Social Customer Service Allows Startup to Outpace the Competition
Patton Gleason is the first to admit he can’t sell. And just over a year after going live with his online start-up, the Natural Running Store, he hasn’t had to try.
“I’m a terrible sales guy. I’m awful at it,” Gleason says. “But I really do like this idea of ‘can a relationship really be your big marketing vehicle?’”
Turns out, it can. By wowing customers with unheard-of service, Gleason has come close to replicating the in-store experience online. In doing so, he turned the Natural Running Store into a serious competitor in the running shoe arena.
And he’s done it without spending a nickel on outside advertising. The key has been to give online buyers a very personal touch and create bite-sized content for social media.
“It is 1000% a hustle in relationships,” he says.
The result: high search engine rankings, dozens of features on like-minded blogs and a profitable, growing business. 
YouTube Enhancements: This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What’s New This Week?
YouTube Adds More Communication Features: Recent updates on YouTube include “a new way to promote your Google+ profile on YouTube, more options in the Annotations Editor” and more options to post Channel Bulletins to your Channel Feed.
Add a Google+ button to your YouTube channel.
You can now share videos and playlists in your YouTube Channel Feed by posting a Channel Bulletin.
5 Ways to Brand Your New YouTube Profile
Are you wondering what to do with the new YouTube look and feel?
Many people either love or hate YouTube’s platform facelift.
Whatever your preference, in this article I’m going to outline some of the best ways to optimize the new YouTube layout.
Frankly, YouTube’s new design is turning out to be a step in the right direction.
YouTube has managed to add a layer of user experience and brand factor, which are only getting better. This evolution will soon prove highly beneficial to YouTube channel owners.
3 New YouTube Changes and What They Mean for Businesses
Are you thinking about doing more with YouTube?
In December of 2011, YouTube unveiled their latest design and navigational changes to the world.
Although it was met with unbridled criticism from a virtual mob of YouTube fanatics, these changes are here to stay.
Embrace YouTube’s recent makeover and their vision for the future of online entertainment. Change is good, right?
This article will only cover the three major changes that may affect your online strategy. If you want to stay on top of your video marketing game in 2012, these are the only three changes that you need to focus on.
Ready? Here we go!
3 Ways to Use YouTube to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Are you wondering how to get people from YouTube to your website?
Are you looking for ideas to move people from watchers to clickers? Keep reading to learn how.
Why YouTube for Traffic?
With an impressive three billion daily views, this video-sharing platform stakes its claim as the world’s second-largest search engine (behind Google) and is considered the third most-visited website in the world. Think YouTube is only for Justin Bieber fans? Think again.
As a marketer, there’s an absolutely incredible potential with YouTube if you deploy the right strategy. Imagine each of your videos as “mini websites.”
First, your content can get found from within YouTube itself.
5 Ways Your Old YouTube Videos Can Triple Their Visibility
Are you frustrated with your YouTube and video marketing efforts?
Most business owners test the “YouTube waters” by uploading a few videos, then walk away.
They return in a few weeks to notice each video has only a handful of views.
Is that your experience? If so, fret not! All is not lost…
In this article, I’m going to reveal to you five of the most powerful steps that you can put into action today to literally breathe life back into your existing videos, so your YouTube marketing efforts won’t be in vain.
29 Tips to Make Your Video Marketing Easy
Are you using videos to market your business? Are you wondering how to get started?
Do you need some ideas to improve your videos?
We asked our writers to share their best tips on how to make video marketing easy for you.
How to Get Started Creating Videos
Chris Garrett @ChrisGarrett
#1: Try video now
My biggest tip is to try video out, see if it works for you. I resisted video for so long due to my shyness, but when I did put some videos out there my audience reacted so warmly (and forgiving of my goofs) that I wish I had tried sooner.
You don’t need professional gear, expert editing skills and software, and you don’t need a fancy script. You don’t even need to be super-confident in front of the camera.
