YouTube isn’t just for watching videos about cute cats and funny dogs anymore. In case you hadn’t realized it yet, YouTube has quickly become one of the most popular platforms online. In fact, 6 out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV, and by 2025, half of viewers under the age of 32 will not subscribe to a pay TV service. Having your business ad on Youtube is quickly becoming comparable to having your ad shown on primetime television.
Youtube has over one billion users, which amounts to almost one-third of the internet. Who wouldn’t want the chance to advertise their business to all of those eyes? But if you’re new to Youtube it can be overwhelming to navigate. Don’t worry though, creating an ad for YouTube isn’t as difficult as you might think.
Get ready to attract more website traffic and potential customers for your business on Youtube, check out these five tips for creating your first YouTube ad.
1. Create engaging video content.
Before you can get started with Youtube ads, you’ll need to have a video to upload to your Youtube account. So, the first step to creating your first Youtube ad is to obviously create an engaging video. Your YouTube video ad needs to be high-quality to grab the attention of viewers and it needs to be short and to-the-point as well. After all, you’ve only got a few seconds to engage users before they skip your ad.
Don’t worry about having to hire a videographer to get a high-quality ad either. You can create stunning YouTube video ads using a tool like Animoto. You can choose a style and song, upload photos or videos of your business, add text and your company logo in the corner, and voila — you’ve got a beautiful high-quality ad in minutes.
2. Choose the right YouTube ad format.
One of the most complicated parts of creating your first YouTube ad is navigating and choosing the right YouTube ad format for your business. Available video ad formats include:
- TrueView in-stream ads
- TrueView video discovery ads
- Bumper ads
There are also a number of non-video ad formats to choose from. But if you’re focusing on creating your first YouTube video ad, the best format to pick would be TrueView in-stream ads.
A TrueView in-stream ad plays before, during, or after other videos. With Trueview you don’t have to pay for random impressions or for “maybe-they-saw-its”. You’re only charged when viewers watch 30 seconds of your video (or the duration if it’s shorter) or interact with elements of your video. TrueView in-stream ads can also match more of your campaign goals including leads, website traffic, brand awareness, reach and product and brand consideration. TrueView in-stream ads will give you the most bang for your buck, especially if you’re new to YouTube advertising.
3. Take advantage of targeting.
The success of your YouTube ad campaign strongly relies on getting your video ad in front of users who will be interested in what you have to offer. If you’re selling accounting services but your ad is being displayed ahead of videos targeted at children and teens, your ad will not be effective. That’s why you need to take advantage of targeting.
YouTube’s audience targeting methods let you define who you want to reach. You can choose to show your ad to people based on detailed demographics like age, gender, parental status, household income, homeowners, and more. You can also target users based on their interest, what YouTube channels they already enjoy, and based on life events like graduating from college. Another advantage of targeting is the ability to remarket, this means you can show your YouTube ads to users who have already shown an interest in your business. By getting specific about who you show your ads to, the more likely your audience will be to visit your site and buy.
4. Pay attention to campaign settings.
Next you need to pay attention to the campaign settings for your YouTube ad. Some settings you should pay close attention to are:
- Budget – The amount of money you’re willing to spend each day. Start small at first, if your ad campaign seems to be a success after testing it, you can then raise your budget.
- Delivery method – ‘Standard’ delivery method spaces out your ads throughout the day. Or if you have a bigger budget, you can choose ‘Accelerated’ to get more data faster.
- Locations and languages – Choose the ones you are targeting.
- Frequency capping – Don’t annoy users by showing them your ad over and over again. Keep it at 1 to show a user one of your ads per day.
If you ignore the campaign settings for your first YouTube ad you can ruin a completely good ad campaign, so don’t forget about them.
5. Use interactive video ad features.
With TrueView video ads you can reach your ideal audience and increase brand awareness, but you can also increase engagement and drive more traffic and sales too. You can add interactive video ad features to TrueView video ads to convince users to take your desired action instead of only watching your ad.
Some ways to make your YouTube ad interactive are:
- Cards
- End screens
- TrueView for action campaigns
- Shopping cards
- Auto end screens
With these features you can add call-to-actions within your video to encourage viewers to click to visit your website, download your app, watch more of your videos, connect users to their shopping carts, and more. Having viewers enjoy your ad and be more aware of your business is one thing, but getting more traffic, downloads, or sales is another thing altogether.
Creating your first YouTube ad might have seemed daunting before, but it doesn’t have to be anymore. Now with these actionable tips for creating your first YouTube ad, you’ll be able to connect with a ton of new consumers in the place on the web that they love most. Then you can turn those video-lovers into loyal customers of your business.