Avoid These 4 Mistakes With YouTube advertising

Anyone that has remotely gotten their feet wet in this marketing game, knows that multi-media (specifically video) is where the gold is hidden.  Take YouTube for example. The video sharing site claims that more than 4 billion videos are viewed each and every day.  Making their reach even larger than Facebook’s.

Why YouTube Ads Are A Great Opportunity:

• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more than last year
• 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube is localized in 56 countries and across 61 languages
• According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network
• Millions of subscriptions happen each day, and the number of people subscribing has more than doubled since last year
• Mobile makes up more than 25% of YouTube’s global watch time, more than one billion views a day

(source YouTube Statistics)

There are tons of opportunities there to not only grow your brand and generating sales, however it seems that most people make the same mistakes over and over again when they dip their toe in the YouTube ad pool.  

Here are 4 mistakes that should be avoided when running YouTube advertising.

1. Lazy Targeting

So you have set up your own in-stream ads, you push the magical “start campaign” button and you wait but nothing happens.  Your analytics show some crazy amount of “skips” (people saw your ad but chose to skip it).  And worse yet, you aren’t getting any results – well not the ones that you wanted.  

The skips are usual a result of ads that aren’t targeted to the audience that is viewing them.  If the ad that is being displayed is of no interest to the viewer then they are most likely going to “skip” to get ahead to the content that they actually want to see.  

There is an abundance of targeting opportunities available to you via YouTube’s ad campaign portal.  Don’t be afraid to experiment with the different demographics and filters.  Split test the heck out of them. You can always go back and tweak them once the traffic starts to flow.  

2.  Don’t ignore display-ads

Display-ads as well as overlay-ads are the images or banners that appear to the right and/or bottom of the video.  The display-ad is a static 300×250 or 300×60 banner while the overlay-ad is a 480×70 flash or text banner that appears as a semi transparent overlay on the lower 20% of the video.  

Both of these options are significantly easier to get up and running, which can be super helpful for those new to YouTube advertising.  They also aren’t required to be redirected to an Adwords-compliant landing page like the in-stream ads are.  

3.  Don’t throw in the towel so fast

Unlike some other avenues of internet marketing, YouTube ads do tend to take a little longer to see results, so be patient.  

If you don’t see that you’re getting the right amount of traction with your ads then switch stuff up.  Change your demographics, banner creative, or copy.  You know … split test?  What a novel idea!

4.  Your message isn’t relevant or off

Attention spans are extremely short these days, so you need to make a positive impact and fast for the viewer to decline that “skip” option for in-stream ads.  Let’s face it YouTube is just another form of interruption messaging.  You are taking the viewer away from what they are doing in the hopes of them watching/viewing your ad.  

Your YouTube statistics will help you to make certain that your message is right for your ads.  A high number of skips coupled with a low click through rate and quick drop off times are all signs that the message you are conveying isn’t sticking with your targeting audience.

What techniques are you using in your YouTube ad campaigns? We would love to hear what is working for you or what isn’t in the comments below.