The last time we were planning to launch a few ads, I remember the amount of hard work that went behind coming up with a killer concept, an equally competent script, and a fantastic team for implementing all of it. So naturally, when you choose to invest so much of your productive time behind a single YouTube advertisement, you would naturally want the ad to perform well.
However, sadly our advertisement failed to make an impactful mark. We were stunt because there was so much work that went behind it. This is the stage where most brands make a mistake – you end up investing so much time and effort behind the creative aspects of an ad that you practically forget to run it right.
But, don’t you worry because it might have taken us a few failed experiments to figure out how Youtube ads work, this article might help you from undergoing that! So, without wasting any more time, let’s just dive in!
When you go to Youtube for running an ad campaign, you should understand the process is going to be far more different from running your usually paid campaigns on social media platforms. Moreover, the emergence of the youtube without ads concept has further changed things.
The last few years saw Google introducing several new features that have changed how we look at Youtube ads, making it a far more profitable platform for running ads than before. Here’s what’s new on the platform in terms of running ads.
There are several types of ad formats you can invest in on Youtube. The alternatives you can choose from are as follows,
These Youtube ads show up either on the home page and search result page or on the related videos page. It usually appears once you have performed a search on the platform. Now, if you click on it, notice the column on the right-hand side. You will find the actual ad is getting displayed there.
These are the most common Youtube ads. In this care, you only have to pay for the ad if viewers interact with it in some way. These are also known as skippable ads. However, with the emergence of the ‘no ads youtube’ concept in recent times, the value of skippable ads has gone down considerably.
These ads are of 15 to 20 seconds and can start playing anytime while a video is being played. Simply put, this means these ads can begin in the middle of whatever you are watching or in the beginning before the video starts playing. It can also play after the video has stopped playing. Again, these ads stand to lose with the rise of the ‘youtube no ads’ concept!
Bumpers are the shortest Youtube ads that are also non-skippable. Sounds pretty cool! These run for only six seconds and usually display whatever ad is being chosen by the viewers. Bumpers are compelling story-telling devices within a limited period.
Have you seen those tiny banner ads hovering below the videos? Those are called Overlay ads, and these are perfect for advertising your product or service without annoying viewers in any way. They can also be played during the streaming but in a non-intrusive way.
In-feed videos are seen at the top of the search results and also by the side of related YouTube videos. These ads come up when viewers look for related and relevant keywords on YouTube.
This allows new audiences who seem interested in your products and services to get a closer look at your business. These ads are mostly used for brand and product consideration campaigns.
Outstream ads come on mobile phones and on apps and websites that are run by Google video partners. In the beginning, the video does not have sound, but if viewers are interested they can unmute it.
Meaning, you have to create the ad in a way that will grab attention even without sound. You can include visuals or captions to get the viewers hooked. This type of ad is useful when you are trying to extend your mobile reach.
Now that you know what’s new in Youtube advertising and the different types of Youtube ads, it’s time to learn how to advertise on the platform successfully. So scroll down and follow the steps below to learn how!
The first step is to create a killer advertising video, and once it has been approved by your team, you just need to upload the video on Youtube. Now, it’s time to set up an advertising campaign via your Google advertising account. Navigate to the dashboard of your Google advertising account and tap on the ‘new campaign’ button.
Log into your business account on YouTube and upload your created video. After you have uploaded the video, you need to optimize it carefully for organic YouTube search. This will help increase the reach and you will receive more engagement after launching the ad campaign.
Google owns YouTube, so you can create it through the ads dashboard that you use on Google. This is a lot like managing Facebook and Instagram these days, where you can use Facebook Ads Manager to create ads for Instagram.
Optimizing the content is very important. Start by picking a goal.
Here’s where most brands start making mistakes when it comes to running YouTube ads. First, the platform will ask you to choose a campaign goal, followed by a campaign type. The goals you can choose from are,
Once you have chosen a gold, select ‘video’ as the campaign type and move to the next step.
You can decide on what type of campaign you are planning and designing. After this, the platform will ask you to choose a campaign subtype from among,
You have to select the video reach campaign option and then choose your method. In this case, you have to choose either non-skippable in-stream or efficient reach (inclusive of bumpers, skippable, and in-streams).
Now move on to picking a name for your campaign and move on to setting a budget for your ad. YouTube ads enable users to set a budget for daily usage ensuring you can optimize your budget without running out of money quickly. Once you have set your budget, fix your start and end dates.
Now you need to make a few quick decisions.
As you decide on these factors, make the required adjustments to the ad. Moreover, you will be allowed to add as many as five related videos, all of which will appear under your advertisement.
This is perhaps the most crucial step when it comes to running successful YouTube ads. First, it’s time to determine the demographic details of your target audience – gender, age, income, interests, and the like.
Then, you have to start running multiple campaigns before you can understand which sections of your audience are engaging and which sections are not.
YouTube also provides users the opportunity to target views with the help of keywords and even indulge in good old remarketing. Once you have followed all the steps, you need to determine the maximum money you will pay for every view.
This is known as bidding. After you are done with bidding, create the video ad creative while keeping up with all the platform guidelines. Now you are all set to go ahead with running a YouTube ad campaign successfully!
Just launching the ad is not enough. You have to log into the account every day to make sure that your efforts are bringing in results, and that you are not spending money on a platform that is not showing any movement.
Four key metrics need special attention. Those are:
You may like to read: How To Use Heatmaps For Your Social Media Campaign?
The cost of a YouTube ad depends on the bidding strategy that you choose. However, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, on average, the bidding cost of CPV is around 1-3 cents per view. They also mentioned that the brands can expect a payment of $2,000 to reach around 100,000 people.
YouTube advertising is also like other social media marketing. The way you put effort will bring you results. You have to make sure you are creating the right kind of ad for your brand, and targeting the right audience. Here are some of the best practices for maximizing results.
Think about which ad format is going to fit your brand, when you are planning to advertise on YouTube. Some kinds are better for getting better than others. So, choosing the right kind of format matters.
Your goals and desired results depend directly on the kind of advertisement you choose. So, keep in mind what you are trying to achieve from the advertisement and pick the right kind. For instance, if you are trying to increase your reach for mobile users, run overlay ads.
No matter if you are paying for impressions or clicks, you have to divide your audience and you will be able to manage your advisement budget efficiently. Personalizing ad campaigns is one of the best ways to reach out and dividing your audience helps you target ads towards them.
If you are targeting the wrong set of audiences with your ads, you are just wasting money. Moreover, there are tools to make this segregation easy for you when you are preparing an ad, to bring you the best possible results.
Content is king regardless of the kind of platform you choose to advertise. Even if you are advertising a stationary product, you have to make sure that you grab the attention of the users you are targeting.
You can take a storytelling approach to create the ad or anything that you think would bring you the result. Content is something you cannot compromise, and it is one of the most important aspects of advertising.
How to run ads on YouTube? Now you have an idea of it, but, you have to make sure that you are tracking the campaigns. Leverage the tools check how the ads are working and make changes if necessary.
When discussing how to run YouTube ads, these are some of the questions people often ask.
Ans: You have to pay a maximum price of only 0.25 dollars if a viewer watches your video for over 30 seconds or less. The same applies to people who interact with some element in your ad. However, note this is applicable for only TrueView in-stream video ads.
Ans: Yes, recent research tells us that non-skippable advertisements pay a little more than other ad formats on Youtube. Experts say that these ads definitely pay higher but not that much. However, creators will make a little more money now.
Ans: Experts say that Youtube ads must be longer than 12 seconds but shorter than 3 minutes. This is because businesses can simply pay only after the first 30 seconds, or the entire thing, or have interacted in some way or other with your ad.
There are a lot of benefits that you can enjoy with YouTube ads. You just have to know how to run ads on YouTube. Ensure that you have a compelling campaign that is suitable for your brand.
Creating a good ad campaign means creating the right type of ads, for the correct set of audiences, and making sure you track it through the analytics whether it is working or not. This will make you make the necessary changes and ensure that you resonate with your audience.
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A self-proclaimed Swiftian, Instagram-holic, and blogger, Subhasree eats, breathes, and sleeps pop culture. When she is not imagining dates with Iron Man on Stark Tower (yes, she has the biggest crush on RDJ, which she won’t admit), she can be seen tweeting about the latest trends. Always the first one to break viral news, Subhasree is addicted to social media, and leaves out no opportunity of blogging about the same. She is our go-to source for the latest algorithm updates and our resident editor.
Nabamita Sinha, 11 hours ago
