Word Showcase

YouTube promises that their new look channel design will make it easier for viewers to find and watch content. It will also make it easier for channel creators to organise and showcase what they want. I have to admit; the new design does look and feel better. Away with (some of) the clutter!

When you next log into your channel, click on the upgrade button. YouTube will allow you to switch back and forth between the old and new version as many times as you like over the next three months.

The old channel settings, including videos, comments, favourites, subscribers and likes will stay intact. However, you will find it easier to update your settings in the new version.

So, what’s new?

The channel feed – or as YouTube calls it; ‘the new distribution centre for your channel’. This means that when you share uploads, favourites, likes, comments and playlists, your subscribers will see your activity on their homepage. Sounds familiar? You can however, control your sharing settings.

Use the default tab drop-down to choose which tab people see first when they land on your channel. Allow subscribers to your channel to land on the feed tab first so they always see your latest content.

The featured tab allows you to show off your best content. Choose from four different templates to best fit the kind of content you would like to feature:

• Creator
• Blogger
• Network
• Everything

YouTube Analytics is now accessible from the menu in your account. It is an improved version of the previous module, Insight.

Read more about the new channel design

Read more about YouTube Analytics

Dan Martell writes in his blog post How to get the most out of Twitter that you should be creative, plan, listen and Tweet. This is a reminder that Twitter can be a great business marketing tool if used correctly.

It is important to know what to do and what not to do. I’ve been neglecting my own Twitter account @wordshowcase from the start. My focus was on other marketing issues. Increasingly, I’ve been using Twitter to share links and links only - which is a big no-no. Tweets should be creative, helpful and conversation starters.

Do this and do it at regular intervals. Twitter followers expect immediate or fast responses to their tweets and @mentions. It is important to check your Twitter account on a regular basis, but also to monitor Twitter for @mentions of your company name, brand and products.

TweetDeck is a great tool to monitor one or more Twitter accounts. It allows you to monitor and reply to messages more effectively. Save specific searches like your company name, products, competitors, @mentions and reply where needed. TweetDeck also allows you to integrate other social platforms, so you can use it as a social dashboard.

Flowtown has created a free tool called Timely that will help you to schedule tweets for maximum impact. If you do not have the time or resources to regulary access Twitter and post tweets, simply use Timely to upload a selection of tweets in advance and it will post them throughout the day.

Write a plan for using Twitter in your business. Start tweeting, monitoring, listening and answering. Use Twitter to update your followers on promotions, events, launches and industry news. Use Twitter to answer queries and customer complaints. Most of all, be creative.

Editorial Calendar is a WordPress Plugin that can help you to easily schedule and manage your blog posts. I’ve written a bullet point list about its features:

• after installation, ‘Calendar’ appears under the Posts section on the WordPress Dashboard
• click on ‘Calendar’ and get a review of posts and scheduled posts for your blog
• set the calendar view to show from one to five weeks at a glance
• see what is happening on your blog – when you have posted which item and when items have been scheduled for posting
• it is easy to navigate the calendar – click forward or backward to navigate to next or previous months, scroll down with your mouse scroller or use your arrow keys
• click on the titles scheduled in the calendar to edit or quick-edit from within the calendar screen – the post will go live on the day it has been scheduled
• create a new post from within the calendar – click on the day you want the post to go live and start writing
• if you change your mind and want a post published on a different day – simply drag the post from the current date and drop it on the day you want it published

If you would like to activate the Plugin, do the following:

1. On your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins then click on add new.
2. Type in ‘editorial calendar’ and click on search Plugins.
3. Click on install Plugin and it will automatically download
4. Click on activate – it will appear under the ‘posts’ tab on your WordPress screen.