Content targeting is one of the best ways that companies can get a lot more control over. where and when their ads show up on YouTube to the viewers. YouTube content targeting allows companies to select where their advertising videos are going to show up to the viewers – from specific videos to specific channels or keywords. When paired with the content targeting capabilities of Google Ads, companies can either target in a more narrow or broad fashion. For narrow targeting in advertising campaigns, companies can make sure their ad videos show up on specific videos or channels, while with broad targeting, companies can make sure their ad videos show up for specific keywords and topics that the target audience uses.
Content targeting
Before a business can start adding content targeting to its ads on YouTube, it’s important that companies remember that all those content targeting efforts can have a direct effect on their conversion metrics, both positively and negatively. For example, if a company starts adding content targeting to an advertising campaign on the platform that already has the goal to generate more leads or sales for the company, the platform might show the business a warning about the potential performance issues on that campaign. That means companies that want to rely on content targeting in their advertising campaigns on YouTube should only be using this strategy for their advertising campaigns that are aimed at the beginning and middle stages of the buying journey, specifically, brand awareness or consideration stages. When a company does want to reach the audience segment that’s ready to convert, it should be relying on audience targeting to be able to reach members of the audience that are engaged with the company’s content and have shown they intend to make a purchase relatively soon. Additionally, when a business is able to combine different types of content targeting, it can also end up limiting the reach of its advertising campaigns, sometimes significantly, which results in wasted ad spending and poor campaign performance. That’s why if companies want to avoid these types of issues, they’ll have to first test out different types of content targeting strategies to be able to select the best one for their desired goals.
Audience Targeting
Content targeting capabilities are just one of the options that companies can use to reach their target audience on the platform. The Google Ads platform provides businesses with a lot of other audience targeting options that allow companies to show ads to potential consumers based on their purchasing behavior and interests, their demographics, or the way that they’ve interacted with the company’s business website or YouTube channel. To do that, companies first have to upload their customer list to the Google Ads platform and create several targeted audience segments based on all first-party data that the business has previously generated. It’s important that companies remember that the YouTube Ads platform also provides companies with custom audience segments that allow businesses to target audiences based on what they’ve previously searched for on Google. When a company decides to rely on YouTube ads to promote itself and its solutions, it can use content targeting, audience targeting, or both.
