The digital age has made it incredibly easy for businesses and individuals to reach a global audience with their content. One of the most popular platforms for doing so is YouTube, which boasts over 2 billion monthly active users. This makes it an excellent platform for increasing brand awareness and engagement. One way to capitalize on this opportunity is by putting ads on YouTube. In this article, we will walk you through the process of creating ads for the popular video sharing platform.

1.Set Up Your Google Ads Account

Before you can start advertising on YouTube, you need to have a Google Ads account. If you don’t already have one, create an account at ads.google.com. Once your account is up and running, sign in and navigate to the “Campaigns” tab.

2.Create a New Campaign

Click on the blue plus button in the “Campaigns” tab to create a new campaign. Then you’ll be prompted to choose your campaign goal. You can select from objectives like sales, leads, website traffic or brand awareness and reach.

3.Select Campaign Type

Next, choose the campaign type that best suits your needs. For advertising on YouTube, select “Video” as the campaign type.

4.Customize Your Campaign Settings

After selecting “Video” as your campaign type, you’ll be taken to a page where you can customize your campaign settings—such as start and end dates, budget restrictions, networks (YouTube videos, Browse Features), languages, locations, and bidding strategies.

5.Targeting Options

Now it’s time to customize the audience targeting for your campaign by selecting from various categories such as demographics (age, gender), interests (affinity audiences), placements (specific channels or videos), keywords and more.

6.Create Your Ad Group

Once you’re happy with your targeting options, create an ad group by entering a name and choosing a bid (the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for views or interactions).

7.Choose Your Video Ad Format

Now, pick the right ad format that aligns with your objectives. There are several options to choose from, including:

   – Skippable in-stream ads: Played before, during, or after a video, these ads can be skipped after five seconds.

   – Non-skippable in-stream ads: A 15-20 second ad played before, during, or after a video which can’t be skipped.

   – Discovery ads: Appear alongside related YouTube videos, on YouTube search results pages or the YouTube homepage.

   – Bumper ads: Short, non-skippable ads that are six seconds or shorter and play before the selected video.

8.Upload Your Video Ad

Once you have chosen the ad format, upload your video on YouTube and then copy the URL of your video. Paste this URL into the “Your YouTube Video” section of Google Ads.

9.Add Companion Banner

A companion banner is an optional display ad that will appear next to your video ad on the YouTube watch page. This helps increase brand exposure and can encourage users to click through to your website. You can either upload an image or let YouTube create one automatically based on your channel art.

10.Launch the Campaign

Finally, once you’ve completed all these steps and reviewed your campaign settings, click “Save and Continue” to start running your advertisements on YouTube.

Congratulations! By following this guide, you have successfully learned how to put ads on YouTube and have set up a campaign that has the potential to enhance brand recognition and engagement. Happy advertising!