• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 13, 2012

Now a month old, marketers and media creators are still adjusting to YouTube’s fiercest facelift ever. Part of a broader shift toward “channels,” the new design emphasizes users’ video subscriptions, while pulling in video recommendations from social networks like Facebook and Google+.

What’s a brand to do?

“Develop new types of content, such as channels, playlists, and textual status updates that generate conversation,” suggests digital agency 360i.

More than ever, YouTube needs to be approached as social community like Facebook, 360i stresses in a new report. The redesign, it explains, “represents YouTube’s evolution from a broadcasting platform to a community-based network fueled by social interactions.”

YouTube is now a place to curate content and interact with target audiences. Specifically, a new left-hand sidebar features trending and popular content, as well as content from suggested channels.

Along with the inclusion of Facebook and Google+, this new sidebar posts within the feeds of users’ friends and subscribers, providing personally relevant content that makes YouTube a destination that feels both personal and social. 

Trying to dispel brands’ fears, 360i insists: “All changes to media appear to be positive.”

In particular, better insights will provide data on which ad creative can perform better, thus allowing for better campaign optimization. Paid media will also allow advertisers to increase their “subscribability” score, which will allow effective spending to boost engagement, 360i believes.

Moreover, the agency suggests creating diversified content across all branded communities, which should allow brands to cultivate various tones and audiences across each platform.

“YouTube’s redesign will shift marketers’ focus from what people are saying about content to what they are doing with it,” the report makes clear. Executions within YouTube should now go beyond simply uploading videos, as text-based status updates become a critical component to its more social and community-based features.

360i recommends that brands test these types of updates to explore how receptive audiences are to having conversations on YouTube. 

Also, playlists are now more visible than before, providing an opportunity to draw users into long views of the content.