after President Trump’s inauguration. The idea snowballed after it was endorsed by numerous mainstream science organizations, which vowed that it would not be a partisan event. It eventually became a global phenomenon, held in more than 600 cities on six continents — and cheered on by scientists on a seventh, Antarctica.

“We are at a critical juncture. Science is under attack,” said Cara Santa Maria, a science communicator who is one of several emcees of the four-hour rally that kicked off at 10 a.m. “The very idea of evidence and logic and reason is being threatened by individuals and interests with the power to do real harm.”

She went on: “We’re gathered here today to fight for science. [The crowd cheered.] We’re gathered to fight for education. [Cheer.] To fight for knowledge. [Cheer.] And to fight for planet Earth.” [Cheer.]

[Surgeon general is removed by Trump administration]

She was followed by the musician Questlove, who said “many people” are refusing to follow scientific facts, and he pointed toward the White House. “That guy over there,” he said in a whisper. He waved, said “Hi,” and made a fast gesture with his middle finger that someone not paying close attention might well have missed.

YouTube star Tyler DeWitt took the stage with another pointed message: Experts need to learn how to explain things in a way regular folks can understand.

“Ditch the jargon!” he said. “Make it understandable. Make people care. Talk to them, not at them. We cannot complain about slashed funding if we can’t tell taxpayers why science matters.”

[The Founding Fathers, 18th-century tech geeks, would love the March for Science]

Cell biologist Lydia Villa-Komaroff, one of the march’s honorary co-chairs, told how she and her colleagues in the 1970s discovered how to make insulin in bacteria, and how that breakthrough was made possible only through basic research funded in the 1950s and 1960s when no one knew if it would lead to anything. “Support for science has been declining for decades. Mr. President, members of the House and Senate, support our future. Invest in science!” she said.

Denis Hayes, co-founder of the first Earth Day in 1970, chose not to dial back his rhetoric, saying the White House “reeks of greed and sleaze and mendacity” and declaring, “America has had 45 presidents, but we have never before had a president who is completely indifferent to the truth. Donald Trump makes Richard Nixon look like Diogenes.”

President Trump issued an Earth Day statement that did not mention the March for Science directly, though seemed to be aware of what was happening within shouting distance of the White House. After pledging to keep the nation’s air and water clean and protect endangered species, the president said:

“Rigorous science is critical to my Administration’s efforts to achieve the twin goals of economic growth and environmental protection. My Administration is committed to advancing scientific research that leads to a better understanding of our environment and of environmental risks. As we do so, we should remember that rigorous science depends not on ideology, but on a spirit of honest inquiry and robust debate.”

At times, the lines to get through the event’s security checkpoints stretched for several blocks. The advanced technologies known as the umbrella and the rain poncho proved useful. The program ran so precisely on schedule, you would think it had been timed with an atomic clock. People danced when Thomas Dolby took the stage to perform his 1982 blockbuster hit “She Blinded Me With Science.”

Some people wore lab coats. Some wore pink, knitted “brain” hats. Sam McCoy, 27, who traveled from North Carolina, carried a homemade sign certain to baffle anyone lacking an understanding of P Values and the null hypothesis. But most of the signs were more straightforward:

●“In peer review we trust.”

●“The oceans are rising, and so are we.”

●“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.”

As it happens, the National Math Festival is also in Washington — so there’s an unusual number of people in town who can recite pi to more than five digits.

Some signs jabbed the current occupant of the White House:

●“Hey Trump — Think You Can Stifle Science? Ask Galileo How That Worked Out!”

●“Empirical Data Trumps Imperial Alt-Facts.”

As marchers waited in a glacially moving line for the bag check, and huddled under umbrellas, 60-year-old Cathy Butler implored everyone to join her in a chant.

“Science, not silence! Science, not silence!” she shouted.

A few of the protesters joined in halfheartedly.

Butler sighed.

“I get it! We’re scientists, and we’re all introverted!” she said. “But this is the time that we’re supposed to be loud!”

Butler, a retired engineer and educator from Kennett Square, Pa., said she has been dismayed to see the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back environmental regulations and cut funding for research. Still, she said, she has been trying not to get too political.

“Even people who voted Republican can still get behind clean air for their grandchildren,” she said.

Next to her, 44-year-old Jeffrey C. Jacobs of Herndon, Va., agreed.

“We’re not here for partisanship,” said Jacobs, who runs a science book club. “There are many Republican scientists. Science helps everyone.”

Three federal scientists, approached by a reporter, refused to give their names for fear of repercussions at work.

Another person was dressed as the Muppet “Beaker” and, when interviewed, would say only “Meep.”

Next to Beaker, however, was Erik Molvar, director of the Western Watersheds Project, who had traveled from Wyoming. Molvar is a sage grouse expert who studies the impact of livestock on grouse habitat. Politicians supporting the livestock industry ignore his research into cheatgrass, which is highly flammable and leads to damaging wildfires, he said. “Livestock spread cheatgrass like mosquitoes spread the Zika virus,” he said.

Emily Fink, 28, and Kayla Denson, 29, are biomedical researchers who drove seven hours from Buffalo to attend the march, and they said they fear the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts will imperil their careers.

“It feels like we’re getting our foot in the door right as the door is closing on us,” Fink said.

Fink brought several copies of her résumé to the march and held up a neon sign that read, “Are you looking for a highly motivated post doc? Ask for CV.” She thought the march might be a good networking opportunity, though so far no one had asked for a résumé.

“I’m a meteoriticist,” said Conel Alexander, 56, as he wrote down his occupation to make sure he spelled it correctly. He studies meteorites and was with a group from the Carnegie Institution for Science. “Most people just think I’m a meteorologist,” he said.

[Historians say the March for Science is ‘pretty unprecedented’]

Speaking of meteorology: Favorable weather forecasts took a turn by week’s end, and this turned out to be a soggy Saturday in which periodic showers gave way to heavy late-morning downpours.

But many people present are veterans of protests. Grace Francis, 33, and Ron Frerker, 36, of Washington, said they’ve been to a series of protests since Trump took office. Francis, a former public school teacher who conducts special-education research at George Mason University, said when she heard about the science march she asked her daughters Sage and Eleanor, who are 5 and 3 years old, respectively, if they wanted to go.

“It’s important for them to see that not just our family feels this way,” she said.

The two girls were dressed in koala costumes, and holding signs that read “ DeVos is un-koala-fied” and “everyone deserves a Koala-ity education.”

“What do we feel about schools,” Francis asked Sage.

“Bad,” Sage answered.

“Because everybody deserves to have a . . . ”

“Education.”

“What kind of education?”

“A good one.”

Maryam Zaringhalam and Kelly Fleming, both 28, came with poster board signs they’d made at an event Friday night with the group 500 Women Scientists. Zaringhalam, a molecular biologist, and Fleming, a chemical engineer, had been concerned about the way diversity issues were dealt with by the march organizing committee.

“But I thought, people are going to be taking pictures at the march and this is what I want them to see,” Zaringhalam said. “I want them to see someone who looks like me.”

Zaringhalam is an Iranian American who was in Iran when Trump issued his executive order on immigration. Although she is a U.S. citizen, Zaringhalam worried she would not be allowed back into the country.

At their sign-making event Friday night, a passerby had asked what the women were doing. When they told him, he responded, “You don’t look like scientists.”

“I think he thought he was flirting,” Fleming said, making a face. Zaringhalam came up with the motto for her sign: “This is what a scientist looks like.”

Craig Fryer, 47, marched down Constitution Avenue alongside several of his colleagues from the University of Maryland School of Public Health, all wearing T-shirts that read “Black Scientists Matter.” Fryer, a behavioral scientist who studies substance abuse, carried a sign that proclaimed “Black Scientists Speaking Truth to Power.” He said he and his colleagues are concerned about racial disparities in funding for research.

“We need increased funding, not budget cuts, and we need an equal opportunity to be funded,” Fryer said.

Carol Trosset, 57, an anthropologist at Carleton College, traveled to Washington from Northfield, Minn., having never been to a political rally before. She wore the lab coat — now quite the vintage item — that had belonged to her late mother, who had been a PhD chemist in the 1940s and 1950s.

“I thought, what should I wear? I’ll wear mom’s lab coat,” Trosset said. Her mother was also a naturalist, collecting data at their home in Cincinnati, recording when birds would arrive and flowers would bloom. Trosset has begun analyzing her mother’s data and sees clear signs of a warming climate.

[Here are some of the best signs from the March for Science]

Brooke Hardesty, 16, waited nervously in front of the science tent. She was looking for the other “Science Teens,” fellow high school students who are slated to speak at the rally. From far-flung cities around the country — Hardesty is from Buckeye, Ariz. — they’d previously communicated only through social media and Skype. On Saturday, Hardesty met her fellow nerds for the first time in person.

“I’ve never been around so many other people who are excited about science,” she said.

The teens, chatting awkwardly, discussed who they’re most excited to see — “Bill Nye!” they said in unison — and talked about how surreal this experience has been.

“I’m kind of surprised they let a bunch of teenagers do this,” said Sam Rosenberg, 17, of Gaithersburg.

“We’re even verified on Twitter!” Hardesty agreed.

The lineup for the rally includes some prominent names in science and environmentalism, including Nye, chief executive of the Planetary Society and an honorary co-chair of the march. But the organizers wanted to erase the stereotype of science as a stodgy enterprise dominated by older white men, and the lineup includes speakers from a broad range of ages, backgrounds and expertise.

They included Taylor Richardson, a 13-year-old aspiring astronaut who raised $17,000 this year to send other girls to see the film “Hidden Figures”; chemist Mary Jo Ondrechen, a member of the Mohawk Nation and chair of the board of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society; and Gallaudet University biologist Caroline Solomon, who is deaf.

“We need more girls in computer science. We need more diversity in computer science,” said speaker Kavya Kopparapu, 16, a student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and founder of the Girls Computing League.

“In my future career, I don’t want to be known as a girl that happens to be a computer scientist. I want to be known as a computer scientist that happens to be a girl,” she told the crowd.

[The Redditor who kicked the march off with a throwaway line]

No politicians were given speaking roles, though some reportedly planned to show up for the march.

Some scientists in recent weeks have said they worried the march would politicize the broader scientific enterprise and signal an alignment with left-leaning ideologies. The march’s website offered an answer to that concern: “In the face of an alarming trend toward discrediting scientific consensus and restricting scientific discovery, we might ask instead: can we afford not to speak out in its defense? There is no Planet B.”

Molly Jung, 29, a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins, echoed that view: “It’s time for scientists to get out of the ivory towers and get the message out.”

The Washington march may have been the biggest gathering — organizers received a permit for up to 75,000 people — but there were similar events in more than 600 cities on six continents. Seven researchers in Antarctica went on Twitter to express their support for the march. Thousands of people gathered in Sydney, Australia, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Science advocates went on social media to post bulletins from marches in Austria, England and Malawi, among other places.

Jia Naqvi, Kayla Epstein, Perry Stein, Martine Powers and Taylor Hartz contributed to this report.

Read more:

As scientists erupt in protest, a volcano researcher is running for Congress

U-Md. president: Why I march for science

Atom-smashing scientists are unnerved by harsh Trump budget

Why scientists are marching on Washington — and more than 600 other cities

Here come back-to-back science and climate marches. Organizers insist there’s no competition

Unveiling the secret of YouTube fame: How to navigate YouTube and generate more click through on videos

Video Marketing,

Getting your video to go viral is a hefty task. The most popular YouTube videos are filled with reality, humour, and most importantly, a clear connection with its audience. They follow people’s lives, disrupt the atmosphere with reality or mock our human nature; psy soars through streams with an air of nonchalance, his dominance unchallenged with 2.6bn views to date for Gangnam Style and Star Wars kid majestically dances through shares on social media.

Getting a tutorial or work based video to become popular sounds impossible, but there are a few simple tricks to assess how well your video ranks by asking yourself these (at times frank) questions:

Is your video rubbish?

Lacking in production values, coherent structure and adequate length, some videos are scored low on quality, excitement and originality and disappear into obscurity soon after being uploaded.

Your video viewers’ behaviour is seen by Google and this data is used to estimate the quality of the video. This process is generally sound because the indicators of video quality are clear in most cases. The key indicators are:

Instant subscribers

Is your video good enough to make your viewers want more?

Audience retention

How much of your video are people watching? The standard is different in each topical space – it may be normal for your audience to watch only half of your video if they get what they need in the first half.

Comments

Does your video get people talking?

Shares

Does telling other people about your video make people look cool?

Favourites

Do viewers want to watch your video again and again?

Thumbs up / down

What is Caligula’s verdict on your video?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was something like Google Analytics which could provide in-depth insights into these indicators for your videos? You know, some kind of YouTube Analytics?

Well, YouTube Analytics exists and is already buried deep in your account. First, you need to find the tiny settings button in the account dropdown (not the other ones that look identical). Then, in the settings window, you need to click the barely visible ‘show additional features’ link and then it reluctantly appears on the left hand menu. Despite being well hidden, it contains a bundle worth of dashboards and reports offering insights into all areas needed for fruitful analysis, including the ability to compare videos against each other. So, if your video isn’t performing in video search, chances are good that the answer is here.

For example, you might find that you’re losing viewers just a few seconds after the video starts. This is likely an indication that your video is not what users are expecting to see – or that it’s sadly, rubbish.

Once you’ve reviewed the analytics, and done some soul searching, is your video a rusty shopping trolley which has made its way down the Humber estuary and sunk to the ocean floor? If it is, don’t blame yourself – chalk it up to experience and have another go. However, if your un-ranked video is a masterpiece which has unjustly been condemned to the murky depths, ask yourself this:

Who needs to watch my video?

There are a lot of beautifully produced videos out there which nobody sees. This is because they’re about things which nobody is interested in. YouTube’s abyssal plain is littered with jewels like this because the people behind the projects were video producers, not digital marketers, and couldn’t have been expected to know any better.

Here are the questions that non-digital marketers should be asking to push their video rating up:

What’s my target keyword topic?

By making your video about a specific defined topic, it’s easier to match it to real-world demand for content, using specific words or phrases which can be used in optimising your video for YouTube success. If you’re looking for fruitful keyword ideas, try YouTube autocomplete. It’s unwieldy to use for research purposes but the data is bang up to date and very useful.

Does Google view my keyword as a video keyword?

Google shows video results in its main web search results to varying extents, depending on the keyword. Keywords which show many videos in the web SERPs are deemed highly relevant to video, and have the benefit of providing viewers not just from YouTube, but from Google’s main web SERPs. You don’t have to choose these video keywords when making your video, but if you’re planning on creating a video in order to generate maximum exposure for your brand, it certainly helps. Video keywords are often associated with reviews, how to guides, tutorials, fun/entertainment and sports/fitness to name but a few.

Is there adequate search volume?

Before committing production resource, AdWords Keyword Planner should be consulted, but this is far from the only source of information:

  • Google trends – While this only shows the popularity of a keyword or topic in relative terms, it’s still useful for comparing one prospective topic against another. Trends recently introduced the ability to see only data for video searches.
  • Display planner – Since shelving YouTube Keyword Planner, Google has recommended that marketers use the display planner instead. There is a learning curve, but it does provide insight into demand for some of the more general video topics and keywords.

If you’ve planned and researched your YouTube video expedition to the utmost and still aren’t making waves in organic video search, don’t be discouraged. There’s still a boatload of YouTube SEO tactics for you to unleash.

Have you optimised your Youtube video so Google can understand what it’s about?

Google cannot place your video in the correct context in its search results and serve it to searchers without clear identifying attributes. It cannot understand what videos are about by simply watching them (yet). It needs help from you, the heroic YouTube uploader, in the form of YouTube optimisation.

Here’s how you can make sure your video isn’t relegated to the book of unclassifiable oddities:

Title

The most important optimisation attribute for any video. Put your most important keywords at the front of the title. Directly address you target audience’s needs. Make ’em click!

Description

Tell your audience (and Google) what your video is about, how it will help them, and where they can get more information.

  • Put a link to your website near the top of the description to maximise click-throughs.
  • Make it at least 250 words.
  • Use your keywords in the description – three times, maybe four if it’s long, should do the trick.

Tags

The main role of these is to allow your video to appear in the ‘related video’ lists when users watch other videos. Make sure your tags relate your video to more popular videos out there which attract your target audience.

  • Use your keywords to inspire your tags but don’t be limited to them.
  • Some cheeky YouTube video optimisers add their competitors’ channel name as a tag, making it more likely that their video will appear as a related video on the sidebar which shows for their competitors’ videos.

Filename

Your video’s filename should represent its content – just one more source of information Google can use to determine what your video is about.

Video thumbnail

Sometimes, the first frame of your video is a beautiful summary of the what the video is about, in which case no action is required. Usually, however, it’s just a bush or a blank screen which gives little indication of the proceeding content. Choosing your own eye-catching thumbnail will maximise click-throughs to your video.

Conquering the Channel – Is your house in order?

Having a well optimised channel can do wonders for your YouTube SEO. Here are the key elements:

  • Channel description – Provide a long keyword rich detailed description of your channel – why does it exist, who is it for, what problems does it solve?
  • Channel keywords – Give Google a clue as to the sorts of keywords your channel is targeting. Lots of YouTube marketers miss this – get the edge by optimising here.
  • Playlist organisation – Organising your channel’s videos into playlists is an instant plus in terms of user engagement – instead of sifting through a seemingly random list of videos, they’ll find it easy to find what they are looking for and be more likely to stick around and interact.
  • Custom URL – Channels with at least 500 subscribers (recently introduced) can change their channel’s URL from the random string of numbers and letters to something more user friendly and shareable. Make sure you don’t miss this.

Hidden gems – Little-used YouTube optimisation features

YouTube’s interface can be a challenge to navigate for the YouTube SEO newcomer. You may not be aware of these handy features which can make a real difference to your video’s performance.

Closed Captions

Google automatically tries to transcribe the words in your video for the benefit of hard-of-hearing viewers as well as to aid its own comprehension. If you hired Sir David Attenborough to narrate your skateboarding tutorial, you’ve got little to worry about – Google will fairly accurately transcribe Attenborough’s impeccably spoken words into text, which it will then use to help it understand what your video is about, helping your video rank better in video search.

However, if you didn’t hire Attenborough, the accuracy with which Google will be able to transcribe your video’s spoken element, let me just say, is not guaranteed.

But there’s great news here. Google’s transcription can be edited! This truly is a bonanza for the YouTube optimiser. You may find on viewing the transcription that Google has been unable to recognise your key phrases. Simply editing these could go a long way to improving your YouTube video’s optimisation, but I’d go the whole hog if a lot of resource has been invested in the video.

Featured Content

Do you have videos which are already popular but can’t get your new video to succeed? Then YouTube’s featured content option is for you. It lets you show a little teaser ad in the bottom left corner of your existing popular videos which encourages viewers to see the new video. It’s quite enticing and successfully drives click-throughs. Your new videos will benefit from the success of established ones.

YouTube SEO is your video’s life raft. Now that you’re an expert, it’s time for you to surface your video and achieve great rankings on YouTube and Google Video search. Carpe Diem!

Richard Lewis is SEO lead at paid search agency Found.

GameStop Receives Marketing Material Possibly Linked to ‘Call of Duty’ Series

Video Marketing,

GameStop (GME)  stores have started to receive notifications that marketing material for a new Activision Blizzard (ATVI)  game title will be arriving in stores on April 25, Charlie INTEL reports.

The report suggests that the marketing campaign is related to Activision Blizard’s « Call of Duty » video game series.

The report also indicates that marketing material is being sent for the « Destiny 2 » video game to GameStop next week.

Activision has yes to confirm any details. Shares of Activision Blizzard and GameStop were lower during midday trading on Friday. 

(GameStop stock is held in the Dividend Stock Advisor portfolio. See all of the holdings with a free trial.)

5 Changes I’m Making to My Social Media Marketing in 2017

Video Marketing,

If there’s one thing you can rely on, it’s change – especially when it comes to social media. It seems like every day there’s some new feature or new technology that is taking the digital landscape by storm.

And social media isn’t showing any signs of slowing down yet. Today, one-third of the world’s population uses social media networks on a regular basis.

With so much constant change, it’s the brands that can keep up and roll with the punches that are going to be the ones to succeed on social. But to keep up and stay ahead of the competition, businesses must understand the latest trends and how to use them effectively.

If your brand is still stuck using Google+, it may be time for an upgrade. Here are five of the latest social media marketing trends that I want to incorporate into my strategy this year – you may want to consider them for yours, too.

1. Live Video

In 2016, 14% of marketers experimented with live video, and that number is only going to climb this year.

We saw live video come on the scene last year with Twitter’s Periscope, and soon after, Facebook followed with Facebook Live, bringing livestreaming into the limelight. Instagram has also launched its own live video feature, and other social networks will likely follow suit in the near future.

It’s no secret that audiences love video content. YouTube has been a successful platform for years, and Facebook users watch 100 million hours of video every day. But live video takes video content to the next level.

Audiences crave authenticity, and that’s exactly what live video provides. With no editing or scripting, going live presents your brand in a more personable and genuine way.

Incorporating live video into your social media strategy is easy to do – especially if you’ve already been creating video content. “First and foremost, you’ll want to consider where your audience already spends time on social media – and try to connect with them on those networks,” says Sophia Bernazzani, staff writer at HubSpot.

Once you’ve chosen where to post your video content, you need to decide what to post. If you have an event going on, have a member of your team livestream it. Consider providing a behind-the-scenes look at your office and operations. Try hosting a QA with a special guest or demonstrate how to use one of your products.

2. Paid Content

If you’re publishing a Facebook post and just hoping someone will see it, you aren’t doing enough. With more and more changes being made to social networks’ algorithms, the chances that your audience will see your content grow slimmer and slimmer.

While these algorithms serve to ensure the platform’s users are seeing content they actually enjoy, there’s no doubt they make it harder for brands to get noticed.

Plus, other brands and consumers are sharing and publishing more content than ever, so competition for attention is fierce. In the past two years, content consumption on Facebook has increased 57%.

So how do you cut through the clutter? The answer is: you must pay for it. Organic traffic on social can only get you so far. But paid content is well worth the investment.

Promoted posts and native advertising allow businesses to narrowly target a specific audience, so you know the right people are seeing your posts. By paying for it, you can ensure that your posts actually show up on your target audience’s feeds.

10 Reasons To Use An Explainer Video To Pitch Your Services

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It’s no secret that video marketing is a major trend.  User engagement with video material is higher than other forms of content, video is more accessible than ever before (thanks to mobile devices and faster Internet), and it’s easier to produce than it has been in previous generations.

According to Dan Patterson, “Humans are incredibly visual and powerful, moving images help us find meaning… [and] video helps capture and contextualize the world around us.” But how can you best use video for your brand?

One of the best ways to start is with an explainer video, which is designed to give new users a run-down of what your products or services are, and how they work, in the span of a few minutes.

The Practicality of Video

Why aren’t more businesses using explainer videos and other types of video marketing? Part of the problem is a perceived impracticality of video; because a video has historically been expensive and time-consuming to produce, businesses would rather stay toward more straightforward, cheaper methods. However, video production is growing more affordable as technological resources become more sophisticated and more available.

You can contract with a video marketing agency fairly inexpensively.  According to Eddie Nuvakhov, CEO of LNC Productions, a company that specializes in explainer videos, “Video technology has advanced to the point where it’s cost effective for almost any business to utilize. There’s really no excuse not to use it.”

Why Explainer Videos Are So Effective

So why are explainer videos so effective?

  1. They’re concise. First off, explainer videos are concise. In the words of Robert Weiss, “Business decision makers LOVE online video because it gives them the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time.” They’re generally only a few minutes long, which means your customers won’t have an easy excuse to bail early. Writing for such a concise format can be difficult, but the end result is a message that’s short enough to really hit home with your audience.
  2. They show a problem and a solution. Video progresses linearly with time, which means you can show a chain of causality from problem to solution. Illustrating how your products or services solve a customer need is incredibly valuable for securing more conversions. You can accomplish this through written content, but it doesn’t have the same effect.
  3. You can get creative. The best explainer videos are ones that aren’t afraid to creatively experiment. You can write jokes into your script or play with innovative animation features. You can even include some interesting music in the background; this is your chance to give your audience a memorable video watching experience. According to David Levy, Nuvakhov’s business partner and COO of LNC Productions, “a video that surprises people, or otherwise delights them, will stick with them indefinitely. It’s a chance to get inside your customer’s mind and stay there if you have the right creative team to make it happen.”
  4. They can be used anywhere. Once you make an explainer video, you can use it in a number of different contexts. You can keep it on YouTube, you can embed it into the homepage of your site, you can use it as a feature of your landing page, or even incorporate it into slideshow presentations. They’re short and universal enough to transfer easily.
  5. They’re an approachable medium. Though there’s a slight learning curve, explainer videos are an approachable and learnable medium for marketers. You don’t need to spend years studying them or thousands of dollars to make one. That’s probably why 65 percent of marketers are planning to increase their video marketing budgets.
  6. They’re useful for new and old customers alike. Even though the primary function of an explainer video is to reach new audiences, they can be useful for established customers as well. This is especially true if there’s a learning curve with your products and services; the explainer video can serve as a kind of tutorial. As Savannah Stewart explains, “many of us have become more comfortable learning visually. Delivering information on a product, service or company through video can help to keep your audience’s attention longer and make what you have to say more easily understood.”
  7. They’re adaptable. Because they’re short and relatively easy to edit, you can switch things around quite easily. For example, if you launch a new feature, you can add a few extra seconds at the end of the video to promote it, or if you want to experiment with different music or a different narrative, you can.
  8. You can show your brand personality. You can let your brand’s personality shine throughout the video; you can write it in the tone of your script, include visual styles that reflect your character, and even choose a narrator that best represents your brand “voice.” In fact, more than a third of all video marketing budgets are now directed toward branded videos.
  9. You can show off the benefits first-hand. Thanks to the visual and running nature of video, you can show off the benefits of your product or service first-hand, such as with a brief product demonstration or a walkthrough of your software. This helps people see what they’re buying and will put many of their doubts to rest.
  10. You have a chance to prove your worth. Explainer videos also give you a chance to prove your value as a brand with visually represented statistics, video testimonials, or the mention of some big brands you’ve worked with.

If you want to make an explainer video for your brand but don’t know where to start, begin by taking a look at explainer videos some of your competitors have done. This should help you find inspiration and direction for your own video so you can start jotting down ideas.

Then, you’ll need to find a means of video production, whether that’s scouting for an agency or trying your own hand at the task.

IMF Lagarde calls for “growth friendly fiscal policies” and warns on automation

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IMF Lagarde calls for “growth friendly fiscal policies” and warns on automation

Lagarde stressed that aging populations, political instability and “the sword of protectionism” all threaten “self-inflicted wounds” on economies across the globe.

The International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said that to get the global economy moving at a faster pace it was necessary to share the benefits of capitalism, more global regulation and more action to protect workers against automation and robots.

 Speaking at an event by Bruegel, an economic think tank, Ms Lagarde said the global economy once again “has a spring in its step” but that countries need to pursue “growth-friendly fiscal policies.”

Lagarde’s call was an anticipation to the annual discussions between the world’s central bankers and finance ministers that will take place in Washington, at the IMF’s so-called Spring Meetings and a meeting of G20 finance ministers. And in a swipe at the Trump administration, Lagarde said “we need an approach that encourages countries to support strong international cooperation.”

And referencing Brexit and the upcoming French presidential election, Lagarde said now is not the time to trash the architecture underpinning the global economy for seven decades.

Lagarde’s warning stressed that aging populations, political instability and “the sword of protectionism” all threaten “self-inflicted wounds” on economies across the globe.

Strong national economies should not expect to be immune from the problems of their neighbors, Lagarde said, promising “major spillovers across borders” if these problems are not addressed head on.

Lagarde singled out the EU for failing to enforce its own single market rules. She said that EU directives would unleash growth if they were simply “properly enforced.” Lagarde said the unenforced rules covered “barriers to entry in retail and professional services.”

On financial services, Lagarde said “financial stability requires that we complete the reform of global financial regulations.” Additionally, “restricting trade would be a ‘self-inflicting wound’ that disrupts supply chains, hurts global output and inflates the prices of production materials and goods,” she continued.

“We are not goody-goody about trade. We know that trade brings with it negative side-effects,” Lagarde conceded to critics of globalization.

However, she warned that automation as much as trade is the root cause of social dislocation in many Western economies. Trade is “not a dominant factor,” Lagarde said.