What is YouTube advertising?
YouTube advertising is the promotion of goods and services on the largest video platform. With more than 2.7 billion active users, the second largest social network allows businesses to reach a large and diverse audience.
In today's Grow Easy Digital Agency article, we explain how YouTube advertising works and present its benefits. We describe YouTube ad formats and how to measure their effectiveness. We also give tips for building a successful YouTube advertising strategy.
YouTube advertising - the pros
YouTube is the most used social media for B2B consumer research, which provides many advantages to companies that advertise on this platform. We describe these advantages below.
- Incredible digital reach: Statista states that 81% of people on the internet have used YouTube. This means that this platform allows you to reach 80% of the users you can find on the web. Even very specific companies and products can find their target audience on YouTube. So if you're interested in increasing brand awareness - there's no better way than advertising on YouTube.
- Incredible Efficiency: This social platform allows advertisers to run cost-effective campaigns because brands pay after users interact with their ads. Plus, its average cost per view is $0.010-$0.030, which is relatively small compared to the $0.79 in B2B Google Display Ads.
- Advanced targeting: YouTube provides not only basic settings like demographics and preferences, but also more specific ones like ad topic, related keywords, or specific pages to place your ads on. This allows advertisers to show ads to their buyers in the right place at the right time.
- Detailed feedback: This social platform provides a lot of analytics to measure the success of your ads. You can learn about the behavior of users who engage with your ads and make content more personalized. You can also use this data to run A/B tests, identify the most effective ads, and use it to increase the success of your campaigns.
- High flexibility: YouTube offers many formats and ad types. You can share testimonials, post expert content or engage users with fun videos. Plus, you can change your targeting settings anytime you need, making this platform very personal.
Most business owners will appreciate these key benefits of YouTube advertising. However, sometimes it can be challenging to keep up with the different YouTube formats. In the next section, we'll explain the specifics of each.
Types of formats - YouTube advertising
There are six main YouTube ad formats. Some of them are almost similar but have different purposes. Discover how to differentiate between these types and how to deal with them to make your ad campaigns successful.
Skipping ads in the stream
These play before or during YouTube videos and users can skip them within 5 seconds. The main advantage of this format is that you pay after the viewer watches more than 30 seconds of the ad or interacts with it. Use this ad format to increase brand awareness. Note that you need to hook viewers in the first 5 seconds to get their attention to your company.
In-stream ads that can't be skipped
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Such ads also appear before or during videos, but users don't have the option to skip them. They can last up to 15 seconds. Companies that use this format pay per 1,000 views. Non-skippable ads help increase brand awareness and have one strong advantage. CNBC points out that 76% of consumers automatically skip ads, but they have to watch this format to the end, which means you have more opportunities to stand out and create interest in your brand.
Bumper ads
These ads also play before or during the video and users can't skip them. Their difference is that they are 6 seconds long or even shorter. Typically, advertisers pay based on the number of views. Companies use this format to convey short advertising messages and grab people's attention to get them interested in the brand. Marketers often combine banner ads with other types of YouTube advertising.
Discovery ads
Users can see them in YouTube search results and in the right sidebar of viewing pages. They are always in the form of text with a picture that leads to the promoted video after a click. Advertisers pay once people click on the ad and start watching. This format is attractive for promoting brand videos on the platform because users are already interested in your topic. Google states that such ads increase the number of views by up to 500%.
Sponsored map ads
These ads look like little pop-ups with a call to action that appear on the screen for a few seconds with the "i" symbol in the corner. Viewers can click on them to get to more information. An advantage of these ads is that they are fairly unobtrusive and most people find them less annoying than in-stream ads. Typically, these ads are related to the content users are viewing. You can use this ad format to promote specific products that viewers would potentially be interested in.
Overlay ads
These are similar to banner ads placed on YouTube. Overlay ads are pop-ups containing text and images in the bottom 20% of the video window. People can close these ads at any time if they are not interested in your products. However, if they are interested, the ad can take them from YouTube to your website or other platforms. You can use overlay advertising to promote products or draw people in.
Now you know what the different YouTube ad formats are and how to work with them. Let's move on and discover how to create and run your ad campaigns on this platform.
How to increase brand awareness with YouTube marketing
Awareness of all the benefits of YouTube advertising has motivated many business owners to launch their campaigns on this platform. To make them effective and avoid excessive or pointless spending, you need to know how to launch them properly.
Step 1. Upload the Promoted Video This step is only necessary for video ads, so you can skip it if you want to use sponsored cards or overlay ads. However, if you're into other ad formats, you'll be better off posting videos to your YouTube channel before promoting them. This will help you get organic traffic and get to know audience reactions before the campaign starts.
Step 2. Create a Campaign Log into your Google Ads account and select the option to add a new campaign. Then define your goal or create an ad without a recommended goal. Finally, select the campaign type and subtype from the suggestions.
Step 3. Determine all the specifics Next, you'll need to choose the campaign name, budget, and average amount you're willing to spend each day. Determine the dates on which the ad will run, choose the language and the location of the viewers you want to target. Decide where to show your ads and how you want to pay for them. Exclude "sensitive" content if you don't want your ads to appear alongside it.
Step 4. Choose your audience YouTube provides a wide range of features to choose from as you describe the buyer persona. Identify one or more segments of your potential customers. Then, give the selected audience a name so you can use it for your future campaigns.
Step 5. Finish creating your campaign Identify the keywords and themes related to your ad. Don't forget to add any links, headlines, and other important details. Then click "Create Campaign" and launch your ad.
Now you know how to set up your ad campaigns to work. Continue reading to discover ways to make them more effective.
Tips and tricks for achieving successful YouTube advertising
Knowing the basics of YouTube advertising is crucial to running good campaigns. In this section, we provide some tips to increase the effectiveness of your ads to promote your company in the marketplace.
Develop a strategy for your YouTube channel and post proactively.
If you're going to drive users to your social media page, your advertising messages need to be consistent with your other content. Understanding how you will present your brand makes it easier to convey your company's overall image. Think about the videos you will post. These could be product demonstrations, testimonials, or answers to frequently asked questions. This content will help build trust with your audience and make them more loyal to your brand. Additionally, actively posting on YouTube can attract leads from organic search and thus make your promotion even more effective.
Get people's attention.
Remember that your ads need to be remarkable and attract viewers, even if they are not yet interested in your products. Motivate them to watch until the end and they will be more likely to purchase your products. Challenge their emotions by using memorable slogans, unusual formats or famous actors featured in the video. Tell stories that have a beginning, a climax and an end. Get people to notice your products and brand as early as possible. This will increase their chances of remembering the company being advertised and make them interested in that particular ad and the brand as a whole.
Keep optimizing your ad settings.
Constantly testing and improving ad settings are vital to successful ad campaigns. Sometimes even one button can significantly impact your sales. Conduct A/B tests, grow and segment your audiences, try to determine the most effective formats, and figure out how to optimize your advertising. YouTube provides many settings to drive greater engagement with your advertisers' promotions.
Use remarketing.
It allows you to attract users who are already familiar with your company. Maybe they've watched your videos, searched on your website, or already engaged with your ads but haven't made a purchase. Remarketing reminds such consumers about your company and can prompt them to buy your products. To save money spent on remarketing, it is better to use ad formats pa id according to the number of engagements: skip-in-stream ads, discovery ads, sponsored cards and overlay ads.
Consider promoting the views.
According to Learn Hub, 92% of people are more likely to buy a product after reading a positive review. Advertise with videos where your existing customers talk about their experience. This will make consumers trust your company and increase their willingness to purchase your products. It will also increase your customer satisfaction because people value brands that care about their customers' feedback.
Try the Brand Lift survey
It's a free way to evaluate the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns and discover ways to boost it. The platform typically creates two groups of your target audience and only shows your video ads to one of them. YouTube then polls users, compares the groups' responses, and determines how your ads are influencing their opinions of your brand and products. You can use this data to discover how effective your ads are. The survey is free, but you have to pay to promote your ads.
Congratulations, now you know what YouTube advertising is, why it's important for businesses, and how it works. You know the ad formats and can launch your campaigns.