YouTube is the world’s largest video-sharing platform – we are all familiar with it and many of us use it every day.
Founded in 2005, YouTube now boasts over two billion users and more than 500-hours of content is uploaded every minute. It is here to stay. YouTube also presents appealing marketing opportunities for businesses of all niches and sizes. Social Media Marketing (often abbreviated to SMM) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are two of the most common and effective digital marketing options.
With YouTube, it’s kind of like getting the best of both worlds.
WHY BRANDS ARE MAKING THE SWITCH TO DIGITAL
With people spending more time on YouTube than watching television these days, it is little surprise to see global brands like Adidas turn their back on traditional advertising in favour of digital platforms.
Excluding Google, YouTube is the most used online search engine in the world. It is also the third largest social media network, and just like Facebook and Instagram advertising, YouTube’s advanced targeting and retargeting options are a standout feature of their advertising platform.
Due to its partnership with Google, information from activity associated with users’ Google accounts – such as demographic information and search history – can be used for targeting. Very handy.
BETTER BUYER INTENT WITH YOUTUBE
What gives YouTube an advantage over some other advertising platforms, such as Facebook, is the difference in buyer intent. With Facebook, people usually check their newsfeed when bored, waiting for something or wanting to connect with friends and family. At its core, it more closely resembles a social setting than YouTube and is thus harder to capture audience attention and persuade them to check out your product or service.
YouTube (and by extension Google Ads) function more like libraries, where people go there looking for specific information. When Google Ads first launched (as Google AdWords), the rates the platform would charge marketers to advertisers was dirt cheap. Fewer people were bidding on the search keywords and it was possible to get a great deal. Once people discovered advertising on Google generated amazing results, they were in, driving the prices up.
While the Google Ads platform is still a very viable option for businesses, it costs far more than it once did. But YouTube advertising is still relatively new, so keywords on this platform are far less expensive to target.
Yet another advantage of YouTube advertising over more traditional forms – such as radio or television – is the option to add a clickable link to your website or landing page.
“Purchasing intent is 150% higher on YouTube than TV” – Tom Breeze, author Viewability: Harness the Power of YouTube Ads.
However, like all marketing, it is important to acknowledge its limitations and challenges. How do you hook your audience in five seconds or less to avoid your video being skipped? This may mean analysing the setting, sound and overall presentation of the video. You do have the option to create a 15-second un-skippable ad, but then you run the risk of people finding your brand annoying or intrusive if your targeting is not absolutely on-point.
Digital marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk is also a big advocate for YouTube marketing. "Another thing that is unbelievably underpriced in this market and globally is keyword and Google searches that are retargeted using YouTube pre-roll video," Vaynerchuck said at a 2018 keynote event in Melbourne.
For those brands unsure whether to use Search Engine Marketing or Social Media Marketing, YouTube advertising offers a more than solid compromise.