YouTube for Action: What It Is and How to Get Started
If you’re looking for ways to drive leads and conversions with your video advertising, look no further than YouTube for action. In this article, we’ll dive into the three components of YouTube for action and share some tips for getting started.
"YouTube for action is a combination of YouTube features that allow you to focus on driving conversions," according to a Google Ads Tutorial. These features include a video ad format called TrueView for action that makes it easy for your customers to take action, intent-based audiences to make it easy for you to target the right people, and improvements to YouTube measurement.
For related education, check out our YouTube Marketing 101 Guide and 21 YouTube Video Ideas.
TrueView for action
TrueView for action is the video ad component of YouTube for action. These ad types are designed to drive leads and conversions through the addition of prominent calls to action and headline text overlays. These ads work best when paired with custom intent audiences who have searched for specific terms related to your business. Here's an illustration from the Google blog:
TrueView for action videos are made up of CTAs (calls-to-action), a headline, and an end screen that encourages viewers to take action after your video ends. These types of campaigns run on the Instream Skippable Ad format, which means that viewers will have the option to skip your video after the first 5 seconds.
While you can post longer videos, we recommend keeping your videos on the shorter side (30 to 45 seconds at most). Remember that viewers are seeing your video while waiting to view content they want to see. So they’ll only be willing to watch for so long before skipping.
Introduce your business and include a clear call to action. Here’s an example, which is also a template that you can use to create your own Trueview for action ad. The template uses YouTube's recommended ABCD formula. You can read more about the ABCD formula on our blog.
You can set up a TrueView for action campaign in the Google Ads manager. Note that these types of campaigns only run with the goals of "Leads" or "Website Traffic."
Check out our guide to Getting Started with TrueView for Action to learn even more about TrueView for action ads and how to get started.
Intent-based and remarketing audiences
One of the reasons that TrueView for action campaigns work so well is because of YouTube’s intent-based and remarketing audience types. We've put together a full guide to understanding intent-based audiences in YouTube. But here's a quick rundown:
Intent-based audiences are those that are likely to have high intent to take action based on signals from Google search and across the web. These include people experiencing specific life events or actively considering buying a product or service.
Custom intent audiences are those that are searching for your specific product or service on Google. You can create a custom intent audience based on the relevant keywords they are searching for.
Remarketing audiences are those that have already interacted with your business. They may have visited your website, engaged with your YouTube videos, or shared their contact information with you.
Putting a TrueView for action ad with the right message in front of the right audience can be an effective way to drive the action you crave. Check out the Google Ads tutorial below to learn more.
YouTube for Action Measurement
The third element in the trifecta that is YouTube for Action is measurement! Conversion tracking is an important and essential part of TrueView for action campaigns. To get started, you’ll need to set up conversion tracking using Google site wide tagging. You can read more about that here.
When setting up your campaign, you’ll want to make sure you’ve indicated your most important conversion action so that Google’s bidding algorithm can optimize towards that action.
We’ll be diving in deeper to YouTube measurement in an upcoming blog post. But, for now, you can learn more about how to set yourself up for proper conversion tracking in the following Google Ads tutorial.
Getting Started with YouTube video creation
If you're interested in getting started with YouTube for action, you'll need a video. That's where we come in! An Animoto subscription gives you everything you need to drag and drop your way to powerful and professional marketing videos.
With customizable video templates, including a collection designed specifically for YouTube ads, you can create your own videos in minutes. With over a decade in the industry and a partnership with YouTube Animoto is used by more than 1 million businesses worldwide.
Try it for free today or learn more about using Animoto for YouTube videos. Happy video making!