Are you exploiting the potential of YouTube to connect with current and potential customers?
With over 2.5 billion monthly active users, YouTube ranks number one second largest social networkjust below Facebook’s 2.9 billion users.
As such, YouTube can be a very profitable place for brands to market their products and services to consumers using their own unique content in a format that is easy for viewers to consume and share. Businesses can also use content from influencers and other brand advocates to showcase their culture, messaging, products, and more.
This article will look at the ways businesses are using YouTube for marketing, as well as the challenges that come with the social video platform.
Why should brands use YouTube marketing?
people are watching over a billion hours of video on YouTube every day, and 500 hours of content are uploaded every minute. Consumers use YouTube for entertainment, education, tutorials and product research.
In addition to content that appears on a brand’s own YouTube channel, businesses can work with influencers to provide reviews of products and services, and the brand’s customers or prospects can watch these review videos to determine s whether or not they want to make a purchase. Brands can also create video ads that play intermittently while users watch related videos.
According to Google, 70% of users bought a product after seeing it on YouTube. Video marketing is very popular and a wyzowl report revealed that 86% of brands currently use video as a marketing tool.
Christian Brown, co-founder and CMO of Gleweean influencer marketing network, spoke with CMSWire about how brands are using YouTube for marketing.
“Some brands use YouTube to showcase their products and services, some to connect with customers and build relationships, and some to drive traffic to their websites or blogs,” Brown said. “However a brand chooses to use YouTube, the important thing is that it creates quality content that will engage viewers.”
Use branded videos on YouTube
To effectively use branded videos on YouTube, one must understand the concept of trademarks and branding. A brand is how the outside world perceives a business, while branding is the act of creating and building on a unique and distinctive brand.
Brand identity consists of a set of creative elements that go into the branding process and includes a brand’s website, social media presence, and logo. These elements educate customers about the brand’s values, purpose and message. In today’s market, YouTube makes perfect sense as a place to establish a brand identity.
Where traditional television markets have dried up somewhat, YouTube continues to have a wide reach. Oscar Rondon, SVP of Partnerships for MiQa global programmatic media partner, spoke with CMSWire about the overlap between TV advertising and YouTube advertising.
“We have examples in multiple verticals where we’re seeing we can reach 1-2 million more people than TV alone,” Rondon said, “which means the message is reaching the homes of consumers who don’t have not been exposed to investments in traditional media”.
Rondon explained that when a marketer wants to increase brand awareness and attract new leads, TV and CTV formats are great avenues to find consumers, but linear TV no longer reaches as many consumers. than before.
“So YouTube is well positioned to capture some of those TV dollars,” he said, “given their apps on CTV and the ability to test different creatives for specific audiences.”
Use influencer videos on YouTube
Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that generally involves recommendations and product placement of influencers, i.e. people with a level of knowledge or supposedly expert social influence in their domain.
It’s a great way to reach a large number of customers and prospects and provides those customers with a fun way to learn about a product or service.
“Influencer marketing can provide an effective and cost-effective way to reach target audiences and build brand awareness,” Brown said. “When done correctly, influencer marketing can be invaluable in driving sales and growing a business, especially with e-commerce brands.”
Influencers don’t need to have millions of followers to be useful. Randy from NoteRubicon Productions, pictured above, has just over 100,000 subscribers. But because he covers a narrow market (GMRS, or General Mobile Radio Service, and amateur radios), many radio brands send him radios to review on his YouTube channel.
Randy keeps the radio on, creates new content for his viewers, and brands get video promotion in the form of a review for the single radio award.
There are thousands of YouTube content producers covering a wide variety of genres, products and services, providing a plethora of options for brands looking to gain profitable video coverage that can reach thousands or even millions of customers and prospects. .
Use of Video Ads on YouTube
YouTube video ads are a great way to reach customers and prospects. Brands can target viewers based on their Google search history and YouTube viewing behaviors. Thus, marketers can target ads to those who have recently searched for a specific product or service.
If the content of a video ad is related to a product or service that the user searched for on Google, the user is more likely to watch the full ad or click through to the brand’s website .
There are several types of video ad formats to choose. If you are a YouTube viewer yourself, you already know many of them. They understand:
- Skippable In-Stream Ads: Play before, during or after other videos. After 5 seconds, the user has the option to skip the ad.
- Non-skippable in-stream ads: They are 15 seconds (or less) long and play before, during, or after other videos. Viewers do not have the option to skip the ad.
- In-feed video ads: This is a thumbnail image of a video with text that will appear in YouTube search results and alongside related YouTube videos. The exact size and appearance of the ad may vary depending on where it appears. These ads always encourage people to click to watch the video. The video then plays on the YouTube watch page or channel homepage.
- Bumper ads: They are 6 seconds (or less) long and play before, during or after another video. Viewers do not have the option to skip the ad.
- Outstream Ads: Start playing without sound. Users can tap the ad to unmute the video.
- Masthead announcements: A video highlight in a Masthead banner automatically plays without sound for up to 30 seconds at the top of the YouTube home feed. These ads can appear in widescreen format and include an info panel on the right that automatically uses brand channel assets. Users can click the mute icon if they want to hear the sound of the video. On mobile devices, the featured video in these ads automatically plays without sound for the duration of the video at the top of the YouTube app or m.youtube.com home feed.
YouTube Marketing Challenges
While YouTube can be an effective place to reach large audiences, that doesn’t apply to all brands.
“For example,” Brown said, “brands trying to sell a product or service that’s easily demonstrated in a short video (like a new technology) will find that YouTube is a very effective way to reach current consumers and potentials.
However, brands trying to sell a more complex or abstract product or service might not find YouTube as effective, he added, citing an investment firm as an example.
Annette Sally, President of Blue Sky Agencytold CMSWire that like any other advertising and marketing platform, a brand needs to understand its target market and the most appropriate avenue for the demographic it hopes to reach.
“For example,” she explained, “if a brand primarily serves geriatric customers, YouTube probably won’t be the best tool to use. However, if it’s Gen Z gamers or consumers , a brand is likely to have better luck given that is where a large portion of its audience lives, plays and consumes content on a day-to-day basis.”
Brands also need to consider whether short content is most appropriate for their target audience or whether longer videos will hold viewers’ attention.
“A brand needs to understand what it’s delivering to the world and how it will ultimately engage consumers,” Sally said. “Sometimes abbreviated content is the way to go, while in other cases a more descriptive treatment may be better suited.” If brands don’t understand what their target market is looking for, she added, nothing will work on any channel.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Miss the Benefits of YouTube
Many brands today are leveraging video marketing on YouTube and have found it to be a great way to entertain and educate current customers while potentially winning new ones.
By using branded videos, influencer recommendations and reviews, and YouTube ads, brands can make the most of their advertising and marketing dollars.