Tag Archive for: YouTube Marketing

YouTube Marketing: How to Kickstart Your Strategy

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With over 2 billion worldwide active users, YouTube is the top choice for video marketing. But, with being the clear-cut winner comes a lot of competition. There are now more than 50 million content creators pumping out videos daily. With over 500 hours of content uploaded every minute, you are now tasked with figuring out how to make your content stand out among the crowd. 

Whether you’re just starting out on YouTube or trying to improve your strategy, here are few tips to kickstart your marketing strategy. 

Find what content performs best among your audience. 

You can’t be successful on YouTube if your plan is to upload a video and just sit and wait for viewers to find it themselves. With loads of other options, your content and channel has to stand out. 

The best way to do this is by creating fresh, original and entertaining content. Start by researching what works and what doesn’t. By knowing the trends and what’s popular among your audience, you can improve your content. The more effort you put into researching your audience and what they enjoy, the more insights you’ll have to use to assist you in creating your own content.

Pick catchy thumbnails and titles. 

It’s no secret that to get more clicks on your video, it’s necessary to spark your viewers curiosity right off the bat. This requires something that can quickly grab people’s attention, while communicating what the video is about. Your thumbnail and title ultimately play the largest role in this. Your chosen title and thumbnail work together to build a viewer’s anticipation by giving a glimpse of the video, so making them eye-catching is essential. 

Here are some tips on creating a thumbnail that stands out: 

  • Use an image of the most exciting part of your video. 
  • Set the size to 1280 x 720 px (16:9)
  • Create a title that gives the thumbnail context. 
  • Include an attractive background.

Here are some additional tips on creating a clickable title: 

  • Include popular keywords. 
  • Consider using a question your viewers may be asking or searching. 
  • Make it concise and on-topic – aka don’t use click-bait or misleading titles.  

Optimize your content with YouTube SEO.

One of the most essential aspects of marketing on YouTube that many aren’t aware of is SEO. Oftentimes people only think of using SEO when it comes to Google or other search engines. With such a large number of daily users, combined with billions of content being uploaded everyday, YouTube is almost another Google, but for strictly videos. SEO is essential to prevent your videos from just getting lost in the massive sea of content. 

So, how do you go about optimizing your videos? With the use of tags, keywords, running A/B tests, staying on top of your statistics and researching competitors’ statistics. This can be a lot, especially when you’re just getting started, but there are a number of tools that can help, such as: 

Not only can this help your content rank higher on YouTube, but on Google as well. Google has started favoring video content when it comes to search results. Meaning if you’re video is ranking well on YouTube, Google will want to make it easier to find and share.

Create a schedule and stick to it. 

To be successful and drive engagement on YouTube you need to have a strong presence. This requires regular uploads, meaning at least once a week. This is because the number of videos being uploaded on YouTube continues to increase. To prevent yourself from getting lost among the crowd, you have to keep up. 

Consistently uploading may be more work, but it’s extremely beneficial. It brings more engagement, more subscribers and more feedback, allowing you to improve and enhance your content delivery quickly. 

We recommend creating a monthly calendar with your video topics, titles, tags, keywords and any other details you find helpful. If you have time, you could even create multiple videos in one sitting, so you don’t have to rush to create them each week. 

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YouTube Select: YouTube’s New Premium Advertising Program

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YouTube just recently launched their new premium advertising program, YouTube Select. “Helping you connect with your audience is our top priority. This is especially important as digital takes precedence in how we interact, communicate and stay connected.” Vishal Sharma, YouTube’s Vice President of Product Management wrote. The purpose of YouTube Select is to make this easier for brands. Offering more flexibility to reach hard to find audiences, with the confidence advertisers’ buys are brand-safe. 

New Features

Emerging Lineups: YouTube Select packages content in what it calls “lineups.” These are tailored by market for topics such as beauty & fashion, entertainment, technology, sports and more. They’re now introducing a new offering, called “Emerging Lineups.” These provide an easier way to extend the reach of campaigns among upcoming or niche channels.

Sponsorships and Programs: There are also custom sponsorships and programs available to help brands target audiences across top YouTube apps and vertices, such as YouTube Kid, Sports, Music, and Originals. 

TV Audience Targeting: According to YouTube, over 100 million people in the U.S. watch YouTube and Youtube TV every month. They also have a higher household reach and share of watch time than the next 3 ad-supported streaming services combined, according to Comscore. To take advantage of this surge, a dedicated streaming TV lineup is being introduced as another offering for advertisers. Streaming TV combines the best of YouTube TV and lineups content, both on TV screens. That means being able to easily reach your audience with a single, scalable offering on the big screen across the best content. This includes popular creators, YouTube Originals, live sports, feature length movies, timely news and more.

They’ve also recently announced Brand Lift measurements on TV screens, which will soon be available globally for the app and YouTube TV. Ultimately to give advertisers better help measuring their brand results. 

Better Buying Options: In addition to more capabilities on the TV screen, there will also be more choices on how advertisers purchase their ads. It will vary by region, but many countries are making certain YouTube lineups available via Google Ads, Display & Video 360 and reservation.  

Why this is Important to Marketers

Connected TV viewing continues to increase considerably, especially in the midst of the pandemic. Over the last year or so YouTube has started focusing more on marketing objectives, rather than media. Ultimately to become a stronger and more strategic marketing partner for brands. YouTube Select is making it easier to ensure brand-safety when ad buying. Granting marketers access to advanced suitability controls, as well as the option to only serve ads on videos that have been machine classified and human-verified across all lineups. Overall, it offers an easier way for you to authentically connect with your audience at scale. 

According to YouTube, brands are already seeing results. “In 2019, global lineups delivered an average awareness lift of 13 percent and an average purchase intent lift of 9 percent. And in an MMM meta-analysis we commissioned with Nielsen in the U.S., YouTube Select lineups had greater ROI than TV in 73 percent of MMMs that measured YouTube Select lineups, Other Digital, and TV in 2016-2018.” 

Whether you’re new to the YouTube advertising space, or have been here for a while, YouTube Select is definitely something you should consider. 

More from Onimod Global 

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

YouTube’s New “Video Reach” Campaign Capabilities

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Earlier this week YouTube launched a new way to run video ad campaigns. Advertisers can now upload three different types of videos under one campaign, and it apparently cuts campaign costs by more than 20%. In the announcement, YouTube said they’re constantly working on better ways to help companies achieve their marketing goals—whether that’s to build awareness, shift perceptions, or drive a specific action. It should be a simpler and more effective way to drive reach while meeting target audiences in the places they’re watching.

 

Video Reach Campaigns 

Before, advertisers would have to make 3 separate campaigns for each video ad type. Now, they can use 6 second bumpers, skippable in-stream ads, and non-skippable in-stream ads in a single campaign. From there, Google’s machine learning will automatically serve the most efficient combination of these formats to help reach your audience at scale.

Bumper Ads: Non-skippable ads, 6 seconds or shorter that are shown before the video the user wishes to view. Bumper ads use target CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) bidding. You pay each time your ad is shown 1,000 times.

Skippable In-Stream Ads: The ad plays before, during, or after other videos and viewers have the option to skip after 5 seconds. These can appear on YouTube watch pages, on videos on partner sites, and apps in the Display Network. You have two bidding options, CPV or CPM. With CPV you pay when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video (or the duration if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with your video, whichever comes first. CPM bidding means you pay based on impressions. Skippable in-stream ads use CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) bidding, so you pay each time your ad is shown 1,000 times.

Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads: The non-skippable video ad is an ad format that may appear pre-, mid-, or post-roll while viewing partner content. They can be 15-20 seconds long and viewers must watch the ad before they’re able to watch the selected video. A smaller, 300 x 60-pixel ad may also be shown next to YouTube videos that show non-skippable video ads on desktop. They are sold on a CPM basis, and may generate higher CPMs than other ad formats on YouTube.

 

TrueView for Action Campaigns

For companies looking to build a full-funnel strategy, YouTube recommends using the video campaigns alongside a TrueView for action campaign. TrueView campaigns are built to drive leads and conversions by adding CTAs, headline text overlays, and an end screen to video ads. In the announcement, YouTube said that soon, TrueView for action ads will extend to the home feed, giving advertisers the opportunity to capture more high value leads. 

 

Masthead on TV Screens 

YouTube also announced it will be bringing mastheads to their fastest growing surface, the tv screen. According to YouTube, their daily watch time tops 250 million hours a day. It will be available as a reserved placement for advertisers to ensure brands can drive the visibility they need on the dates that matter most. They can be purchased on a CPM basis, with audience targeting capabilities, and cross-screen or single-screen Masthead buying options. YouTube believes the rich audio and visual experience brought by the TV screen will create an upper-funnel drive greater than ever before. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Some companies have already started adopting the new campaign strategies. Ford, being one of them, has reported strong results. In alpha tests, the automaker lowered their campaign cost over 20% compared to their past YouTube campaigns. These new capabilities take advertisers’ guesswork out of creating comprehensive campaigns that utilize a series of ads. YouTube is becoming a stronger and more strategic partner by focusing more on marketing objectives rather than media. 

 

More From Onimod Global 

To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here!