The second most visited website in the world, YouTube has changed the way we consume content and created a huge market opportunity for brands.
So how does YouTube marketing work and how effective is it as a marketing channel?
In this YouTube marketing guide, you'll learn the different types of videos that get the best content marketing results and how to use this leading social media platform.
What is YouTube Marketing?
YouTube Marketing is the process of promoting a brand, product or service through video content on the YouTube platform.
This type of marketing involves creating videos to build brand awareness, engage your target audience, and increase your sales and revenue.
The key to successful YouTube marketing is creating high-quality, engaging video content that delivers value to your target audience.
YouTube users say that good content tells a good story; Match their interests, expand their perspective or thinking, and make them feel something emotional.
YouTube organic marketing
Here are 10 organic videos brands can use for YouTube marketing.
- Social media videos (such as short films, stories and YouTube community posts).
- Videos and/or how to videos.
- Production stories (eg short films, TV series and/or documentaries).
- Interviews with influencers and/or subject matter experts.
- Thought leadership video with business leaders.
- Stories about your organization.
- Customer testimonials, case studies and/or success stories.
- Animated or real product demonstrations.
- Regular instruction on external training videos and/or topics.
- Live video (such as YouTube Live and Première).
With over 500 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute, it's a crowded space. That's why YouTube marketing isn't just about video uploads and organic discovery
Paid video marketing on YouTube
If you're starting a new brand or YouTube channel, you can get results quickly with a paid strategy while building your subscriber base organically.
There are a number of YouTube and Google advertising solutions that support a variety of business and marketing goals, from increasing brand awareness to attracting attention or taking action.
In Google Ads, you can create compelling video campaigns in a variety of video ad formats to engage customers in multiple ways across YouTube and Google Video partner sites.
There are three main types of paid advertising strategies on YouTube:
1. Promotion to increase brand awareness
- Defense Ads: Highlight your brand's most memorable messaging with clips and compelling six-second ads.
- Non-skippable in-stream ads: Show potential customers on YouTube with a non-skippable ad that plays before, during and after a video on websites and apps that work with Google Video partners.
- Masthead Ads : Reach a large audience in no time by displaying your brand ad at the top of the main YouTube stream on desktop, mobile and TV screens.
2. Interest and attention-grabbing advertisements
- Stream ads in-stream : Reach as many people as possible with ads that allow viewers to skip the ad after five seconds and watch the ad before, during, and after the video plays.
- YouTube BrandConnect - Connects US, Canadian or UK creators for branded content campaigns.
3. Ads that encourage people to buy, sign up and take action
- In-feed video ads: Use images to reach people as they browse YouTube's First and Next feeds, Discovery feed, and Gmail promotions and social tabs.
- Video Action Campaigns : Reach as many people as possible within your budget with ads that pop before, during, and after video plays.
How can marketers use YouTube?
Companies and brands can use YouTube in a number of ways to achieve their marketing goals.
Of the 10 YouTube videos you can make (listed above), a study by the Content Marketing Institute found that 5 of these video types yielded the best content marketing results.
1. Social media videos
YouTube social media video branding campaigns have one thing in common: they provide value to their viewers. They also have an emotional hook to encourage sharing.
Examples:
- Dove India has launched #ShowUS, a social video campaign that aims to challenge stereotypes about the beautiful and unimaginable.
- Gillette's social video campaign , We Believe: The Best Men Can Be, focuses on the modern approach to masculinity.
- BuzzFeed Video and Purina Friskis have launched a social video campaign called "Dear Kitten," which teaches an old house cat how to be a kitten.
2. How to make videos
Videos educate viewers. Brands can use this to build trust and credibility with their audience, as well as establish themselves as experts in the industry.
Here are some recent examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns using videos or videos:
- L'Oréal has created a series of videos to help satisfy the beauty needs of consumers around the world. This includes Lancôme USA's How To Apply Lash Idole Mascara, which has 15.6 million views.
- Samsung India used 'how to' videos to promote the latest Galaxy A73 5G. These videos detailed the features and capabilities of the devices, helping consumers understand the value of these products.
- Google has used how-to videos to educate consumers about various products and services, including the movie How Google Search Works (Home), which has 91 million views. These videos help simplify complex topics and make them accessible to a wider audience.
3. Tagged stories
The key to success with brand stories is creating engaging and engaging content that resonates with your target audience and supports your brand's overall marketing goals.
Here are some examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns using branded videos in recent years:
- Clash of Clan's Lost & Crown tells the story of Larry's first day on the job as he guards the Red King's crown with his older brother Peter on a graveyard shift. What could be wrong? This short received 62.5 million views and 1.3 million engagements.
- Hyundai International's Hyundai x BTS I Hydrogen Documentary is a short documentary that aims to increase the participation of Generation P in hydrogen and bring about change together. Using infographics will help you better understand hydrogen. This documentary has received 12 million views and 124,000 likes.
- Patagonia's Fight for America's Public Lands is a feature-length documentary about America's public land system and the struggle to preserve it. Part love letter, part political condemnation, the film has garnered 2.8 million views and 18,200 likes.
4. Customer reviews
By featuring positive customer experiences and testimonials in YouTube videos, brands can help build trust and confidence among their viewers.
Here are some recent examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns using customer testimonials, case studies or success stories.
- AmeriSave Hipoteca has created a series of customer reviews. For example, the founders of Christine's Refinance AmeriSave Loan helped single mom Christine get a low interest rate and save hundreds of dollars a month when she decided to refinance her New Orleans home loan. Get Out of Debt This customer review has 3.9 million views.
- Selling on Amazon has produced many studies; For example , New Republic, which shared a case study of a digitally native shoe brand, received 8.5 million views.
- Shopify has created several success stories; For example , Maye-Williams Active, which tells the story of a black sportswear company, received 22 million views.
5. Interviews with influencers
By partnering with influencers or subject matter experts, brands can increase awareness, reach new audiences, and build stronger relationships with their target markets.
Here are some recent examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns that have used these people (and even people on the street) to create engaging and informative YouTube content.
- Nike's "Never Stop" campaign features interviews with various athletes and influencers. The videos highlight the resilience and determination of individuals who have overcome challenges and continued to achieve their goals despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Luxe Collective, which specializes in buying and selling pre-owned luxury brands, has created a series of street interviews; For example, a video of people standing on the busiest street in Europe to ask 1 question has 34.5 million views.
What are the benefits of YouTube marketing?
YouTube marketing helps businesses grow their brand and reach new audiences in a variety of ways on the video sharing platform.
Reach an international audience
With over 2 billion monthly users, YouTube is the largest social video platform in the world. And they watch over a billion hours of video on YouTube every month.
There are translated versions of YouTube in 80 languages in more than 100 countries around the world. It enables brands to reach large global audiences with customized local campaigns.
Reach out to potential customers
Not YouTube.com. 2nd most visited website in the world after Google.com. This means that the video sharing site is the largest social networking platform in the world.
YouTube enables any business in any industry to reach potential customers when they search, watch or watch video content.
Integrated to watch TV
Although it started as a website and evolved into a mobile app, more and more Americans now watch YouTube on connected televisions (CTVs).
According to Insider Intelligence, 38.1% of daily time spent on YouTube in 2023 will be on connected devices such as smart TVs and game consoles, 48.5% on mobile phones and tablets, and only 13.4% on computers and laptops.
So how can you leverage YouTube for your brand in today's multi-device age?
Target the segments that are most important to your business
YouTube allows advertisers to go beyond demographics to target affinity segments (people whose interests and habits are related to their business) and market segments (those who are willing to buy or are looking for similar products or services).
So YouTube connects you with the people who matter most to your business, from restaurants to corporate foodservice equipment buyers to commercial kitchens across the country.
Engage consumers at every stage of the journey
Videos are more engaging than other types of content like text or images.
According to a 2020 Google/TalkShop survey, 75% of respondents said that ads in YouTube videos promote new products or products.
And according to data from Google, 90% of people in the world have discovered new brands or products on YouTube.
To increase brand awareness and convert leads, many brands use a comprehensive YouTube marketing strategy that includes multiple goals.
Measure channel performance, brand growth and conversions.
Using YouTube Analytics, you can use key metrics like watch time, views, likes, shares, and comments to better understand how your videos and channel are performing.
You can use brand studies to measure the effectiveness of your video advertising with key metrics like ad recall, brand awareness, and consideration.
And you can use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to measure overall view conversions (EVC) on YouTube. This allows you to measure the different stages of the buyer's journey.
How Effective Is YouTube Marketing?
The effectiveness of YouTube marketing can vary depending on a number of factors, such as your target audience, the relevance and quality of your content, and your marketing goals.
However, if done right, YouTube can be a very effective marketing tool for brands and businesses.
A detailed model of how people use YouTube to navigate the customer journey will help you understand how you can make your video marketing more effective.
Rather than the traditional funnel proposed by William W. Townsend in 1924, research on TikTok's consumer shopping journeys suggests that the shopping journey on TikTok is more like an "infinite loop".
But the "Messy Middle" Model of the Shopping Journey According to research conducted by Google UK's consumer analytics team, consumers go through a cycle of evaluating and evaluating options before they are ready to make a purchase.
There is a third model of the same pivot process for discovering new videos and sharing engaging content, inspired by the 1948 book People's Choice by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Burleson, and Hazel Gaudet.
In the year This remarkable study of American voters in the 1940 and 1944 presidential elections shows that personal contact and word of mouth are more important to most voters.
Based on their research, the authors proposed a two-level communication flow model. The first step from the media to the opinion leaders was the transfer of information, but the second step involved the mutual influence from the opinion leaders to their followers.
YouTube marketing works like word of mouth marketing and media marketing. The journey people take to become loyal customers isn't a straight shot. Stuart Hogg discusses this in detail in his book Mapping the Customer Journey: The Road to Loyalty.
"In reality, this journey is like a tour, with stops along the way, searches and conversations - all the time it takes to convince people to choose and stay with your brand instead of switching to a competitor's link."
Once you understand how the social video platform works, you're more likely to take advantage of the six benefits of YouTube marketing mentioned above.
YouTube marketing tools
Here are some great tools to help you with YouTube marketing:
Hearing research equipment
Tools like Find My Audience and SparkToro can help you understand who your most valuable customers are on YouTube and which YouTube channels, social accounts, websites, publications, and podcasts they interact with, so you can better target your video marketing efforts. Can and more. Effective
Keyword research tools
YouTube Analytics, Google Trends, and YouTube Search Forecasts are some of the YouTube keyword research tools.
This will help you find relevant keywords and identify popular keywords and topics related to your brand or industry, which will help you optimize YouTube videos for search.
Video editing software
According to Tubular Labs, downloads of YouTube's short content increased 135% in Q2 2022 compared to 2021.
To follow this trend, you can use video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro or iMovie to edit and enhance YouTube videos by adding music, sound effects and special effects.
YouTube thumbnail creators
Once your account is verified, you can add a custom video thumbnail to YouTube.
Tools like Canva, Placeit, and Adobe Express can help you create YouTube thumbnails that increase YouTube views and subscribers without design skills or expensive graphic design software.
Social media management tools
Schedule and track your YouTube videos and respond to comments with tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer or later.
Additionally, you can use it to post your videos on other social media platforms, which will help you reach more viewers and drive more traffic to your YouTube channel.
Lead YouTube
The YouTube Creative Directory lists 15 affiliates and 5 affordable DIY platforms for each product category.
At the same time, the YouTube Services Directory helps YouTube creators, artists, media companies and other content creators find service providers to grow their business.
Digital analysis
Measuring results starts with YouTube analytics. Help you understand how your videos and channels are performing with key metrics and reports in YouTube Studio.
This includes Google advertising data and reports, as well as Google's impact measurement tools, which help you find them faster and more efficiently throughout the consumer journey.
And that includes Google Analytics, which collects data from your websites and apps to create insightful reports about your business.
Summary
So far, you've learned about the benefits of YouTube marketing, the two-step flow model for effective YouTube marketing, and seven marketing tools you should have in your toolbox.
So is the storyboard enough? Ready to shoot something?
Well, before you do, you'll want to read 10 YouTube Marketing Strategies and Tips (with Examples).
Of course, you can always shoot first and ask questions later. But it's okay to learn from other brands that have developed content strategies that resonate with 21st-century consumers.
Other sources:
Featured Image: Chaay_Te/Shutterstock
