YouTube has nearly 2 billion active subscribers, meaning you have the capacity to reach a vast audience. However, within these 2 billion people, there are smaller groups of very specific audiences, such as those searching for six-pack abs or how to grow their business. This is what makes YouTube a powerful platform as it focuses on the search intent of the audience, giving it a unique angle that’s different from other advertising platforms.
In 2023, there have been significant changes in targeting on YouTube that you need to know about. YouTube has removed the content type of targeting, such as placements, topics, or keywords inside a campaign around a goal. This means you have to create a new campaign with no goal specified, which is not optimized for anything. You have to put more trust into YouTube, so they can leverage their machine learning. So, what should you do? Don’t worry, there are still plenty of amazing targeting methods that you can use.
Remarketing
Remarketing is an effective way to target people who have visited your website or viewed your specific videos on your YouTube channel. These people are considered a warm audience, meaning they already know, like, and trust you. Showing them targeted and relevant videos is an excellent way to engage them. When you start a new campaign, make sure to have a remarketing campaign set up targeting people’s website visitors and YouTube viewers and subscribers.
In-Market Interest
In-market interest targeting is a great way to target people who are looking for specific products or services. For example, if you sell health supplements, and a person has been looking up websites around health supplements and then comes to YouTube, YouTube will show your ad related to health supplements to this person. They are in the market for specific types of products or services, and this is what makes in-market interest targeting so effective.
Custom Intent Audiences
Custom intent audiences is a relatively new way of targeting that allows you to use custom intent keywords. These keywords are what people are searching for on Google. When they search for specific keywords on Google, they will see ads related to those keywords when they come to YouTube. This is an excellent way to target people who are searching for specific products or services.
Life Events
Life events targeting is a great way to reach people who are going through significant life changes. For example, if you are a wedding planner, you can target people who are getting married or recently got married. If you sell pet products, you can target people who recently purchased a pet or a dog. This targeting works well depending on the industry that you’re in and the product you’re selling.
YouTube is an effective advertising platform that allows you to reach your target audience. By using the right targeting methods, you can create effective ad campaigns that engage and convert your audience. While the changes in targeting may be a little daunting, they are necessary for YouTube to leverage its machine learning and ensure that your ads are shown to the right people. By focusing on remarketing, in-market interest, custom intent audiences, and life events targeting, you can create effective ad campaigns that reach your exact audience.
If YouTube ads is something you or your business are interested in but not sure where to take that initial first steps then you will want to check out our 2023 YouTube Incubator program.
We spend 3 days taking you from writing your video ad script, shooting your video ad, researching your perfect audience to launching your YouTube campaign.
