Adsmurai 
With more than 2.5 billion monthly active users worldwide and 30 million active users every day, YouTube is one of the most visited sites in the world with a cross-target of 18-44-year-olds. Daily consumption on the platform is over 100 million hours of video and about 500 hours of content is uploaded every minute. Among others, these data have made YouTube one of the best platforms for video marketing strategies.
Why your business should use YouTube in its digital marketing strategy?
The consumption of audiovisual content is booming, the new lifestyle is frenetic and users are looking to be entertained and informed in a quick and easy way. That's why videos are a very effective resource that your company cannot ignore in the online environment that surrounds today's society.
This is the list of reasons why at Adsmurai we believe that your digital marketing strategy should take YouTube into account:
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SEO positioning. The content you publish on YouTube is positioned in Google and gives your brand more presence in the search engine. In fact, in some searches, the first page of Google shows a large amount of videos and the search engine itself allows searches exclusively for video content. Extra tip: Do you want your content to be shown in an optimized way? Don't miss this article with video snippets recommendations to improve your positioning in Google searches.
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Increase in display time. They are a type of content that retains the user, increasing the time of visualization and reducing the bounce rate.
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Engagement. Videos capture the user's attention, are easier to remember and to share (viralize) than textual content.
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Multiple screen. M-commerce or mobile commerce is one of the main trends of 2021, so having content that adapts to smart technology such as video is basic to your marketing strategies.
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Redirectable. It is a content that allows the user to link directly to the direct point for shopping the product. This allows you to redirect your company's traffic.
Ads in YouTube
Recently, the Terms and Conditions of Service have been modified increasing advertising spaces on YouTube. Ads may appear in any video on the platform regardless of the type of user who has uploaded the content.
This will allow brands to target much more specific audiences, relating the product or service of the ad to the content of the video, making YouTube Ads campaigns and video marketing strategy in general much more efficient.
These are the YouTube advertising formats (official information from Google), see here the specifications and platforms available in each case:
YouTube Advertising Formats
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Display ads: Appears to the right of the feature video and above the video suggestions list. For larger players, this ad may appear below the player.
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Overlay ads: Semi-transparent overlay ads that appear on the lower 20% portion of your video.
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Skippable video ads: Skippable video ads allow viewers to skip ads after 5 seconds. Inserted before, during, or after the main video. If you turn on this option, you may see a combination of skippable and bumper ads play back to back.
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Non-skippable video ads: Non-skippable video ads must be watched before your video can be viewed. These ads can appear before, during, or after the main video.
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Bumper ads: Non-skippable video ads of up to 6 seconds that must be watched before your video can be viewed. If you turn on this option, you may see a combination of skippable and bumper ads play back to back. This type of ad is usually accompanied by a companion banner, a clickable thumbnail image that offers continuous presence of the brand after the video is over.
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Sponsored cards: Sponsored cards display content that may be relevant to your video, such as products featured in the video. Viewers will see a teaser for the card for a few seconds. They can also click the icon in the top-right corner of the video to browse the cards.
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In-feed Video Ads: Type of advertising that is integrated within the organic content feed. Its aim is to capture the user's attention in a natural way, blending in with the content they are consuming, rather than interrupting it abruptly.
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Video Action Campaigns: A type of YouTube advertising campaign that allows you to drive specific actions from viewers, such as visiting your website, making a purchase or signing up for more information.
Unlike Video View Campaigns (VVCs), which focus on maximising views of your videos, VACs prioritise generating conversions. -
YouTube Masthead: These are large ads that sit at the top of the YouTube homepage for 24 hours.
They offer high visibility and are ideal for launch or high-impact campaigns. -
Video Reach Campaigns: Video Reach Campaigns are a type of advertising campaign designed to expand the reach of your YouTube videos and increase brand awareness.
Unlike Video View Campaigns (VVC), which focus on maximising views, VRCs prioritise reaching a broad and diverse audience. -
Connected TV: Refers to the feature that allows you to watch YouTube videos on smart TVs, media players and other internet-connected devices.
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YouTube Shorts: A feature within the YouTube application dedicated to the creation and consumption of short, vertical videos.
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Video Discovery: They appear in users' home feeds and search results.
They function as video recommendations and can include a thumbnail image, title and description. -
Video View Campaigns: These are a type of advertising campaign specifically designed to increase the views of your YouTube videos.
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Video Customization in Ads Creative Studio (formerly Director Mix): Allows you to create custom video ads on a large scale. This means you can create a single base video and then swap out different elements to tailor the content to specific audiences.
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Dynamic lineups (powered by advanced contextual targeting): Relatively new targeting option for video advertising campaigns. They rely on machine learning to help advertisers reach highly relevant audiences.
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YouTube Select: Tool for advertisers looking to place ads on popular and relevant YouTube channels.
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Audio Ads: These are a relatively new advertising format on the platform. They allow advertisers to reach their target audience with audio-only ads on YouTube.
This new ad format is composed of a still image or a simple animation, accompanied by an audio recording where the actual communication takes place.
Case Study: Maximizing results through Video Action Campaigns on YouTube
The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) achieved remarkable success with its digital marketing strategy on YouTube, increasing its CTR by 21% and reducing its CPL by 82%. The UOC faced the challenge of increasing its presence on YouTube and obtaining high quality leads. To address this challenge, tests were conducted using YouTube for Action in both portrait and landscape formats, segmented by device. The final solution combined both formats into a single optimised campaign, resulting in a 60% increase in conversion rate and a significant improvement in the overall performance of the video campaigns, highlighting the effectiveness of a well-planned and optimised strategy.
YouTube is an essential platform for digital marketing due to its huge audience. It offers a wide range of ad formats that optimise SEO, increase viewing time and improve engagement. Recent changes that allow more ads on any video and the ability to target specific audiences make YouTube ideal for video marketing strategies, helping businesses stand out in the competitive digital environment.