YouTube Launches ‘Handles’ As The Ultimate Way For Creators To Identify Their Channels

YouTube has launched a new feature called handles that are designed as a great way for creators to get better accustomed to their channels.

The company mentioned how the feature is all about creators using username formats to better interact with users on a number of different offerings through the platform. This could be Shorts, channels, comments, descriptions for videos, and so much more.

Moreover, these handles are designed to be for everyone on the app and you won’t be required to be a creator of a high caliber or one needing thousands of followers to avail of the benefits. Hence, each user will have their own handle to work with, the app has confirmed.

As you already know, both handles, as well as usernames, are a common sight to behold in the world of social media. Be it Facebook, Twitter, or Telegram- the list of apps that use the feature is unlimited. But for a while now, we saw YouTube offer such limited support for the ordeal recently.

This would better enable creators to put out their channels in the form of video titles and little descriptions that support such a format. And in the end, the creators would mention the channels listed across the video format for support.

In the past, we didn’t see such widespread use of the feature. But now, it’s a whole new ballgame, thanks to the @ symbol.

If you wished to tag a particular user before, you would need to reply to the comment belonging to another user so you could tag them.

Seeing the platform venture into another completely different category that’s more or less similar to TikTok is refreshing. Remember, TikTok is doing great in terms of engagement and performance. So a little inspiration wasn’t going to hurt anyone, right?

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YouTube mentioned that these new handles are now going to come forward on a series of different places like Shorts and channels. They’ll be released for everyone and can be recognized quickly through the app.

With time, we’ll see the support for such handles be launched quickly, as early as next week. The whole idea is to protect creators from having channel names taken by another. Moreover, the app has called out the timing for such a feature to be very particular. It’s at a time when creators can gain access to this feature first.

Once a handle is up and running, YouTube will work hard to ensure there’s a URL that matches in place. This will then make sure the creator can market their handle in other places seen on the web or across various media channels.

In case a channel has that particular URL in place, there is no need for another update to come its way. This URL will be seen redirecting the user to another handle that’s based on this URL.

So as you can see, everyone present on the app will get the chance to take on a handle of choice at some point in time. Therefore, creators on the platform need to be vigilant and search for notifications that arrive by next month.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

TikTok Performance Statistics For 2022

TikTok’s launch back in the day was revolutionary for the social media scene as it shaped how video marketing was approached by brands and influencers alike.

TikTok’s success and growth had a massive influence on other platforms’ development as well - being the main inspiration for integrating Reels on Instagram and Shorts on YouTube.

However, despite TikTok’s huge popularity among many audiences - especially within Gen Z’- brands are still pretty hesitant to take a leap of faith and jump on TikTok with a well-defined strategy.

Since digital marketers’ most powerful ally when making business decisions is data, here are some TikTok performance statistics dug up by SocialInsider and Wave. video that will help decide whether or not leveraging TikTok should be a priority in 2022.

1. TikTok has an average watch rate of 16.23%

The average watch rate is probably the most important metric digital marketers should oversee when analyzing their video content’s performance, as it shows how many users watch a profile’s videos.

With TikTok being a rather special social network that displays content based on interest rather than followed accounts, it’s imperative for businesses to figure out how their content is revealed to TikTok users.

Understanding how the TikTok algorithm works is the first step toward creating better-performing content, while numbers and stats stand as an equally powerful ally for optimization.

While data has revealed that TikTok’s watch rate stands at an average of 16.23%, it’s also worth mentioning that TikTok seems to be a helpful network, especially for smaller businesses - that even without a huge marketing budget, can stand out thanks to creative and authentic concepts.

As for tips and tricks that can help marketers and creators alike gain more brand awareness using TikTok, Wave Wild - a TikTok marketing expert, offers a great starting point:

“Start incorporating SEO into your TikTok marketing strategy. It's been found that more users are searching for specific content and are more likely to purchase when looking for solutions to a problem. TikTok pulls data from your caption space, hashtags, and text in video and audio. Use keywords and hashtags that relate to the problems or solutions your product or service solves to rank higher in search results.”

2. Posting frequency: on TikTok, an account publishes an average of 20 videos per month

Probably any social media manager is familiar with the 7 rule of marketing, which states that a possible consumer usually considers purchasing from a company after at least 7 interactions with that particular brand.

This is a process in which - through consistency and creativity - social media can play a very important part, as it facilitates a deeper connection between a brand and its customers, leading to prolonged brand loyalty.

On TikTok, just like on any other social network, consistency is one of the key elements of success.

While TikTok is still a very new network, many businesses are up today testing the waters to discover whether or not this platform is the missing piece of a successful social media strategy.

To show some light on that, data reveals some breakthrough insights - exposing that a TikTok account posts 20 videos per month on average, while the posting frequency is on an ascending path, emphasizing the network’s positive ROI.

3. When including a mention, a TikTok video gets a higher watch rate

Analyzing some of the most popular TikTok accounts has indicated that one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book - appealing to endorsement - still does its job and proves to have an evident impact on TikTok - on gaining brand awareness and trust.

With TikTok’s launch of exclusive features like Stitch or Duets, which gain more and more attention and fans, it’s safe to say that TikTok has taken social media collaborations to the next level.

However - mentions - probably the oldest way of marking a collaboration in social media - is still a very common and quite effective tactic as well.

When looking at some of the most successful TikTok profiles, in an attempt to discover the recipe behind a thriving TikTok marketing strategy, a couple of approaches stand out.

According to various experts, as highlighted earlier, some of the secrets that lead to tremendous TikTok success these days are having an SEO-oriented copywriting strategy and keeping the captions short and catchy.

While speaking about captions and collabs, there’s one more noteworthy insight revealed by the previously named TikTok performance study - that TikTok videos, including a mention, perform better in terms of viewership compared to those without.

Conclusion

For marketers and brands that have just begun their TikTok marketing journey or started doing so, surely these TikTok statistics and insights make a great start for gaining a deeper understanding of the platform and some experiments.

However, what should not be overlooked is that regardless of the content angle taken, it’s recommended - for any brand - to show its human side.

With the TikTok audience looking for and appreciating authenticity above all else, this is, by far, the core element around which every brand’s TikTok strategy should be built.

Adding up to this is also the importance of creating TikTok-specific tailored content.

Since this platform makes for such a different network than all the other ones, it’s imperative for businesses to step out of the line of their regular social media pattern and dedicate time to creating native and exclusive TikTok content if they want to step out from the crowd.

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by Irfan Ahmad via Digital Information World

55% of SEO Experts Find Link Acquisition Challenging, Down 3 Points From Last Year

People specializing in the field of SEO have a wide array of tools and forms of analysis that they can implement, but in spite of the fact that this is the case some of these techniques are less favored than others. A Twitter user by the name of Brodie Clark conducted a survey about one year ago asking SEO professionals what area of SEO was the biggest hurdle for them to overcome, and he also did the same this year.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the results from both polls are quite consistent. That seems to indicate that the landscape of SEO has not changed all that much these past few months and years. Around 58% of SEO professionals that responded to this poll last year said that link acquisition was their single biggest challenge. Interestingly, this year that number has decreased to 55% which suggests that this challenge is becoming easier to deal with than might have been the case otherwise.

Technical SEO was cited as the biggest challenge by 24.7% of respondents last year, and this year that proportion stayed quite consistent at 24.4%. That makes technical SEO the second most challenging aspect of the entire process with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Coming in third is copywriting, and it is the only area of SEO apart from Local SEO that saw any kind of an increase in the number of respondents that cited it as a challenge. 9.1% said that it was challenging last year, and this year the number has gone up to 10.7%.

As for local SEO, 7.8% cited it as the biggest challenge last year whereas 9.4% said the same in this year’s poll. This indicates that SEO professionals are getting the hang of link acquisition, and they are facing new challenges in other aspects of the endeavor.

It will be interesting to see what these numbers end up looking like next year. The relative consistency that can be seen in them is a definite sign that the data is at least somewhat accurate, but we will have to wait to confirm if this is indicative of wider trends or if it is only the result that is obtained from heavily localized and individualized sets of data.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Here’s How Raised Cost of Living is Impacting Consumer Behavior

The world is in the midst of a profound cost of living crisis, and there are many factors at play here most of which will take many years to reach their full conclusion. Businesses are struggling to keep their revenues up in this period of widespread global inflation, and it turns out that this crisis is also having a surprising impact on consumer behavior with all things having been considered and taken into account. Researchers at Twilio just put out a report that sheds some light on this trend.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that customers still want efficient services no matter the cost. Data that was gleaned from around 8,700 participants across Europe revealed that 25% of consumers continue to desire efficiency above all else. In spite of the fact that this is the case, businesses can’t rely solely on speedy order completion because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up letting other factors fall by the wayside.

A similar number of customers, or 25% to be precise, stated that emotional connection to a brand was their main priority. 24% also preferred to by from brands that displayed some expertise in their niches and fields. Hence, speed, expertise and attitude are the three pillars that can hold brands up in these trying times. They can’t focus on one at the expense of others, since that might make it harder for them to hold on to customers than might have been the case otherwise.

One thing that this research highlights is the difficulties that customers face in trying to obtain information or answers to questions from brands. Tasks that involved knowledge were consistently difficult for brands, and that makes it harder for customers to find out where they can locate logistics partners among others. Only 13% of consumers who responded to this survey said that they were easily able to manage logistics after making a purchase.

Finding out about a brand’s position on inclusivity and diversity can also hold a lot of importance for customers, and only about 11.5% were able to find that information easily. They often have to turn to calling or messaging customer support representatives, and if brands try to make engaging posts that mention these details they might be able to save a lot of time and money by freeing up customer support for other more serious matters.

If there is one piece of advise that brands can get from this report, it is that they should focus more on engagement that is driven by emotions. This can allow brands to forge long lasting relationships with their customers. Consumers are looking for brands that can provide input and help them with sensitive topics, and if they manage to provide the desired information they would create a lot of brand loyalty among their customers.

39% of consumers stated that they bought from brands again after experiencing efficiency in service or product provision. That should therefore become a main point of focus for brands so that they can increase their sales and weather the inflationary period whilst staying above water.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Facebook Makes Its ‘New Pages’ Experience Available To All Small And Midsized Businesses

Facebook was first seen launching its new pages experience way back in January of 2021. But this launch was solely restricted to a limited number of people. This includes the likes of pubic figures, subject experts, and some creators too.

Now, the feature is going to be available to all small and medium-sized businesses as well, the company has confirmed.

Facebook's parent company was speaking via a Newsroom publication about how such new pages bring about a new outlook that’s more streamlined in terms of its layout. Moreover, it adds a new type of navigation that occurs between a firm’s business page and its personal one.

So what you end up with in the end is a professionally themed dashboard that manages all of your activities from a single location.

It’s like a dedicated feed that allows firm owners to better interact with all sorts of people through the platform and also on their business.

In the same way, we saw the tech giant go public with a series of different SMBs that take complete advantage of this new offer.

For starters, we had the option for profile setups. This allows a firm to include some great contact details like the address, webpage, hours for business activity, and also contact details. Other than that, features like cover images, profile pictures, and a description are added.

In the same way, a range of features is up for grabs. This includes action buttons like Call Now, Send Messages, Buy Now, and more for upcoming events. Moreover, there’s a specific tab that allows users to gain access to the page and carry out a series of functions.

From texting and advertising, the features to choose from are plenty.

Similarly, there is much talk about audience growth here. It’s related to the company calling out consumers including both family and friends to their business page and allowing them to really grow through this Invite Friends initiative.

• Also read: TikTok Scams Are On The Rise And These Are The Most Common Ones To Look Out For

The dashboard is again utilized for professional means such as keeping a track of user growth and gaining access to information such as well like followers’ location and age. Some of their best-performing posts can even be taken a level up and turned into an ad.

Next up is content creation. Meta says posts need to get published at times when a follower is most active. In the same way, adding trending hashtags is always welcomed too to further boost its performance.

You can share some messages in at least three groups and further go about cross-linking your posts on the app. With time, you’ll find more firm interaction with a lot more people on the app.

There was a short discussion on community engagement as well. This is where the dedicated feed allows some businesses to be better engaged with consumers, enterprises, and people. Hence, it’s great if you participate in the section outlined for comments and better engage with content linked to various page accounts.

Last but not least, Meta has highlighted a feature linked to safety and privacy. They feel the time has come for people to take this matter seriously. How about adding features like two-factor authentication that must be turned on for enhanced protection?

The company also recommended that page admins needed to get active before it was too late. They could similarly make use of some tools like Moderation Assist that allows the admin to put out a criterion that really makes sure they’re vigilant of all the comments coming their way. This includes who is allowed to comment on organic posts and those who are not.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

TikTok Marks World Mental Health Day By Highlighting Its Role In Overcoming The Issues Concerned

As the world celebrates world mental health day, TikTok has decided to play its role in the endeavor. The platform was seen putting its support tools for mental health in the spotlight.

This was accompanied by plenty of new research regarding how people felt in connection with their health concerns. Moreover, this included plenty of support options on display.

For starters, we saw a lot of in-app tools and resources that TikTok has put out in the recent past. This includes some great ‘mental well-being’ campaigns and drives that support causes like putting your mental health first.

With the help of some fabulous in-app tools, TikTok has always worked hard to program its own platform and assist people in thinking positively. The message that mental health is a key part of your overall well-being has been talked about a lot.

It says they’ve worked in nurturing an environment that supports nothing but absolute positivity. They hold people can instill empathy and understanding from all corners of the spectrum.

This is why they’ve gone the extra mile to bring in creators and professionals in mental health from all over. See, the whole idea is to empower others and create the best content regarding the mentally healthy theme.

With time, creators learned to discuss all sorts of sensitive issues. From grief to eating disorders and how to develop more understanding in their lives.

Thanks to all of these resources, we feel so many others can get inspired and talk more about this sensitive issue while producing healthy discussions around the subject. As TikTok says, the goal is to bring down barriers and alter the perception of society.

While talking about this great initiative linked to mental health, so many people can even click on reference links as a way to get immediate assistance whenever they’re dealing with all sorts of concerns linked to the platform.

TikTok has even gone one step further to create a global survey that’s linked with YouGov. The whole purpose is to explore how the app’s users feel toward topics like mental health and how they feel they can approach such issues.

The subject is huge and there’s a lot to take into consideration here. Who knows, you just might end up helping someone out that needs it the most! And with all these tools at your disposal, it just gets so much easier.

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Thanks to the great reach and influence out there, it’s so crucial to make your mental health your biggest priority, and these techniques definitely make it so much easier to do so. Remember, the world of social media does come with a huge cost attached.

Creators do feel the great pressure that’s associated with social media, including the great criticism attached. The negativity attached can be very hurtful and while they’re just words on a screen for some, others, they’re much more than just that.

Quite often, we tend to feel that TikTok and other apps are more about fame and glory but they do come with great responsibility. And that includes sending a message to users that it’s ok to ask for help when you’re not feeling great mentally.

As it is, public posts have their cons, and when the apps through which such negativity is vowing to be by your side and show support, then what could possibly be better than that?

The world is an overwhelming place to live in and the steps taken by TikTok to combat such issues are surely being appreciated for obvious reasons.

Read next: New Study Highlights Alternatives To Leading Apps Like Facebook, YouTube, And Twitter
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

PayPal Goes Public With Its Apology And Admits It Made An Error To Fine Users For Misinformation

On Monday, a public apology was issued by PayPal Holdings when it stated that it wouldn’t be fining its users in regard to misinformation.

In case you weren’t aware, the company stated in the past how a previous policy update spoke in detail about consumers being forced to pay a fine worth $2,500 to recompense for damages incurred. But in all reality, that was not true. They are now calling it a huge error on their part.

Meanwhile, shares for the firm that’s placed in California have gone on to reveal how a massive decline of nearly 6% post the update. And that is something that PayPal claims included a lot of inaccurate information. And as you can probably imagine, it has sparked intense backlash across social media for obvious reasons.

At the moment, PayPal is not going to be issuing any fines for anyone in regard to misinformation. Moreover, this information and the language used were called out for being highly inappropriate by the firm itself. In the same way, it apologized for the trouble and great confusion that it may have caused its valuable consumers.

A few notable media outlets mentioned last week how PayPal issued a new policy update that stopped its consumers from making use of its device and services for several activities. This includes the likes of sharing, posting, and even publishing texts, materials, and content that promoted such data.

If approved, this new policy was believed to go into effect by early next month where users would be liable to pay a fine of $2500 for every single violation. It’s quite interesting to see the company’s own former president slam the policy on his account on Twitter. He called it out and claims it goes against all that he believes in.

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The tweet he published stated, a private firm will now get the chance to take away all of your funds if you happen to disagree with it. This is beyond insanity’- he added. And the first person who was to agree with the statement was Elon Musk.

The clarification that was first put out by PayPal was confirmed by Bloomberg News in the past.

So as you can see, PayPal is on its way to bringing back its lost love and support from some of its most loyal members. And if that means issuing an apology, then so be it.

H/T: Reuters

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World