3 tips for updating your approach to analytics

In MARKETING
9 November 2017
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When it comes to the statistics you need most for your digital publications, views are probably the first thing that springs to mind. You want to know how often your publications are being read online in order to measure their success with your audience. But the advanced statistics offered by Calaméo let you access data to dig in much deeper and better understand the impact of your digital publications.

In this post, we’ll highlight three ways to make the most out of data for your online publications.

Focus on the fundamentals

Views are undeniably a key metric for anyone publishing digitally. It makes sense to check in on your publications and see how many times they have been displayed.

The more context you have for this information, however, the more valuable it will be to you. A longer data history means that you can distinguish a short-term decline in readership for one of your publications from its overall long-term growth, or even model month-to-month views. In the case of data for your digital publications, more is definitely more.

For more statistics, upgrade today: PREMIUM subscribers have access to six months of stats and PLATINUM subscribers enjoy an unlimited data history.

 Expand your vision

Views may be the basics, but Calaméo’s statistics offer you a wealth of other information. Looking at data that you may not be taking into account yet can refresh your approach to analytics and reveal fresh insights into your readership.

Stats like the average amount of time that readers spend on each page of your publication, or the time of day that your publication is most read may require a bit of interpretation, but they can help you understand your readers’ interaction with your documents.

A relatively even average reading time from page to page could indicate that readers tend to browse your publication. A clear spike in reading time on a particular page, however, suggests that readers are looking for specific information. Similarly, a noticeable peak in views at a certain time of day might correlate to an event mentioned in your publication as readers seek out the details. Add in the quantity, date and time of reader downloads and you begin to have a clearer picture of how your audience makes use of your digital publications.

 Take action

So far we’ve talked about tips for looking at your Calaméo statistics. To take full advantage of your readership data, you can use it to try out changes in your own publications. Knowing what works will let you build on successful features and experiment with areas that you wish to improve.

This applies not only to your content but also to an element of your publication such links. Our PLATINUM plan provides you with a detailed breakdown of clicks for your publications. You can view clicks on external links, audio and video elements in your documents, as well as the CTR (Click-Through Rate) automatically calculated for each.

We’ve already discussed how these statistics can be put to good use in your sales and marketing strategies. The data can also help you to maximize the performance of your external links. By testing different types of placement with our Editor, for example, you can determine how and where to position links most efficiently to engage your readers.

💡 Want even more detailed statistics? PLATINUM subscribers can connect their Calaméo accounts to Google Analytics.

We hope that this post has inspired you to take a new look at how you use Calaméo’s readership statistics. Have any questions? Check out our Help Center or write us anytime at contact@calameo.com.

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How to promote content with YouTube

In MARKETING
23 April 2020

The Digital Publisher’s Guide to Social Media

Thanks to social media, delivering content to thousands of people at once is as easy as hitting the “Post” button. But it isn’t always easy to achieve the results you have in mind. That’s why we’re bringing you a new series all about making these channels work for your digital publishing needs. Today’s topic: how to promote content with YouTube.

Why use YouTube to promote content?

Quite simply because YouTube is the second-biggest site on the internet in terms of traffic. And if you’re already working hard to improve your SEO on the biggest site—Google—why not do the same for YouTube? Optimizing your content on YouTube can bring you greater visibility and lots of visitors.

Better yet, you can actually boost your ranking on Google by posting content to YouTube. You may have noticed YouTube videos placed at the top of Google search results. Your own videos can be optimized to appear high in results, even before classic web sites.

An indispensable part of content strategy, online video has taken over a huge part of the digital world. In 2020, video was predicted to represent 82% of global internet traffic. So, what are you waiting for—it’s time to dive in!

Lead with a strategy

Before you start filming any video, it’s essential to establish a content strategy for your YouTube channel. Be sure to define your channel’s target audience as well as its overall goal. In other words, who you want to speak to, what you want to talk to them about and why.

Next, choose how often you want to post new videos and the main types of content you’d like to create. But don’t be afraid to adjust your posting strategy as your channel grows! The more videos you post, the better you’ll be able to know your audience, their viewing habits and expectations.

Let your branding shine

If there’s one rule to follow when it comes to your visual identity on YouTube, it’s this: create a consistent graphic style that makes you unique and easily identifiable.

Start with your brand’s visual identity and use it as a point of reference for all of your channel’s graphics, from the cover image to video outros. (And don’t forget the thumbnails!) Plus, keep in mind that the editing, animation and music should maintain the same style across all of your videos.

Of course, image isn’t the only thing that matters to a brand. Words are extremely important, too. Take the time to polish your channel description and descriptions for individual videos, making sure to use the same key vocabulary and tone of voice in your text.

Remember to customize your YouTube URL, which is a feature you can take advantage of once you reach 100 subscribers. A custom URL will make your channel easier to access through search engine results and signals to your audience that your account is official. (Customized account URLs are also available on Calaméo as part of our PLATINUM plan.)

💡 TIP: Use the same custom URLs across multiple platforms so that finding all of your accounts is simple. For example, include “mybusinessname” in both your YouTube and Calaméo account URLs.

Know how to attract attention

Making good use of so-called “clickbait” is essential. In other words, you should strive to make your content so attractive that anyone who comes across it won’t be able to resist clicking through.

However, be careful not to go too far. Never lie in your title about the content of your video! The key is to interest users without cheating them. And of course, no user should feel that he’s been tricked into clicking your video. Otherwise, he won’t return to your content—and rightfully so.

The thumbnail and title are the two most important elements of your video in terms of attracting attention and persuading viewers to click. The best type of thumbnail is one that creates an emotional response. Depending on your content, that emotion could be joy, sadness, shock, surprise or curiosity, to name just a few possibilities. This emotion leads to a reaction: clicking on your video.

As for the title, it plays a big part in the SEO of your video. Your titles should be phrased like a typical internet search, like “How to publish on Calaméo”. Choose your keywords carefully and be sure to include them directly in your video’s title to make it easier to find.

How to share written content on YouTube

If you want to share text content like a blog article or digital publication on YouTube, there are several options available to you.

  1. Sharing inside the video:
  • include a link to your publication in a note that will appear in the top right-hand corner of the screen (this feature is only available for YouTube Partners)
  • record your screen to show the page where your content appears directly in your video
  • mention that the link to your content is available in your video description
  • offer an audio version or podcast of your written content—simply read the text in voice-over
  1. Sharing outside the video:
  • post the link to your document in the description, without mentioning it specifically in your video
  • add the link in a pinned comment, which will appear first when viewers go to leave a comment on your video
  • create a post in the Community tab of your channel so that your followers can access the link right from their YouTube home page (available only to channels with more than 10,000 subscribers)

Have other ideas and tips for promoting digital publications on YouTube? Leave us a comment on our social media pages and share your thoughts with our community of digital publishers!

Ready to start?

Now that you’ve got all the details about how to promote content with YouTube, it’s time to turn your online documents into great digital publications. Sign up for your free Calaméo account today and explore what digital publishing can do for you!

MARKETING

How to promote content with Twitter

In MARKETING
11 June 2020

The Content Creator’s Guide to Social Media

Thanks to social media, delivering content to thousands of people at once is as easy as hitting the “Post” button. But it isn’t always easy to achieve the results you have in mind. That’s why we’re bringing you a new series all about making these channels work for your digital publishing needs. Our final entry: how to promote content with Twitter.

Why use Twitter to promote content?

As social media networks have evolved over the last decade, Twitter has taken on an increasingly complicated role. It began in 2006 as a simple “microblogging” platform designed to let users share thoughts of 140 characters or fewer, but tweeting has become especially popular among politicians, journalists and comedians. As a result, Twitter can be tricky territory for businesses in general and digital publishers in particular.

That isn’t to say businesses aren’t successfully using Twitter to communicate. The platform boasts 187 million monetizable daily active users that companies are eager to reach. However, achieving the elusive status of a brand that is “good at Twitter” may not be the most sensible goal for your business. In fact, unless you have a dedicated Tweeter on your social media team, you may find it challenging just to keep up with trending topics.

Instead, focusing on your audience provides a more practical option for digital publishers who want to promote content with Twitter. Customers are comfortable tweeting brands to ask questions, solve problems and offer feedback. Once your business’s account is set up, this kind of interaction makes Twitter a great place to have a conversation about your content. Read on for our best tips for including Twitter in your digital publishing strategy.

Embrace the format

First, consider the tweet. Although the text used to be capped at 140 characters, Twitter doubled the length of a tweet to 280 characters in 2017. But don’t be fooled by the extra room—any links you share in your tweet are included in the character count. In addition to being short, Tweets tend to have a short “lifespan.” Unlike the evergreen content of Pinterest or social posts on Facebook and LinkedIn, Tweets are usually seen by users for 15-20 minutes.  

This brevity might make it seem awkward to promote content with Twitter if your emphasis is on longer, more immersive digital publications. One common strategy to get around this issue involves sharing your content multiple times. Since your tweets probably won’t all surface in the feeds of your followers, it’s a safe way to improve your publication’s chances of getting noticed. (Just be sure to tweet about something different in between!)

But even the savviest Tweeters know that overall, the platform is rarely a strong source of referral traffic. Research estimates that under 20% of social referral traffic to outside articles comes from Twitter. While that doesn’t mean you should abandon plans to promote content with Twitter, it should inform both your expectations and your strategy. To make a bigger impact, invest time in finding the right audience and having a conversation.

Find your niche

Before you can go looking for your ideal audience on Twitter, you’ll need to have a pretty good idea of the target audience for your content. In other words, who is your content created for? For example, a white paper might be aimed at B2B managers in your business’s field. Or a video about new fashion trends could be aimed at young adults. Knowing your target audience is an essential part of any digital publishing strategy.

Next, investigate where your target audience is active on Twitter. Despite the outsized attention that a few high-profile users attract, there are lots of smaller communities having their own conversations. The discussions among start-up founders, entrepreneurs and professionals happening on Business Twitter may be a good match for your B2B digital publications, but with a little research you can find communities for all kinds of interests.

Hashtags are a simple tool to help you promote content with Twitter in the right places. (No surprise there—modern hashtags originated on tweets back in 2009!) Identify a couple of hashtags that appear regularly in your target audience’s Twitter community. Then use them in tweets to share your digital publications. But beware: your tweet’s hashtags and overall tone should always fit your content. In other words, trendy hashtags, jokey messaging and lead generation rarely work together.

Define your goals

In the end, the success of your strategy to promote content with Twitter depends in large part on having a clear idea of what you hope to achieve. Because of their format, tweets may not prove to be a huge source of traffic for your digital publications. However, Twitter is a unique channel for keeping in touch with your audience. You may prefer to prioritize followers, profile visits and interactions over the number of clicks your content receives.

An audience-focused strategy still provides plenty of opportunities to share your content. For instance, you can choose a single tweet to pin to the top of your profile. Simply select a high-performing tweet that links to the digital publication you want to boost. This easy step has big benefits. Any user who stops by your profile is guaranteed to see your promoted content first.

Ultimately, the fast-paced conversation that happens on Twitter makes it a flexible tool for businesses. You may use tweets to broadcast service updates, offer customer support, advertise or strengthen your brand. But for digital publishers looking to promote content with Twitter, establishing your presence and opening up a connection with your audience is the best way to start.

Ready to start?

Now that you’ve got all the details about how to promote content with Twitter, it’s time to turn your online documents into great digital publications. Sign up for your free Calaméo account today and explore what digital publishing can do for you!