Facebook Rolling Out Video Ads to News Feeds, and Other Marketing Stories of the Week

You've heard the saying over and over again, but it still holds true: Content is king. Whether you're creating a blog post, infographic, tweet, or even a PPC ad, creating content that people naturally want to consume will help you attract visitors, capture leads, and convert customers. This week, this saying held especially true in the world of inbound marketing. From Facebook's new video advertising offering to Q&As with industry experts on Klout, this week's roundup will fill you in on all things content-related on the web. Oh, and Happy Mother's Day! ;-)

Facebook Rolling Out Video Ads to News Feeds, From AdWeek

Over the past few months, Facebook has been making some major moves with its social advertising platform. And the social network's latest move doesn't surprise us in the least: Facebook will be rolling out video ads in users’ News Feeds as soon as July. A few big brands including Ford, Coca-Cola, and American Express, are expected to participate in the first round of testing. For the time being, advertisers will only be allowed to choose among four different demographics to target.

The 15-second ads will most likely appear to the side of the News Feed, on auto play, and muted by default with the option of unmuting. We're still not sure yet if this new feature is good or bad news for marketers. While the new ad format opens up more opportunities to attract visitors and generate leads from Facebook, it could potentially alienate Facebook users. Many users complain that their News Feeds are already a bit cluttered with sponsored posts and pages -- this new advertising format could add to the fray. That being said, it's still too early to give the new ad format a yay or nay. Depending on how Facebook plans to moderate the number of ads per News Feed, these video ads could either turn the platform into an ad-filled mess or an effective ad-serving platform. Read more about Facebook's video advertising options at Adweek.

Google Launches YouTube Trends Map to Show the Most Popular Videos Across the U.S. in Real Time, From The Next Web

As you probably know by now, we love data -- and the new Trends Map for YouTube melts our heart. Although it’s still in its infancy, the new Trends Map shows the most popular videos across the U.S., broken down by viewer age or gender. The map gives marketers a nice visual representation of how viral videos are shared and received across the country in real time. The videos that make it onto the map are chosen based on the number of shares by users, or total number of views. In addition to the map, marketers can also examine the popularity of particular videos based on certain demographics.

For marketers, YouTube Trends Map is a great place to find relevant data on which videos go viral and why. Right now, the Trends Map only displays demographic information, but once there is more robust data available, it could be an incredibly powerful tool for marketers. Still, YouTube Trends Map can help marketers find engaging content to share with their followers, discover viral videos to newsjack, or even create a viral video of their own. Read more about YouTube Trends Map and what it means for marketers at The Next Web.

YouTube Paid Subscription Channels Set to Launch Soon, From Marketing Land

It’s been a busy week for YouTube. Not only did the company recently release YouTube Trends Map, but it also started rolling out paid subscription channels offering premium video content. Besides providing a potential new revenue stream for YouTube, these paid subscription channels could attract a different type of audience who is concerned with the quality of the videos he or she watches rather than the quantity of videos available. The premium subscription is planned to compete with other premium video services such as Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix. With as many as 50 subscription-based channels at the time of launch and fees as low as $1.99 a month, this could be a great alternative revenue stream for YouTube.

What marketers should know is that this new move will open up a number of advertising opportunities for companies looking to place ads in higher quality content. Even though its user-generated videos have been an effective way of serving ads, some marketers are looking to pay for TV–like quality. The new premium subscription channels could open up a whole new demographic of users for marketers to target with higher quality ads on higher quality videos. Read more about YouTube's paid subscription channels at Marketing Land.

Traditional Turned Inbound: Reimagining 5 Iconic Ad Campaigns From the Past, Free Ebook From HubSpot

Sometimes, it boggles our minds how much things in marketing have changed in the last 60 years. Some of the most iconic advertising campaigns happened before we had social media, precise ad targeting, or even the internet. Thinking back got us thinking -- what would an iconic advertising campaign from the "Mad Men" era look like today? Based on advice from current marketing experts, our new ebook explores how today's marketers could execute those iconic ad campaigns to get the same impact they had in past. Get ready for a dive into the history of marketing and advertising, and download the ebook today!

Klout Gets Into the Q&A Business by Launching Klout Experts (With Help From Bing), From TechCrunch

The popular influence-measurement startup is launching a new program built around industry “expert” Q&As that influencers can use to boost their street cred. Klout is asking users who are influential about certain topics to answer questions in 300 characters or less, allowing Klout to enter into the content creation space. Klout will also be working closely with Microsoft to ensure that relevant answers to questions will appear in searches on Bing.

Marketers should see this as the perfect opportunity to boost their SEO on Bing. The program isn’t open to all users just yet, but if you’re one of those influential marketers on Klout that happens to be asked a few questions, answer them, and let Bing do the rest of the work. This might be a great way to establish yourself as an industry thought leader and promote your social media presence through quality content. You may even increase the ranking of your other content online. Read more about Klout and what it means for inbound marketers at TechCrunch.

What were some of the top marketing stories you heard about this week?