We all know that Google has made significant advancements to solidify a launch of (what will be called) “Google Me”.  We also know that it will indefinitely rival the social network of Facebook, and as the Google enterprise moves the chess pieces each week, the anticipation of a full-fledged explosive social networking platform grows significantly.

This past week, Google has now shifted their paradigm with regard to their YouTube accounts.  In the past recent history, new YouTube users were required to register through the Google Accounts system.  However, it will now be a requirement for old YouTube user accounts to register through a Google Account as well.  This is a significant move for multiple reasons.  Here are the two main reasons that YouTube provides:

  • Improved account security. The Google Account system is robust and will help reduce spam across the site; users will get a slew of security and safety features that Google has spent the past decade developing.
  • A single account system. This may not mean much to anyone outside of the YouTube engineering team, but behind the scenes it’s extremely complicated to support two different account systems. Having all users on the same account system not only simplifies matters, but more important, it makes it much easier to use Google technologies to keep the site running smoothly (over two billion views a day and counting), as well as introduce new functionality.

This is a significant move for Google to make, and it is a move that you can take full advantage of with regard to the social networking world.  Here are three ways that you can capitalize:

  1. Lock In Your Username — With Google taking these necessary steps to open a strong social networking platform, they are going to be utilizing their already Goliath-sized account system.  This means that you can take off fast from the starting line and create a username through Google Accounts that represents your company.  Take into consideration that you want your username to reflect your company name or deliver a company message.  Branding is key here!
  2. Utilize The YouTube Community — If you haven’t already taken advantage of YouTube’s significant user base, now is definitely the time to establish your online presence with that community.  There are over 100 million videos viewed each day, and it doesn’t appear that the frequency of visitors is slowing down anytime soon.  Utilize the Google Account system to get yourself involved, create an initial executive presentation with your message, your mission, and your objectives.
  3. Enhance The YouTube Experience — YouTube is not just another way to present material to your target audience.  It is also a very efficient way to communicate with your employees.  With Google now requiring you to have accounts, this also allows you to have inter-office Google Chat accounts.  It also presents the opportunity for you to record weekly business updates, training presentations, or anything else related to effectively delivering inter-office messages.

Of course, the only way that you can truly take advantage of this chess move on Google’s part is to open a new web browser and take the first step.  However, we understand how difficult time constraints may be so please feel free to take advantage of our comments section and let us know if you need help.  You can also contact us directly if you need other social networking assistance.

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If social media marketing is something that you are interested in but don’t know how to get started, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.

Sources:
“The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing”-E-Book
SlideShare.net
Image Source: HubSpot, “The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing”, E-Marketer.com