We all know that video content is king. Video marketing holds consumer attention and allows you to deliver a more pointed message. That said, social media platforms are all shifting their algorithms to reward original video content. The CEO of Instagram even recently came out and said, “we are no longer a ‘square photo’ platform, we are now a ‘vertical video’ platform.”
The smart agents have already shifted their marketing strategy to be video first. But, while we spend THOUSANDS throughout the year on video production, we only spend a minuscule percentage of that on video distribution. Boosting videos on Facebook and Instagram is one way to attack your distribution, but YouTube is still the #1 video website in the world, and that’s why we’re going to spend some time on it here.
Why YouTube?
YouTube is the #2 trafficked website in the world, and is owned by Google (the #1 trafficked website in the world). Which is why you NEED to have a presence on YouTube. Consistent YouTube advertising helps you establish a brand identity and set yourself up as the local authority in your target market. Also, because of the geographic targeting capabilities, you can dial in your targeted audience to a much smaller locale than Facebook.
How?
To advertise your videos on YouTube, you’ll need to have both a YouTube account and a Google Ads account. Once both are set up, you can link them together and get started.
Next, upload your videos to YouTube to populate your channel. If you have a library of videos that you’ve been using on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., you can repurpose them on YouTube. Spend some time setting up playlists and title cards to link your videos within each other. But on this blog, we are going to focus on “pre-roll” ads.
What Is A “Pre-Roll” Ad?
A pre-roll ad is just a commercial on YouTube. You know when you’re trying to watch a funny video that your friend sent you, but you have to watch a 0:15 second video first? That’s a pre-roll ad. Also known as True View ads, these ads can either run before or during another YouTube video. The best part is that you can easily have YOUR awesome real estate videos become one of these commercials. Bonus, they’re EXTREMELY cheap.
Ok, So Really… HOW?!
Once you have your videos uploaded (or at least the one that you want to promote), you can go back to Google Ads and CREATE A CAMPAIGN. The next step is to select your campaign goal, we suggest PRODUCT AND BRAND CONSIDERATION. Then, for a campaign subtype, we suggest INFLUENCE CONSIDERATION.
Couple of notes as you’re setting up your campaign:
- For time sensitive videos (like listing promotions or market updates), I would set an end date. For evergreen content (like client testimonials or educational videos), you can just let them run.
- I tend to unselect “YouTube video partners” and the “Display Network,” and only show my videos on YouTube.
- I make sure to run my ads to consumers in English. If you are planning to run foreign language ads, make sure to select the foreign language INSTEAD of English.
How To Choose An Audience
There are a lot of ways to go about this. The easiest way is to just select your city, or targeted area, and then let the ads run.
Pro-tip: Make sure that you have a compelling call-to-action on your video campaign. Lead them back to your website or a custom landing page.
