The way that people find and view video content is changing. Traditional television viewing continues to decline while consumers consume more and more video content through online channels. 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. That is an absolutely massive amount of content. And it’s not just pure entertainment. YouTube has become the vehicle by which anyone can learn how to do anything, or learn about anything.
There really is no question that YouTube can be a very powerful component of your own Internet marketing campaign. But here’s the rub – yes, it is certainly possible that your content could be so interesting that it will explode in popularity. You do hear about that happening. But in all honesty, it is unlikely to happen.
So why are we even talking about it?
Because somebody out there (hopefully a lot of somebodys) needs what you are selling. The trick is to push your video in front of those people. Make them watch your video!
The way to do this is by running video ads through the Google Ads platform.
The first part of the process is uploading a video to your own YouTube channel. For our purposes here, we are going to focus more on the advertising side. If you don’t already have a YouTube channel, just go to https://www.youtube.com, and click the icon in the upper right-hand corner that looks like a little video camera to start the process.
We’re also not going to go through the details of setting up a Google AdWords account here. If you don’t already have a Google AdWords account, just go to https://adwords.google.com and follow the instructions.
Once you are logged into your AdWords account, click the main Campaigns button. Then click the big blue “+” button (assuming you are in the new AdWords interface) to begin the process of creating a new campaign. Then select New Campaign.
The next screen asks you what type of campaign you want to launch. Click the Video option, as shown below.
The next screen will ask you to select a goal for your campaign. Based on your selection here, Google will pre-select certain settings for you. I actually usually select the option to create a campaign without a goal. But I have also been dealing with AdWords for years, and I am often happier with the results I get when I set my campaigns up my own way. Feel free to experiment with one of Google’s pre-set options, but make sure you are comfortable with what Google does. What you may find is that Google ends up bidding way more than you want to pay for views of your video. So be careful. Once you make your choice, click the Continue button.
On the next screen, you will give your campaign a name, daily budget and various other options. At this point, the process is very similar to setting up any other campaign. Make sure you select a target location that is relevant to your business. This screen is also where you set your Maximum CPV (cost per view). This is where things start to get interesting. If you have used AdWords for search advertising, then you may be used to having to bid several dollars (or sometimes WAY more) per click. But video views are completely different. You can bid in terms of pennies per view and end up with a TON of impressions! That is one reason I love video advertising.
Below the section where you set your cost per view, you set your targeting. This is obviously very important. You want to make sure that your videos are shown to people who are already watching videos or have otherwise expressed interest in topics related to your product or service.
There are a couple of different ways to do your targeting. For instance, you can type in a list of keywords related to your business, or you can select from a list of topics. If you use the topics option, that may be a more broad option. That may or may not be a good thing. I generally like to be a little more specific, so I usually use the keywords option. I want to show my videos to people who are searching for videos based on a keyword search.
Then you arrive at the part of the process that is completely different from running search or image ads. You tell Google what video you are promoting. Go to the YouTube page for your video, copy the URL of the page, and paste into the textbox labeled “Your YouTube Video.”
There are a few different options as far as how your video is promoted. The option I like the most is to have my video play during the video that the visitor is watching. Your video basically becomes a commercial. The viewer will have the option to skip the video after a few seconds, so you need to make sure that the first few seconds of your video make it clear what you are talking about. So keep intros short and to the point. Many people will skip your video as soon as the have the chance. But many will watch it just because they don’t want to go through the trouble of skipping it. As long as you are careful with your targeting, then at least some of those who watch it will be interested in what you have to say.
Video advertising in this fashion is just one more way to expose your message and brand to a market of people who have already expressed interest in the type of thing you are talking about. And compared to search marketing, it can be WAY more cost-effective. Ultimately, you need to let your data tell you what works best. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but you can give it a try for just a few bucks, so I definitely recommend you incorporate video advertising into your marketing mix and see what happens.
Need help? Contact Work Media today. We can be your Internet marketing department, or just provide assistance in one small area. Call us!