How Do You Target the Right Audience on YouTube? (Archive, 2021)

Recorded in June 2021 during Simon's s.media agency era — a team compilation. Published as part of a dated historical record.

What's the clearest sign you've got the audience wrong?

No engagement. If your ad is live and nobody carries on watching, you've clearly got the audience wrong — go broader, take more lessons, test and learn where your audience actually is, then channel it down again. If you're targeting the right audience, they'll watch, keep watching, and keep interest.

What do the analytics tell you?

YouTube's analytics tools break down the traffic on your channel and videos, and the insights are key to finding which content works and who's actually watching. Looking at the other videos your audience watches helps you understand what they engage with on the platform — which identifies your niche, so you can create relevant content that reflects it. You also get age, gender and where in the world they're watching from: a clear picture of the people spending their time on your videos.

What if the content itself isn't landing?

Then experiment, and examine the trends. If you sell a product and your unboxing videos have gone samey, flip it: product reviews from existing customers, loyal customers, even an influencer — talking about the benefits, how it works, what it's helped them do. Those videos build the connection between your business and new customers and help people understand the product properly. On trends: look at what's working in and beyond your industry and apply it. Blindfolded taste tests against competitor products were hugely popular — if you sell a drink, have someone taste yours against the competition. (It only works if they like yours best, mind.) It's a fun way to fold trends into your content.

Why is "everyone" the wrong answer?

When we asked prospective clients who their target audience was, we very often got "oh, it's everyone" — a generalisation, not a target. Hone down on who you're actually targeting — and think hard about who actually buys your product, because we found repeatedly that the audience being targeted and the audience buying the end product were completely different.

The practical approach on YouTube: set a broad audience first to capture widely, then narrow. YouTube is really good for this — you can set parameters on gender, age and life events, and you can even build audiences from people who've been on your competitors' basket pages. That's the level of specificity available, and it's how you make sure the right people see the ads.