Many people think of YouTube as a place to watch cat videos and post clips of their kids singing silly songs. However, marketers should take YouTube as seriously as they do Google.
By many counts, YouTube is the second-largest search engine (behind Google and ahead of Yahoo). In June 2011, ComScore reported that Americans had more than 5.6 billion YouTube viewing sessions per month, with the average visitor frequenting the site 23 times a month at an average of 26 minutes per visit. Reports show that YouTube passed 20 billion video views during October 2011 alone.
YouTube’s millions of visitors do a lot of searches, either by way of Google or the YouTube site itself. Predictably, sophisticated video search is the cornerstone of YouTube’s success.
For marketers, this means you need to think about your video strategy as carefully as you do your paid search strategy. Creating compelling videos and posting them on YouTube is a given — but you also have to get people to watch them. Make sure your videos turn up in search by using YouTube Promoted Video Ads to ensure your videos get found. The ads operate much like Google paid search ads, enabling advertisers to draw attention to videos, gain viewers and channel subscribers, and eventually influence downstream conversions. According to visitors’ search results, Promoted Videos appear either at the top or at the right of the page.
Additionally, with a Promoted Videos account, marketers can add overlays to their videos that link directly to their site, offer a promotion, etc., which will drive traffic to their sites and directly boost sales. Given the prominence of YouTube today, every marketer should consider a Promoted Videos program. Here are a few practical steps to get you started.
