Last month, YouTube received an estimated one billion visitors. This proves just how powerful YouTube can be as an acquisition channel. YouTube advertising can be a valuable way to promote your products and drive brand awareness.
With so many visitors, it’s essential that your ad is seen by the right people. With this in mind, here are a few factors to take into consideration when building a campaign on YouTube.
Create quality, relevant content
Firstly and most importantly, creating a quality video ad is very important. Regardless of the type of ad you decide to create, InStream or Search, the video needs to catch your viewers attention quickly to stop them skipping through. Remember you only have between 15 and 60 seconds; a viewer will typically decide whether to skip your ad within the first five seconds. Although your ad will be targeted to appear in front of people who are likely to be interested in your product, you still need to grab their attention and make your ad memorable.
Choose your ad type carefully
You need to decide where you’d like the ad to be shown on YouTube before you even start creating it.
InStream ads appear before a viewer watches their video of choice. With this placement, you only pay if someone watches more than 30 seconds of your ad, unless your ad is shorter than 30 seconds; in this case you will only pay if they watch the entire duration of the ad. Reach specific and relevant audiences by optimising your campaigns to target viewers with related interests. For sites that are niched by age, mature dating sites for example, you could target your ad to viewers that align with your demographic. With this option you can also use a companion banner that will appear to the right of the video, adding another dynamic to the page and another place for the viewer to click back to your site. InStream ads need to have personality but should also be direct and clearly identify your unique selling points.
Search ads appear when a viewer is actively searching for content. This works similarly to to Google Search; bid on a list of selected keywords for your ad to appear next to. In this instance, you will be charged whenever someone views your ad (click-per-view). Unlike with ‘InStream’ ads, you will pay as soon as someone clicks on your video and begins watching. This means you’ll need to create a different kind of video to the one you’d use in an InStream ad; it should be less product focused and more informative.
Both options have positives and negatives; InStream ads are more likely to be seen and watched, but can have a high drop-off rate (although if viewers do drop off, you don’t pay). Search ads are more relevant to what the viewer is looking for so could have a higher propensity to convert but they’ll be viewed less.
As with any online ad, it’s vital that you optimise your campaigns and use relevant targeting to deliver a good return on investment.
White Label Dating® is a Google partner. If you have any questions about getting started with YouTube advertising, get in touch with the Partner team who will be happy to help and pass on any queries.
Richard Beaumont, Partner Manager at White Label Dating®