YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. It caters to 3 billion searches a month. So, ensuring your active presence on YouTube is definitely going to assure you more visibility which brings with itself more viewership and thus, more chances of getting loyal customers. You might have come across the ‘Skip Ad’ option while watching a video on YouTube. Now, you might have noticed that there has been an improvisation in some ads, some ads don’t have the skip ad option, now the option says, the video will start after this ad. Well, what an improvisation. You are forced to watch an ad not necessarily pertaining to your interests. Is it bad for us? Why was such an improvisation needed in the first place? Just think of it this way, how good a marketer you would have to be to implement this feature on YouTube, which was meant to give people the freedom to watch whatever they wanted to. It might have been implemented keeping in mind the interests of a majority of viewers or seeing the market position of the involved brand. Well here we are going to see what kinds of ads are possible in YouTube and how do they work, what makes them different and understand their varied applications for businesses. Let’s see which YouTube is right for you, based on your purpose, whether you want more leads, sales, YouTube subscribers or brand exposure.
- In-stream ad – these are designed to capture the attention of your prospects in the first five seconds of the ad. After the five second mark, viewers have the choice to continue watching it or click the skip ad button. These ads are a great way to get mass visibility. They are charged on a cost per view basis. The amount you are going to pay per view depends heavily on how in-depth you want to target your audience. The ad is free until it reaches 30 seconds or is played in full, whichever comes first. After that you are going to be charged for the view. Exact target is using in-stream ads to promote an upcoming event, when the ad is clicked it takes the user to an early bird discount on the landing page. This ad gets the exact target, cheap exposure to targeted prospect of interest in a relevant content. You should choose the in-stream ad type of you want higher impressions in comparison to the other two advertising methods. Here are some tips to consider, craft your script to grab your viewer by the throat in the first five seconds, you can target these ads to show to people who are searching YouTube for specific keywords, have viewed similar content or have visited specific webpages.
- In-display ad – these are the ones that appear on the side of the content when you are watching a video on YouTube. This ad type is shown at the top of the recommended content to catch the viewer’s attention as they are watching other content. In the past, YouTube would highlight these type of content with a yellow border to signify it being an ad. But with native advertising being all the rage, it now blends the ads with other organic listings. That’s a good thing for advertisers. Bluehost, a web hosting company, uses in-display ads to promote the beginner’s guide content. An ad click takes the viewer over to the bluehost YouTube channel page to educate them on how to use WordPress along with other tutorials. They target people viewing similar kind of content regarding SEO etc. These ads don’t take users to a landing page instead are designed to keep them in the YouTube ecosystem. These ads are designed to follow more of a natural flow by keeping the viewer inside of YouTube and showing the thumbnail to appear more as a native content. You should choose these ads if you want to build up your YouTube subscribers list or if you want more views on your YouTube content. Here are some tips, these ads don’t take viewers directly to your website. You want to build calls to action to move viewers to your landing page. Study how popular YouTube channels are creating eye catching thumbnail images. Images with bright coloured borders or large visible meme style text with a clear call to action are a good way to go.
- In-search ad – these ads appear in response to a search query typed into the YouTube search box. These ads are placed above the organic listings and contain a little yellow ad box next to their thumbnail. These ads will let you watch a video. Companies desirous of generating leads or increasing sales should make the most of this chance. Make the video as informative and appealing to attract a majority of viewers to their website or landing page. Provide links to your website in the video. Make it as attractive as possible so that people want more and check out your website to do that. Keep in mind that each and every step is critical for any business as it is important to retain maximum viewers until the end stage of this process. Your website should also be appealing and more importantly offer helpful content to let viewers appreciate it and sign up for a product. This is gradually going to result in sales. You should go for in-search YouTube ad type if you want to show your YouTube content but don’t want to have intrusive content interruption as you would with in-stream ads. This can also be a great strategy for building up your YouTube channel in the process. Here are some tips, make sure to have a clear call to action in the video, a thumbnail image that stands out and a strong headline for your video to entice clicks.
These ads serve as a means to interact with your customers in an effective way. It allows more chances of conversion as there is more visibility. These are really great for generating leads and ultimately realizing them into sales. Hence, these are great means to register your presence amongst the top players of digital marketing.