Key Steps to Build Your Content Plan
When it comes to reaching your audience, you know what’s worked in the past. Now you need to translate your approach so that it applies to your YouTube strategy. Here are some key steps to help you find a content plan that works for you.
Define Your Brand Territory
With 400 hours of new content uploaded to YouTube every minute,1 how can you be sure viewers will want to watch yours? Start by choosing a territory in which you can win. For example, are you going to make quirky practice videos to drive awareness, utility-based how-to videos to educate patients, or are you going to create that big “whoa” moment to get people buzzing and sharing?
Ask yourself what your practice brand stands for—what are the passions that will drive its success? At the same time, ask yourself what your clients care about in their daily lives. Find the point where your brand’s passions overlap with your audience’s concerns. At that intersection lies something unique you can bring your fans to earn their loyalty.
The following tools can help you understand what your patients care about. What videos do they watch? How active are they on social networks? How do they use their mobile devices?
See what videos are trending on YouTube.
See how your audience is reacting to—and interacting with—your videos.
Explore Google data, insights, and perspectives for marketers.
Look beyond impressions and views to understand the direct impact your YouTube ads have on perceptions and behaviors throughout the patient journey.
Learn what people really think about your brand.
At the same time you’re getting to know your audience, do some research on your competitors. Not just your usual competitors, but anyone providing users with content in eye care. Visit their YouTube channels to get a sense of their video styles, formats and tones.
See what they’re doing. Has anything they’ve done really resonated with their audience? (are they getting views or subscribers?)
Learn from what they’re doing right. Where are there opportunities for your practice?
Now that you’re on the path to making great videos, how are you defining success? Is it about user engagement? Views?
Imagine that you just produced the video of your dreams. What does the PR headline announcing your tremendous success say? Try writing out your PR headline in one or two sentences.
Track related metrics before, during and after the video release to see if your video moved the needle. See Measurement and Insights for examples of key metrics.
Build awareness
Will people be able to recall and recognize your logo, product, service or practice name & location after watching the video?
Influence consideration
Will people consider buying what you’re selling or booking an appointment after watching the video?
Drive sales
Will people be more likely to visit your website or e-store to buy your product after watching the video?
Grow loyalty
Will people be more likely to recommend your practice, product or service after watching the video?
Consider the Customer Need
Understanding the needs of your patients will help drive the type of content you create, the tone of your messaging, and the experiences you offer. Once you have a sense of the journey your customers are on, it will be easier to figure out what kinds of videos they’d most appreciate. The organizing principle called ICE—Information, Connection, Entertainment—lets you think about the role your videos will play in a customer’s daily life.
Information
People watch these videos for the latest updates, self-improvement, how-to instructions and decision-making help.
Connection
People watch these videos to share with other users, to bond with their communities and to react to friends’ suggestions.
Entertainment
People watch these videos to get inspired, laugh, relax, be nostalgic, learn and relieve boredom.
Each model in the 500 family has its own target audience, so FIAT France created its version of a media laboratory to better understand and identify the users who watched its YouTube ad. Understanding the ad’s impact helped FIAT France shape its full media campaign. Learn more on Think with Google: FIAT’s 500X Crossover Ad Drives Audience Engagement on YouTube
Understand the Resources Required
Be critical about what you want to achieve and what it takes to achieve it. You might want to create high-quality daily programming—or attention-getting “whoa” moments around massive cultural events—but without production experts and a big budget that’s going to be difficult.
Consider the resources you DO have. What kind of content is sustainable for you?
One-off videos
These can be as short as six-second bumper ads. Get in, get your message across with a quick impactful hit.
Longer form video
Take as long as you want to tell your brand story. Experiment with long format video content.
Series
Can you deliver information in a way that keeps people coming back for more?
Always-on channel
You’ve got the resources to release videos in different formats and styles. Tentpole campaigns live alongside year-round content.
Comedy Central answered fans’ questions about Trevor Noah and drummed up interest in the Daily Show host with an innovative campaign that combined search ads and YouTube videos. The results? 38M impressions leading to 2.8M views, and on average those viewers watched more than 85% of each video.4 Learn more on Think with Google: Comedy Central’s Innovative Search/YouTube Strategy Sends Fans on an Internet-Wide Easter Egg Hunt
Takeaways
- Use insight tools such as YouTube Trends and Google Surveys to learn what your patients care about so you can create the videos they’ll want to watch.
- Define your business objective—do you want your videos to build awareness, influence consideration, drive sales, and/or grow loyalty?
- Think about the role your video will bring to a consumer’s life. Will it entertain, inform, or spark a connection?
- Understanding your resources will help you plan content that’s sustainable over time.
Resource: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/features/youtube-playbook/topic/advertising-strategy/