advertising Archives - Bee Digital

Don’t just make Facebook ads – create YouTube ads too!

Ant Smith — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 08:06:59 +0000

Why are paid ads on Facebook the go-to for marketers?

Well, with Facebook advertising, you can reach your exact audience.

This is a big benefit – huge – that makes Facebook advertising one of the most targeted ways for businesses to engage with an audience they know.

You can target specific locations, ages, interests, behaviours and more,

Here are some Facebook Revenue and Usage Statistics (2020) courtesy of Business of Apps that would explain why:

2.45 billion monthly active Facebook users registered as of Q3 2019 – making it the world’s biggest social media platform
90 million business pages are on Facebook
140 million businesses use Facebook every month
65% of users use their account to view photos, 57% to share content with users’ networks, and 46% to watch videos

So, why do something else, you ask?

According to Oberlo and ThinkwithGoogle, there are some very good reasons to branch out with YouTube:

2 billion people use YouTube worldwide
62% of businesses use YouTube as a channel to post video content
1 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube every day
90% of people say they discover new products or services on YouTube
Almost 8/10 marketers consider YouTube to be the most effective video marketing platform

So, the real question should be: is relying on Facebook enough?

4 Reasons why you should YouTube it too…

Emotional and creative connections

There are so many ways you can be creative and provoke an emotional connection with video.

Think about how emotional you get with the John Lewis Christmas advert and any Pixar movie.

This can be achieved through animation or real-life shots/images with happy people using your product (or something related to it, like a laptop or mobile device), an actor/ spokesperson with an engaging voice, and the soundtrack.

All of these elements combined will elicit emotions to simulate the end-user experience. Plus, the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text.

Easy to reach your target audience

You can target audiences based on gender, age, location, interests, and more – just like Facebook.

Video ads can be targeted to reach:

Affinity audiences (people with a strong interest in topics related to your product or service to promote brand awareness),
Custom affinity audiences (audiences tailored more to your brand)
In-market audiences (people searching for and actively considering buying a product or service like yours)

You can also target using relevant keywords, topics and placements – the latter being YouTube channels for your ad to appear at the beginning to reach that audience too.

Retargeting and remarketing opportunities

By connecting your YouTube account to your Google Ads account, you can retarget people who have subscribed to your channel or seen/ liked/ engaged with your videos or ads.

Because of their active interest, you can easily set up remarketing campaigns with personalised content and ads to drive conversions.

Make your campaign mobile-friendly

Optimise your pages for mobile use because more than 70% of YouTube watch times come from mobile devices.

Google prioritises paid ads with links that have been optimised for mobile use too.

With Google Ads, you can also target users who view your ad via mobile devices to improve engagement metrics like conversions, with a bidding strategy in place.

3 Tips to get started with video adverts

We get that not everyone has the knowledge or expertise when it comes to creating a video ad.

What makes the most engaging ad? Here’s how to get those creative juices flowing…

Write a script → Start by brainstorming ideas with the campaign in mind. Who is the audience? What do you want the viewer to do? What is the campaign message? With these answers, you can write a short script. Depending on your ad type (skippable or non-skippable), your ad should ideally be 15-20-seconds… if you think about an average person’s attention span. If you’re including a spokesperson or voice-over – read it aloud and time yourself to gauge an accurate length. Remember those emotive words for ad headlines and any words in your script.
Outsource creators and consultants → If you don’t have an in-house video animator – you can find a freelancer to suit your budget from sites like Fiverr or Upwork. Simply provide them with your specifications, script, assets (images, links, audio, etc.) and NDA, then agree to a deadline. Consider outsourcing consultants who specialise in social media marketing to help get you started too.
Upload and link to Google Ads → When your video is ready, upload it to your YouTube channel (not got one? It’s easy to set up). Think about your video headline, description and tags – these will help you to rank higher for SEO. Then it’s simple to link to your Google Ads account to manage your YouTube campaign. Don’t forget to UTM any links so you can track clicks via Google Analytics Goals.

YouTube ads are an investment…

As a rule of thumb, it takes 3-6 months to see the benefits of video campaigns… which is great for building your brand or product awareness.

Isn’t that a long time to wait for results compared to Facebook ads?

It might sound that way at first… but if you have a new YouTube account or product/ service, you’ll need this time to establish yourself with a YouTube audience.

This means including video ad campaigns at the start of your campaign strategy, which lets you monitor your metrics for longer, tweak bidding strategies based on weekly audits, and optimise your ad’s performance.

This timeframe also allows you ample time to craft a remarketing campaign, as well as create shorter ‘teaser’ ads you can release later on along your strategy timeline, with messaging and CTAs that are designed to drive conversions.

Another key thing to consider is: what are your competitors doing?

If they’re not using YouTube ads in their social media strategy, there are up to 2 billion YouTube users watching 8 billion hours of video per day, with 90% discovering new products to set yours apart from businesses who are doing the same old, same old.

With the impact of COVID-19, MarketingWeek advises brands need to “change their media, messaging and touchpoints to ensure they are reaching consumers with communications they are most interested in.

Marketers should look at how budgets can be spent most effectively to maintain a presence and key brand metrics if your ad spend does need to be reduced.

The post Don’t just make Facebook ads – create YouTube ads too! appeared first on Bee Digital.

7 Merry Marketing Tips to Unwrap Before You Wrap-Up for Christmas

Ant Smith — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 09:00:48 +0000

Antony Smith, Bee Digital

The most wonderful time of year is upon us, with all the festive feelings in the air that couldn’t come at a better time for most of us, right? For some, it means staying in your bubble and Zooming around a virtual tree or dinner table. For others, it’s adjusting to the new Tier 4 lockdown rules we found out about at the last minute over the weekend.

No matter what situation you’re in, before you head off to make those last-minute online shopping purchases and shut up shop for Christmas, why not spread some much-needed cheer ahead of the New Year with these 7 Merry Marketing Tips?

Give your ads festive flair → From organic posts to PPC campaigns – add some fun and festive images or animation to your ads to stand out on those social channels. This can easily be done with free design platforms like Canva or Crello, simply by choosing colourful backgrounds, catchy fonts, photos and cartoons to engage your audience – whether it’s for an ad with a static image, a GIF or as a short MP4.
Create a Merry Instagram story → According to Instagram, 1 billion+ Instagram accounts worldwide are active every single month, 90% of accounts follow a business, and 500 million+ accounts use Instagram Stories every day. This in from Hubspot: “Whether publishers are trying to grow brand awareness, grow traffic to videos or newsletter outside of Instagram, or share sponsored content, publishers are flocking to Instagram to publish fun disappearing content that infuses brand voice and personality without taking up too much of the average techie’s dwindling attention span.” Share your MP4 ad as an Instagram story too!
Run a seasonal promo → Got a promotion or giveaway for Christmas? Create a limited seasonal campaign, incorporating your ads with a festive flair above. You might consider adding e-gift cards/ promo codes to your Christmas sales or throwing in a ‘mystery present’ to email your customers, so they have your brand in mind over Christmas and when they’re starting to think about their New Year strategy.
Send out Christmas-themed emails → It doesn’t even have to be a salesy email – just a nice, stand-alone message that isn’t intended to convert. Instead, send an email acknowledging how your customer deserves a break to relax and enjoy the holiday season after a very unique and challenging 9 months. Add an emoji to the subject line and throw in a GIF of your own (or even a fun one you’ve found that you can share) to show how your brand – and as a human behind your brand – genuinely cares.
Get remarketing to your online shoppers → Now is the time to launch remarketing ads. Why? Your customers will be online searching for Christmas gifts or holiday deals, so you can grab their attention when they are in the frame of mind to shop. From Black Friday sales to other promotions your ad is competing with – your audience are likely to need a nice little nudge to remind them about your offer.
Personalise messages to your segmented audience → Whether it be emails or ads, make sure they have that personal touch. For emails – which subject lines have performed better? Which campaigns have had the highest level of opens and clicks? With ads, what interests does your target audience have? Who are your lookalike audiences? With a customer persona you’ve discovered from Facebook, Google Ads and email data, personalise your message to highlight the interests and pain-points of your customers to ramp-up those conversions by building brand loyalty at the same time.
Make videos for the holidays → What do we love to watch over Christmas? Christmas movies! At Bee Digital, our favourites are Home Alone, Love Actually and It’s A Wonderful Life. You can’t go wrong with a classic… so take inspiration from them and create your own. If you have an in-house designer to produce one – what are you waiting for? Otherwise, reach out to animators and video creators who can turn one around quickly from Fiverr, Upwork, the Freelance Video Collective or others. You can always involve your colleagues to film a sketch or short message to give customers and prospects a fun and unique insight into your company. All you need is a phone or simply hit the record button on your Zoom call!

Not got time to wrap-up 2020 with our top Merry Marketing tips? It’s a good thing this wonderful time of the year takes place every year. Save this list for next December and go full-out festive!

Wait…

We’ve got one more tip we want to share with you.

That’s right, it’s an EXTRA TIP…

Start greasing the New Year wheels → Think about your New Year campaign and start creating email series, plus cold and retargeting ads that are ready to launch at the very beginning of January. Don’t forget to utilise TOFU with top-of-the-funnel blogs, newsletters – and even your retargeting ads – to get your audience eager and excited.

We get that this December will be a time for reflection. But more importantly, it’s a time to look forward to how you’re going to take on the challenge of what 2021 may bring.

From all of us at Bee Digital, we wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and stay safe!

The post 7 Merry Marketing Tips to Unwrap Before You Wrap-Up for Christmas appeared first on Bee Digital.