YouTube is now the second biggest search engine in the world, behind Google. With an estimated 2.1 billion users, YouTube shows no signs of halting its growth. Founded in 2005, it was bought by Google approximately one year later and now features a wide variety of videos produced by amateurs and professionals alike.
If you want an effective and affordable way to build your brand online, then YouTube might be the platform that you need!
Using YouTube for Free
Content marketing is king! Content marketing has taken over to some extent, from old-school Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns and strategies.
The best way to create a brand and get traffic to your online business is to create great content, including blog posts, podcasts, social media content and YouTube videos. While it is still a great idea to promote your content and use PR tactics to build links, content should be the foundation of your search engine visibility strategy.
Know Your Target Market
youTube provides free exposure for your business and a platform to share your principles, products and message with your target audience.
Before you create any video content, you should consider doing the following:
– Identify your target audience/market
– Identify your ideal customer persona
– Research & find your target audience’s pain-points
– Brand your channel
First, look to nail down the age, interests, job, past time, education level and location of your target audience and use this to create your ideal customer persona. Your ideal customer represents the most profitable, ideal customer you could have. There are some great examples on alexa.com.
Once you know who your target audience is, look at online forums, Reddit forums and Facebook groups to see what kind of questions people are asking. For example, if you run a low-carb eCommerce store, if you head over to the Reddit Keto forum, you will find lots of questions and discussions around low-carb desserts. If you are a marketing agency for small businesses, on relevant Facebook groups and Reddit forums, there are a lot of conversations around social media advertising.
Ensure that you brand your channel with the profile image, cover banner image and video introductions. Keep your openings short, however, as YouTube users tend to be very impatient! Thumbnails can make a big difference too, if you want people to click on them, having a face within the image usually increases the click-through rate. Keep the images simple and not too cluttered. Using colors like blue can also help them stand out against the red, white and black of YouTube’s platform.
Entertain & Inform
Create content, including YouTube videos, that addresses these pain points, issues and interests. Give your target audience valuable information, and subtly promote your business within or at the end. Don’t push for sales all the time, as nobody is interested in being sold to! You must provide value, and that will help you gain followers, engagement and sales. If you push your product or service directly in a video or on social media, explain how it will make your target audience’s life easier, better or more efficient.
Send People to Your Website
Finally, for at least some of your videos, you will want to give viewers a reason to visit your website. For content in general, free tools and offers tend to work well. For example, you could create a free cheat sheet, template, or tool to help your target audience. A marketing agency might offer a free marketing planner or something more complicated like a free app or interactive tool.
Whatever page of your website you send users to, ensure that it is specific to the offer. For example, do not send users to your homepage if you are offering a download of a cheat sheet. There are many factors to consider when it comes to converting website visitors into customers and clients. However, using a managed live chat service is a great way to drive engagement and build a rapport with visitors.
YouTube Advertising
YouTube currently offers six different advertising formats:
– Masthead Ads
– Outstream Ads
– Bumper Ads
– Video discovery ads
– Non-skippable in-video ads
– Skippable in-video ads
To advertise on YouTube, you will need a Google account, and then you will need to create a Google Ads account.
This is easy to do, just head over to Adwords.com and click “start now” or sign up.
Once you are logged into Google Ads, you will want to add your payment information by clicking on the top menu – “Tools & Settings” – “Billing” – “Settings.”
To create a campaign, click on “Campaigns” in the left-hand menu, and click on the plus sign (+) and then “New Campaign.”
The settings that you use for your campaign are entirely up to you. However, these steps will get you started:
*Please note these settings are for guidance only and may not be optimized for the best return on investment for your particular product or service. The campaign set up in the steps below will also show on other Google Display Network sites.
Campaign Setup
– For the “goal,” – Choose “Create a campaign without goal’s guidance.”
– For “campaign type,” choose “Display.”
– For “Campaign subtype” select “Standard display campaign”
– Give the campaign a name
Targeting
– Select which locations you want to target – click “enter another location” if you want to target specific stages, towns or smaller locations
– Click “location options” and choose “people in or regularly in your targeted locations”
– Under “Bidding” select “conversions” if you run an eCommerce store or “Viewable impressions” if you are a business looking to generate leads
– Click the text that appears “or, select a bid strategy” and choose “Viewable CPM”
– For “Budget” start with a small daily budget to begin with – e.g. $5.00
– Click “Additional Settings” and choose which devices you want your ads to show on
– Set a start and end date for your campaign
Ad Group Setup
– Name your ad group
– For “Audiences” choose audiences that best represent your target audience
– For “Demographics” choose the demographics of your target audience
– Leave “Targeting Expansion” at the default level
– Ad Group Bid – start low with around $5 for each CPM (cost per thousand impressions) – you can increase this if Google states it is too low
Creating an Ad
– Click “New Ad”
When creating a new ad, you can upload your own designs, or use a responsive display ad.
Choose “responsive display ad” if you don’t have any ads already designed. Google will scan your site and pull in any relevant images and logos. You can also use stock images and upload your own images.
– Add up to 5 headline
– Add a long headline
– Add up to 5 descriptions
– Add your business name
– Click “more options” and add a “Call to action text”
Finally – click “Create Campaign” and hey presto! Your campaign is live.
For more information and a step-by-step guide on setting up your first YouTube display advertising campaign and a YouTube video ad – please see this YouTube video from Darrel Wilson.