Educate, Inform and Entertain with YouTube
Every day, the average consumer sees an overwhelming number of advertising messaging. This appears in multiple places, in numerous forms, and for a variety of reasons. The usage stats remain staggering! YouTube users consume 1 billion hours of video daily, or approximately 5 billion videos per day (DemandSage, 2023). YouTube offers a wealth of content that is easily accessible, entertaining, educational, and social. And Forbes reports that videos are shared 1200% more than text and links combined.
ENTERTAINMENT
YouTube offers a vast array of entertaining content such as music, videos, comedy sketches, TV shows, and movies.
LEARNING AND EDUCATION
YouTube is a platform for people to learn new skills, whether it’s cooking, makeup, programming, do-it-yourself projects, or anything else. There are plenty of educational channels offering high quality and informative content.
SOCIAL CONNECTION
YouTube provides a means to connect with others who share interests. Viewers can comment on videos, share with friends, and interact with content creators.
CONVENIENCE
YouTube is accessible from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, and viewers can watch videos at their own pace, on their own schedule.
VARIETY
With millions of videos available on YouTube, there is something for everyone. Whether you’re looking for news, sports highlights, cartoons, or cute animal videos, YouTube has it all.
How This Relates To Your Media Strategy
Almost anyone can be reached on YouTube. Companies wisely continue to use YouTube as part of their media strategy to build brand awareness, reach new customers, and engage with existing customers. In this digital strategist’s opinion, if a company can make video content that is relevant, entertaining, educational, convenient but impactful, thought provoking, etc. and have it featured on a platform that is heavily utilized, it can only help them effectively reach their clientele, and achieving marketing goals.
There are many advantages to incorporating this platform as an element in an overall strategy to tackle specific marketing objectives.
REACH
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and has over 2 billion monthly active users. Companies use this vast user base to target specific audiences that are more apt to absorb the messaging because the user is spending their time how they want, relaxed, and open to additional content.
ENGAGEMENT
YouTube users are highly engaged with the platform and spend an average of 40 minutes per session watching videos. This high level of engagement means that companies have a better chance of capturing the attention of their targeted audience.
TARGETING
YouTube offers a range of targeting options that allow companies to reach specific groups of people based on demographics, behavior, and affinity interests. This allows a company to show their message to the ‘right’ people at the ‘right’ time.
COST EFFECTIVE
Compared to traditional advertising methods such as TV and radio, YouTube advertising is often cost-effective, especially when allowed to set their own budget or only paying when ads are actually viewed by the user.
ANALYTICS
YouTube provides detailed analytics that allow companies to track the performance of their ads and make adjustments when necessary to improve effectiveness. This information can include completed versus partial views (sometimes even in quartiles), engagements, and conversions, which can help companies always refine their efforts to optimize their campaigns for even better results.
We Can Help
Our firm has been a YouTube partner for many years, running numerous campaigns for a variety of clients. We offer various solutions within the platform, hopefully having something for ‘everyone’ that addresses their needs.
TRAVEL/ATTRACTION
YouTube is a consistent messaging tactic utilized by an Ohio museum to create awareness and drive ticket sales for upcoming exhibits. They consistently see completed view rates averaging 63.21%. They saw higher completed view rates at 70.90% with a 15 second video, compared to 58.24% completed view rate with a 30 second video.
NONPROFIT
A non-profit organization who focuses on the lower income populations utilizes YouTube to drive registration for early childhood education and childcare campaigns. They experienced completed view rates at 55.71%, again benefitting from YouTube’s ability to target specific audiences combined with Advance Local’s digital expertise.
HEALTHCARE
A major hospital institution utilizes YouTube to drive prospective employees to submit an application for employment, seeing a 66% completed view rate.
While completed view rates alone are telling, the downstream effect of using this solution to drive improved awareness, educate your clientele, and generate goodwill for your brand is clear. As the second largest search engine in the world with 2 billion monthly active users, your company can use this channel to target specific audiences more apt to absorb the messaging. Consider how YouTube can add lift to your already successful digital strategy.
Contributed By Nancy Spicuzza, Senior Account Executive
