In my previous post I talked about the importance of social media and networking and gave you a few examples of where to begin on starting to build the foundation for your own network.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google + are all excellent places to start BUT did you know that the quickest (and probably more efficient) way to build up an audience for your content is on YouTube. It is very important to have an audience and/or following on YouTube and it is even more important to be an active member of the YouTube community.

You might ask...what does social media even have to do with a Youtube video?

Well, the more work you put into your social media and networking the more traffic and views you are going to receive on your videos and your channel.

If you are new to YouTube, you should pay close attention to what I am going to say next.

For those who are already familiar with their site, you most likely already know that is not the same as it used to be. Within the last few months, they made a LOT of changes to their site.Now, unless you are a huge YouTuber with an already existing following, you can't just upload a video and think your going to get thousands of views. I hate to tell you, but it is just not going to happen.  The chances of having a video go accidentally viral are pretty much slim to none! And the same goes for receiving new subscribers as well. It can be done, but like I mentioned earlier it will take a lot more work now.

If you want to know the reason why, you need to watch my video about it here where I explain in more detail.
Presently, if you want views and traffic it is now going to take a little bit more work on your end.

One of the best ways to get extra views and traffic of course is by using something which everyone already knows about called Twitter. If you don't know what Twitter is...well then you have been living under a rock! I talk more about the importance of Twitter in my previous blog post.


So your probably thinking..okay I have a twitter. All I have to do now is post my video links a hundred times a day? That will get me views right? Wrong!!!

Sure it is ok to post your link a few times spread out over time but if you REALLY want to grow your audience, subscribers, followers, and friends you need to start sharing everyone else's content instead.  What?? That's unheard of! By doing that, you will start to gain respect from others and in turn, others will be more willing to share your content with their friends and so on and so on.   It sounds crazy, but trust me it works!

I have been putting this practice to use for the last couple months now. And as a result, I have received well over 750 brand new followers within the last month alone. In fact, just last week I reached over 1,000+ total followers. 

And of course some other great places to network are Facebook, Google+, and Linkedin. But what if I told you that those were all minor compared to a few other places I am going to let you know about.

One great way to start building up an audience is by signing up and utilizing the website called Klout.

What is Klout?

 Klout is a website that measures your influence online using data from your social networks. Anywhere you have an online presence, you have the opportunity to influence people by creating or sharing content that inspires actions such as likes, retweets, comments and more. The more engagement your posts receive, the more influential you are. Everyone on Klout also has their own influential topics to which others visit your profile and give you what is called +K's on the topics you have influenced them on. Klout uses this information to provide you a Klout Score that measures your overall influence.

 

Using Klout, you can improve your use of social media and better reach your network.

Signing up for Klout is very easy and best of all it is free.  Basically you will just use your Twitter username. If you sign up, it would be awesome if you gave me some +K's on my influential topics. In fact, if you give me a +K on a topic, I will return the favor and give you one back as well on one of yours and it will also help raise your own Klout score.

And now I introduce to you EMPIRE AVENUE:

Another great place to help build your network is called Empire Avenue. Some of you may have seen posts from Empire Avenue on your Facebook or Twitter news feed and wondered what it was. The best way for me to explain it is by reading their description on their website:

"Empire Avenue is the fastest and most effective way to expand, engage and evaluate your social networks.

It's comprehensive social media suite is powered by the Social Stock Market, where you use your virtual currency to expand your social media audience. Your virtual investors will share in your success as they earn valuable currency through your online activity and engagement.

Use Empire Avenue's powerful Missions to drive traffic and engagement to your online content and social profiles, and to gain relevant new fans, followers and subscribers on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and other networks.

Empire Avenue is the social media rocket fuel you've been looking for."

To sum it up, once you sign up you will have your own profile which will include a "portfolio" of people who you invest in using virtual money. You can buy and sell shares of whoever you choose. The quickest way to build up your portfolio is by investing in people who you KNOW will put effort into their account and have higher network scores. You should start by investing some shares in me to see how it works and I will also invest back in you.  Notice the chart on my page showing you how quickly I grew my virtual wealth. Actually, within 9 days of signing up I had already earned the millionaire badge. That was pretty cool. You can do that too!

This does work!  I make it a point to visit all of the sites I just told you about every single day.  By doing that and being consistent, your network is gauranteed to expand!  The way I see it, the sky's the limit.

There are many other ways as well to help grow your network but I will save that for a future post! :-)

Please subscribe/follow my blog if you like, and most importantly follow me on Twitter @born2rock1974 and visit my official website to stay on top of all my updates in real time.

Please don't forget to share this blog with your own network too using the easy click buttons on the right of this page.

Til next time....

So you want to learn about Social Media Growth?  Well you have come to the right place!

Let me start by telling you a little bit about me.  My name is Blair Kunkel and I have been an active player in the social media game for quite some time now.  See my influence here. Along my journey I have learned MANY different tips, techniques, tricks, and helpful hints for building and gaining a larger audience within numerous social networks.  I would like to pass what I know on to you!

I created this blog as a place for you to come and learn more about building your very own audience or network and why it should be of high importance to you and your online experience.

These days, just about everyone now has a Facebook page and/or a Twitter account but do you think that is all you need? NO WAY! I mean, sure it is a great start but if you really want to grow your network it will take so much more than that. One great way to expand your network is to create your very own Google Plus(G+) profile and start adding people to your created "circles".  I myself use Google + quite often to connect with my friends, colleagues, and other people who share the same interests as me. The best part about it is you can create a circle for a specific purpose. Google plus is also a great place to promote your new content.

You might be asking, what do you mean by content? Well, content can be anything such as pictures, videos, books, music, or even a blog page like this one.  I found that creating and uploading videos on YouTube is a very smart way to get your "content" seen by a larger audience.  Each time I upload a new video, I usually receive several great comments from people from all over the world. I even get several new subscribers which always makes you feel like you have accomplished something.  So how are comments and subscribers important? They are extremely important actually.  ANY new connection you make on YouTube will benefit you greatly. Trust me. No matter how many comments or subscribers I get I ALWAYS reply back to them. By doing just that, you will earn a great deal of respect from them because most are so used to people not ever replying back to them.  When you do that, they will feel that they have connected with you and they may even decide to follow or subscribe to your content on other sites as well.  I will write more about YouTube in future posts.
This post is ONLY the tip of the iceberg! There will be tons more posts coming up. Please follow/subscribe to my blog so you get notified of new posts which will be coming soon with more detail.
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