The Year of YouTube

When it comes to search volume it might surprise a lot of people to know that YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world behind Google. With over 3 Billion searches on YouTube every month it’s no surprise that in 2006 Google purchased YouTube for $1.65billion. Even with this incredible statistic many digital marketers overlook it when creating their holistic online strategies. In truth, YouTube is really easy to advertise on and because it’s often overlooked it can be quite cheap too!

I want to share with you a couple of secrets to success on YouTube and in the process hopefully give you some ideas to try when thinking about your overall campaign direction.

1) Think of YouTube as a search engine:

Like Google, Yahoo or Bing, YouTube is a search engine. Quite often people think of YouTube as a source of entertainment or a place to find video content, but the fact is it is simply a search engine. The main difference between your traditional search engines and YouTube is that its results are videos. The way people search on YouTube compared to Google is not all that different, it’s simply the results that differ.

With this in mind the ways in which we can use YouTube to engage with customers takes things to a whole new level.

Let’s say you run a business selling parts and accessories for performance cars. YouTube can be a way for your business to generate content that engages your audience. You could post ‘how to’ videos on how to install the latest part, or videos before and after performance comparisons highlighting the difference your product can make. This kind of content generates interest, brand awareness and loyalty. With the right videos, targeted to the right audience, YouTube could be a new way to reach a whole new segment of the audience. In this case, motoring enthusiasts. At the end of the day, the key to success on YouTube, is content + engagement.

2) Know your ad format:

There are several main types of ads that YouTube will show. Your advertising goals will usually determine the ad format you decide to run with. For the most part you will probably be looking at either in stream or in display ad formats. These are probably the two most common forms and as such I’ll quickly explain them:

In stream are the ads that appear before a video on YouTube. More often than not you have five seconds to grab the attention of you target before they have the option to skip the ad. For videos longer than 30seconds, you will be charged when the viewer watches beyond the 30second mark of your video. For videos shorter than 30seconds you will be charged when the video has been watched in its entirety.

In display ads appear as a search result or in the suggested video tab on the right hand side of YouTube. These ads are charged per click (when someone decides to watch the video and clicks on the link).

For me, success within a YouTube campaign is determined at this point. Again, your advertising goals and content should determine how you progress when faced with these two options, but if you make the wrong decision you could be spending lots of your ad budget on a whole lot of not much!

If you’re opting for in stream advertising you need to capture your audience within the first five seconds. If you don’t give someone a compelling reason to watch beyond the first five seconds of your video they won’t. It’s that simple.

At the end of the day, in stream videos are another form of disruption marketing. At that point in time, your in stream ad is the barrier stopping someone watching the video they came to YouTube to watch. It’s only five seconds, but to that person on YouTube, that five seconds can feel like a lifetime. Think about it, how annoying are those five seconds when you’re about to hit play on the latest movie trailer, your favourite music video or that viral clip everyone has been talking about! With that, if you don’t capture someone’s attention within 5 seconds, you’ve lost them and your ad becomes annoying.

It doesn’t matter what your message is… the key point here (in case you can’t tell) is to capture your audience within 5 seconds.

The second option open to us with YouTube advertising is in display ads. This is where YouTube takes a page out of the AdWords book. Treat these ads as you would your traditional PPC search campaign. You put together a keyword set, put together an ad explaining why someone should watch your video, and as your potential customers search for your keywords in YouTube, your video ads will show!

This concept is a lot simpler as you’re relying on people searching for what you’re looking for. At the end of the day it’s important to remember that generally speaking, people on YouTube are either there to be entertained, or learn something. This format works really well if you have a specific product or service and you’re using video to help explain how and why it works.

3) Taking it to the next level – engagement remarketing

As the campaign is gaining traction and you’re happy with the traffic your video is getting, the next step is to look into things such as remarketing to people who have viewed your video, or remarketing to people who have visited your website with your video.

YouTube marketing is becoming more and more important to a holistic strategy. People head to YouTube to engage, and be entertained. With the right content, your business can easily present the content your customer is entertained by or that they engage with.

YouTube can be a fantastic out of the box tool to help build brand awareness and engagement. There is so much you can do if you begin to get creative with how you approach your YouTube advertising and the best part about it is that it is simple and cheap. Knowing how to use it and when to use it is really the key. Learn how we can help you with YouTube advertising and visit our website, or call us today on 1300 859 600.

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