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Video Intro to AALBC.com's Website


Troy

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In this video I talk about the AALBC.com website, that I started in 1997.  I'm attempting to describe some of the site's features to someone completely unfamiliar with it, and hopefully help folks already familiar, with the site, appreciate the scope of the website's offerings.  

I wanted to do this in less than 5 minutes, but that is really hard for me to do without completely leaving things out.  Still, in this video, I've left a lot out and it runs over 12 minutes.  12 minutes is way too long in today's sound byte world, but I figured people really interested will watch the whole thing.  I'll also monitor the video stats and adjust the video accordingly. I'm open to any feedback anyone might have about the video.  

Of course I'll answer any questions anyone has about the website and, as always, I'm open to any suggestions anyone has on improving the website.

 

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I  see you shared it natively to Facebook. I can't wait to see what you think about the response to video on Facebook. Native videos get a ton of engagement vs written content on Facebook. This video is good and it's not irritating at all. It's a great pitch. I need to do something similar for my site. It's a great idea.

You might want to break it down into 5 different videos called the features of AALBC. Use Cards to direct viewers to each independent video. You can also add annotations to clickthrough to each video. Right now I would have to imagine people will not watch it all which will diminish your watch time which will affect the search quality on YT.

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Yes that was the first video I uploaded directly to Facebook.  I did upload it directly to Facebook because I assumed Facebook would show it to more people as it is content on their website.  I also pinned it to the top of the page.  I don't see myself adding anything else to Facebook directly (save the Black History posts--which is also an experiment).  

Yes I can't see many people watching the entire video, 12 minute video.  Creating a video for each section is a good idea Chris.  I could also add the video to the main page of each section, though I will probably wait until the site redesign is complete, sometime late this spring.

 

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What you do is commendable, Troy.  You have a great combination of skill-sets and, above all, your goal of advancing and enabling the black literati in particular, makes you an asset to the on-line diaspora which owes you a debt of gratitude.  Just because I'm not a full participant in all that AALBC offers doesn't mean I don't appreciate your efforts. Just attribute my apathy to my advancing age.  LOL

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@Cynique, I don't expect anyone to take advantage of everything :).  What I'm trying to do is help people appreciate what is here.  I often get the sense that people appreciate all that is here, so I'm making an effort to change this.  I'm taking a page from Chris' playbook and making more videos.  The videos are not high production quality, but I hope it gets the point across.

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Video is the next wave and while it is mostly crappy, silly videos that get all of the love, there is a market out there for informative videos. The thing is we stop creating content and never find our niche. The more videos you have the more you show up in search and that improves your ability to reach more people. 

Now, I said I want to see how the Facebook video performs. I lied. Unless the Facebook video successfully steers people to AALBC, what is the point other than notoriety? I do know that Facebook video is seen more than your written posts, but if it doesn't lead to conversion what's the point? I guess if the goal is to get more people to see what you have and then get them to follow you to your site via a callout of some kind, then it makes sense to post natively. However, I don't see how Facebook video helps those of us not in the music biz or entertainment and we don't get paid for it. 

You should definitely make this video your welcome video for AALBC. You also need to start utilizing the annotations and cards. They work very well in producing more content being watched. You could also go to your description for the video and add time breakdowns for each individual section instead of splitting the video up. By adding the minute:seconds it creates a hyperlink in the description and people can click to the section they are interested in. It's an awesome tool!

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Hello Troy,

I just watched the video from beginning to end. What a fantastic job you have done sharing and explaining this platform. I absolutely love it. I am busy getting ready to launch The Peanut Butter Trap, Hate is Such an Ugly Word via Amazon's CreateSpace. I am really excited. I am praying that my proof is all that I expect and more. The cover is awesome. I am also attending my online courses at Gotham Writers Workshop. This is already a great experience for me. I can already see the benefits in my writing.

For my first book, The Hunt for the Magic Pearl,  I have filed a complaint with the Indiana State Attorney General to report what transpired with Archway Publishing. If nothing else, I can be released from the contract and I have hopefully put them on notice. :) I am awaiting a response from Attorney General's office.

I am saying this to let you know that I am busy, busy, busy and loving every minute of it. I have not abandoned aalbc.com. I really do appreciate all that you are doing for the African-American literary community. Keep on making good things available to us, we all need this.

My best to you always,

Shirley

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Chris the embedded video did not get any more exposure than my average post.  I think the videos that get more exposure are the funny, meme like ones, not some dude talk about his website :-)

These snapshots were taken this morning.  The Favorite 100 titles shows about 6 times the reach as the video, but was only on Facebook two times as long.  People like lists.  

facebookpost2.jpg.31cfcecb17706c42070a3dfacebook-post1.jpg.09ed2c84a79f7872cf8c3

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Does Facebook have a measurement of how long the video was watched? I guess ultimately it doesn't matter because as we both know that video is not social content (music, art, something funny) so it doesn't give you notoriety or the interest to create other opportunities. Most importantly, those views on Facebook aren't monetized as they are on YouTube. The more I look at it, the more I realize even more than I have that if you are not in entertainment or selling a product that is unlike anything else, the promise and potential that Facebook offers is better served using the aspects that actually move product. For me that's Amazon ads and Google Search and of course AALBC.

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Well this is the only video I ever loaded directly onto Facebook.

Facebook do provide some data on views.  My video was viewed 98 times (defined as someone who watched the video for at least 3 seconds).  Of those viewers, on Facebook, only watched it for longer than 30 seconds.  That is pretty much all I got, but it is enough to tell me virtually no one watched the full video on Facebook.  Further given the nature of content on Facebook it ages out very quickly meaning I'm not likely to get more viewers of the video.

I did however pin the video to the top of the page, as I don;t plan to add any more content to my Facebook page (save the Black history month posts which are shared remotely).

YouTube stats are a lot better because the average view time was 3:37 on 24 views over the last 2 days, I also got two subscribers.  I posted the video on my website yesterday, so it will get a lot more traction here than on Facebook, so I expect the YouTube views to be steadier over time, while Facebook views have already petered out.

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You know I sat and listened to the whole video yesterday, and see that I must have said "ummm" 30 times.  I thought I got rid of this habit years.  When I shot the video I was actually quite tired (and shows on my face), but it is funny I did not pick up on this when I was editing the video. If I did I would have edited the ummms our or reshoot the whole thing.

It seems editing your own video is like editing your own writing; You have to step away from your work for a period of time.  If you try to edit immediately, you'll miss errors that you would have easily picked up after some time has elapsed--and never writer or shoot video when you're beat.  Your time would be better spent getting some rest :-)

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Great work Brother Troy. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to books by us and for us, and for your dedication to celebrating the works and expressions of those of Afrikan descent.

Amari

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