Generating quality leads is essential in any business, and especially e-commerce based businesses. One way to generate more quality leads is through the process of remarketing, and there are a lot of benefits that come with YouTube remarketing, specifically. In case you are not familiar, remarketing is, simply put: the process of storing information about your site visitors so that you are able to tag them and then target them with specific content once they leave your site. As you can imagine, this is beneficial because it allows you the chance to re-engage with them and bring them back to your site because you're sending them personalized ads and content that have a better change of resonating. The goal with generating leads is not only to achieve new site visitors, but to also get them to return over and over again.
According to HubSpot, remarketing is especially important because it provides the opportunity to do several things: Turn your website visitors into leads, increase brand recall, increase branded searches, increase repeat visitor rates and engagement, and increase the effectiveness of your search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing. Fortunately, you can gain all of these benefits through YouTube remarketing as well; you just have to know where to start.
Remarketing for YouTube Basics
So why YouTube? YouTube is the world's second largest search engine with over 1 billion active users each month. The number of users alone goes to show that there is a huge community available to you through this platform, and developing a good strategy for YouTube remarketing can play a huge role in generating quality leads.
How it works. When people search for video content on YouTube, your brand's content may be a top result if you have published content that is relevant to their search. They then have the opportunity to do one of three things: click on your video, subscribe to your channel, or view your in-stream ads (in a best case scenario, they may do all three). In the end, this is a great way to generate more quality leads to help you drive your business growth forward. Sergio Aicardi who works with University and College websites also explained, "Not to mention people really like visual web content, so creating this kind of information about your brand can really hook a wide variety of users that may have never taken interest in searching Google alone. In fact, an EMarketer survey revealed recently that nearly 60% of US Internet users visit YouTube at least once a week."
Remarketing on YouTube allows you to target certain viewers' based on the sharing and overall engagement with your video content. You can remarket to visitors who have:
- Visited your channel
- Subscribed to/unsubscribed from your channel
- Viewed your videos
- Liked/disliked your video
- Commented on your video
- Shared your video
YouTube Remarketing Also Makes for Better Leads
In addition to having a large audience, it also has specific functions as a platform, which allows you to select a highly targeted audience. The platform features allow you to generate a list based on the type of content a viewer generally watches. YouTube is unique as a platform: some of the features offered are either not available with remarketing on Google (or similar search engines), or they are not as strong and specific as they are for the YouTube platform.
Some of the best features of YouTube remarketing include: Brand awareness (ultimately, traditional marketing benefits), better return on investment (ROI), improved SEO, location targeting, longer ad options, and video popularity (and all of the benefits associated with increasing views).
Benefits and Unique Features of YouTube Remarketing
According to a Search Engine Journal article, the key benefits for you to keep in mind about YouTube remarketing include:
- The ability to capture viewers' attention consistently
- Visually demonstrate your product in a short period of time
- The chance to soft sell your product/services in a unique way
- Improve your performance and bid making with analytics
It is clear that remarketing on YouTube has some benefits that are not available on Google or other search platforms. In order to be successful, after creating your ad make sure to consider the unique features that YouTube has to offer:
- Use a variety of targeting methods to reach your audience (i.e, demographics, search keywords and/or interests and topics).
- Make suitable and successful bids with the help of analytics.
- Devise your own strategy to reach the target audience you want.
- Optimize your results by tracking methods.
Creating a Successful YouTube Remarketing Strategy
Of course actually creating a YouTube remarketing strategy is the best way to really understand the benefits and how it works. The best way to get started with YouTube remarketing is by using the new AdWords which includes remarketing capabilities for YouTube. Below is a 4-step checklist for getting started:
Step #1: Link Your AdWords Account to Your YouTube Account.
The fantastic aspect of YouTube remarketing is that you can start directly from your existing AdWords account. First, go to the Campaigns tab and click on "Link YouTube Accounts". Once you link both accounts you will be able to select who are able to choose videos for your remarketing campaign as well as see metrics like view counts, engagement, and more.
Step #2: Create a Video Remarketing List.
After you link your accounts and finalize your preferred settings in AdWords, you next click on Video Remarketing Lists and then create a list. This is where you will be able to decide who you want to remarket to and how long you want to campaign to run. Once this is complete it will serve as your remarketing list.
Step #3: Create a Remarketing Campaign.
Next, you are able to choose a current campaign to edit or create a new remarketing campaign entirely. To select the campaign you wish to choose for Video remarketing, go to "Targets" and click on "Show more criteria". You can click the green +Campaign button to start a new campaign where you will be able to add in even more information including demographics, topics, and more.
This tab will also allow you to learn about other options in addition to demographics, topics, interests, and YouTube search keywords.
Step #4: Create Your Video Ad.
This is the final step, where you will actually create your remarketing ad (note: you will need to have a video either created or selected at this point). Select a video by entering the video URL or choosing directly from your YouTube channel. Additionally, it is important to remember that if your company did not create the video, you need to make sure you have the rights to use it for your own marketing purposes.
After you choose the video, you can create your ad by providing details such as: Headline, Destination URL, Display URL, Description, and Ad name. Be sure to look over all of your ad details, then click "save". Your campaign becomes live shortly, within a couple hours of saving this final step.
The Takeaway
And for one last statistic, Forrester Research found that 96% of people who visit a website leave without actually completing the action that you as the marketer want them to compete (ex: make a purchase, schedule a service, or invest more time reading and exploring the website). With that, remarketing gives you a second chance to achieve the goals that you want to with your website audience. This is, in part because of its large audience of users, and the ability to target certain users that are of interest to you. Not only is it really easy to create an ad, but you can manage this marketing campaign through Google Analytics.
Have you created a remarketing campaign on YouTube? Let us know how your thoughts in the comments section below. We would love to hear about your own experience in lead generation through this marketing strategy!