Did you know YouTube is the second most popular search engine, and third most visited site after Google and Facebook? Have you thought about how you can use those figures to improve your advertising?
As media channels continue to evolve, it can be hard to identify the most effective environment to show off what your brand is doing and connect with customers. The greatest video of all time may only be seen by a few hundred people if it’s relegated to a brand’s website and social feed. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Putting a paid media strategy behind your video is one of the best ways to amplify reach and increase brand awareness[/inlinetweet]. Now the question is, how?
To get you started, I’ve boiled down the most effective ways to leverage YouTube’s environment:
1. Provide value to the “how-to” searchers
Searches related to “how to” on Youtube are growing 70% year over year, with more than 100M hours of how-to content watched in North America so far this year.
If your brand has expertise in a specific vertical, YouTube is the perfect place to showcase content that assists prospective customers in their educational pursuits. This type of video builds a perception of reliability and goodwill for your organization.
If your brand possesses valuable content to provide this type of support, a good place to start is Google Trends or Keyword Tool. These platforms will help you identify what people are interested in learning and opportunities to connect with them via category or search terms.
2. Leverage interest of popular shows and music
Watch time of TV channels on YouTube grew 50% in 2017. During prime-time hours of an average day in the U.S., more 18–49 year olds visit YouTube than any TV network on mobile alone.
Pop culture has a strong hold on Millenials and the Gen Z population, and YouTube is where they spend their time ingesting it. Advertising on YouTube gives you the ability to target certain channels, topics or interests. If reach and frequency are what you are looking for, YouTube provides it at scale.
3. Gain visibility during viral and trending moments
Kiki, do you love me? Do those lyrics ring a bell? If you missed the #InMyFeelingsChallenge craze, let me fill you in. Aside from being the first album to reach more than a billion streams in a week, Drake’s Scorpion encouraged hundreds of people to participate in a shareable dance all over the world. Viral trends tend to last a few weeks at most, but Drake’s YouTube video has racked up more than 57 million views since its release on August 2, 2018.
By harnessing the buzz of platforms that see huge spikes in user participation (like YouTube), your placements can achieve a high frequency during targeted periods. Can you imagine how your brand would take advantage of those 57 million eyeballs over the past eight days?
If you’re not sold by now, I’ll leave you with a few final words that speak to my media buyer, results-driven heart:
And who doesn’t want all that?
