YouTube just launched new AI tools for advertisers. ‘Spotlight Moments’ uses AI to identify popular YouTube videos related to a specific cultural moment, like Halloween.
How does it work? According to YouTube, “Spotlight Moments enables the advertiser to seamlessly serve ads across Halloween-related content on YouTube and curates them into dynamically-updated playlists that will live on the sponsored hub.”
Sounds promising. If this new feature has left you wondering whether advertising on YouTube is a good move for your business, we’re one step ahead of you. Let’s get statistical. 🤓
According to a recent post from Google, “Compared to traditional social sites, online users are 61% more likely to use YouTube or Google to research products/brands, and 67% more likely to buy a product after seeing it in an ad on YouTube.”
Take this information with a grain of salt. Before launching an ad campaign, be sure to evaluate whether or not your target audience is on Google. This will help you determine if devoting an ad budget to YouTube is worth it. Will YouTube ads bring you ROI? Or will you just get a lot of meaningless clicks?
- The largest advertising audience (20.2%) on YouTube was between 25 and 34.
- The second largest ad group in 2022 was aged 35-44 (15.5%).
- 48.6% of YouTube users in the US are male.
- 51.4% of YouTube users in the US are female.
- 11.9% of YouTube’s global audience consists of males between the ages 25-34
- 8.8% of YouTube’s global audience consists of females between the ages 25-34.
What ad types are most effective?
Pre-roll ads (ie. ads that play before a video starts) that are focused on intent are the most effective, as found in a survey of marketing professionals.
If, with all that newfound information in your noggin, you’re ready to get started advertising on YouTube, here are a couple of helpful resources.
- Sprout Social has a complete guide for brands on YouTube marketing.
- Hubspot has a great technical article outlining YouTube ad specs.
Okay, but…what about advertising on other social media platforms?
Great question. Advertising on other social media platforms should certainly be considered. According to Salesforce, 59% have used social media to purchase something (up from 51% in 2021).
What’s more, according to LinkedIn, “In 2023, the US is expected to record $68.92 billion in social commerce sales, a rise of 29.8% from 2022. This surge will comprise 5.9% of the country’s total e-commerce sales. 2026 social commerce could account for 7.2% of all US e-commerce sales.”
In a forecast from Insider Intelligence, these will be the top platforms for social commerce in 2024:
- Facebook (64.6 million)
- Instagram (46.8 million)
- TikTok (40.7 million)
TLDR: If your business has an ad budget, advertising on social media is probably a good idea.
…But say you don’t have an ad budget.
Should you post organically on social media?
We’ll let Tim Stoddart, the CEO of Stodzy Internet Marketing, answer that question. He recently shared great organic social media insights at the Creator Economy Expo.
Not only did he caution that the impact of X (er—Twitter) began diminishing significantly in the spring, but that “LinkedIn continues to get better and Instagram is worth doing.”
Facebook, however, is “worthless except for running ads, and TikTok is toxic. If creators want a dopamine hit, YouTube Shorts can bring big reactions but not necessarily a big email list.”
For more information on the subject, Buffer just shared the top social media sites your brand should consider for the remainder of this year and into next.
