Module 2 - Learn what content works on the platform

What kinds of video actually work on YouTube?

When it comes to advertising on YouTube, it's important you understand what works on the platform, and that breaks down into three types of video.

The first one is educational. That could be things like how-tos, tutorials, reviews, step-by-step guides and online lessons. Then there's the entertainment section, which could be challenges, comedy skits, hauls, try-ons, anything that's entertaining to the viewer. The last section is news, so industry news. Whatever sector your business is in, this is about updating people on the news in that industry.

Those are the kinds of videos that you see on YouTube, and generally the more popular ones.

What is actually inside those videos, and how are they led?

There are four ways a video can be led: influencer led, brand led, product led and service led. So to show you a few examples, I'm just going to switch over to this screen.

What does an influencer led video look like?

An influencer led video is an influencer endorsing a product and saying why she likes it. This is really great to get your customers engaged with a new person who is endorsing a product, and it builds a lot more trust between the customer and the product. The example I play here is a clothing try-on haul, where the influencer goes through a box of clothes so viewers can get the full gist of each outfit.

What does a product led video look like?

A product led video is, as the name suggests, mainly about the product itself. In this example it is actually an influencer leading the video, but the majority of the video is product led.

These sorts of videos are really great because you can describe what the product is and how it works, and your audience can base their judgement off that and see whether they want to purchase it. The clip I play is Justine talking about Microsoft's refresh to their Surface lineup, the new Surface Laptop Go and updates to the Surface Pro X.

How do you show a service on video?

A really great way to explain how your service works is to have a testimonial, because services are often a lot more difficult to visualise on YouTube. In the clip I play, a customer explains that they wanted a quick and efficient way to communicate a new programme to their customers, and an explainer video helped them do it.

Services are not that visual, so getting people to talk about the service and why they love it will again help customers make a decision on whether they want to take part in it.

What is a brand led video?

The last kind of video you can do is brand led, also called business led. This is showing behind the scenes of how your business works, maybe the people in your business, and that can really help build a connection between the business and the customer.

I play a clip of this one by Vogue, which I really like. I love the way it's shot, and I just think it really helps people to understand the behind the scenes in the making of an editorial. You see them talking about the steps in the process for each story, and the sittings editor who is the one on set creating the visuals.

So those are the videos, and a few examples of what I mean by being business led or product led. Taking all that on board, this is the kind of content you can post to YouTube, and it's this content that you can use in your YouTube ads as well.

Once you have the content, how can you post it?

There are four routes: standard landscape videos, portrait videos under 60 seconds, the community tab, and ads.

Typically when people think of YouTube they think of the standard landscape video, and that is what you see most often. It's landscape and it can be pretty much any length. That's just how YouTube is seen to be.

More recently they have developed a new way of viewing videos which is very similar to TikTok. These are portrait videos, and they have to be under 60 seconds for them to work. These videos are a lot snappier and a lot easier to consume, which is why people prefer them, so you could also film any of those videos in that way.

Another way is the community tab. You have to have over 1,000 subscribers to access this part of YouTube, but once you do, it's very similar to any other social media platform. You can post your videos on there, you can post images, and you can post polls. You can do any kind of post you want. I think that's really great to engage your viewers and let them know that you've posted a new video.

Lastly, the other way you can use these videos is as ads, run targeted to specific audiences, and that can help your business grow really well.