YouTube is the most popular online platform in the U.S. Yes, you read that correctly. YouTube is now even bigger than Facebook! Seventy-four percent of the American public actively use YouTube, beating out Facebook’s 68%.1
Not only do more people see content on YouTube, but they also remember that content better. For example, when watching videos, viewers retain 95% of what they see compared to 10% of the content they read.2 And for addiction treatment centers, ensuring viewers recall your life-saving messages when they need them most is imperative.
Fortunately, YouTube has made the process of marketing to their audience even easier with the Find My Audience tool.
What is Find My Audience?
Find My Audience is a digital tool designed to help you identify and market to untapped segments of your YouTube audience. This tool will help you meet your prospective patients where they are by identifying the interests and behaviors in users that align with your target demographics.
With this information, you can better segment and target your messaging to micro-markets, increasing the likelihood of gaining and retaining new clients seeking addiction treatment services. Consumers expect personalized advertisements, and Find My Audience helps you provide that on YouTube.
Specifically, Find My Audience looks at interests, habits, and purchase intent. The data used to identify prospective patients who may need your services is gathered from Google and YouTube searches, YouTube watch history and web browsing behavioral data.
Why Should You Use Find My Audience?
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States experienced the deadliest overdose year on record. More than 93,000 Americans lost their battle with drug addiction in 2020—a number that increased by nearly 30% from 2019 to 2020.3 Several states, including Vermont, Kentucky, South Carolina, West Virginia, Louisiana, California, Tennessee, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Virginia, saw a 40% increase in overdose deaths in 2020.4
Alcohol use increased as well. A recent National Institute of Health study revealed that, as the world remained shut down throughout 2020, more than a third of those studied reported binge drinking.5
The number of people using YouTube has grown over the last few years. In 2020, more than 2.6 billion people actively used YouTube each month, the platform’s most impactful year so far.6 Their audience grew by a staggering 300 million people in the year of lockdown alone. Marketing access to that many users on one platform was inconceivable just a few years ago.
How Do You Use YouTube Find My Audience?
A tool like Find My Audience can make the difference between helping a prospective patient or burying a friend. People in desperate need of addiction treatment are on YouTube every day, and each time they log on is another opportunity for you to reach them. But only if you can find them.
You’ll start using YouTube Find My Audience by selecting the type of audience you’re targeting.
1. Pick In-Market or Affinity Audience
There are two options: in-market audiences and affinity audiences. In-market audiences are people who are already seeking out services like the ones you provide. Affinity audiences simply have interests and habits that relate to or overlap with the services you offer. There’s no hard and fast rule dictating which type of audience will be more successful for a particular demographic. When you first start out using Find My Audience, experiment with both types of audiences to determine which one works best for you.
2. Choose a Category
After you’ve selected your audience, choose a category. At this point, several cards will pop up, each one representing a potential new audience for your campaign. To view the details of each result, and learn how you can better reach the new audience, use your Google account to sign in and follow the prompts.
As you click on each type of audience, you’ll be provided with a description of the type of user that is included in the audience, the top YouTube channels they’re likely to be watching, the types of products and services they’re likely to use, and other audiences the user is likely to be part of. In some cases, there’s an option to drill down even further into the demographics of the audience. You can add up to five audiences to your profile.
3. Download the Profile
Next, you simply download the profile. You’ll also receive some advice and instructions on how to use the profile data to build your YouTube audience strategy.
Find My Audience is an easy-to-use marketing tool to improve your reach and exposure on YouTube, but only when leveraged properly. Dreamscape Marketing can help you create a YouTube strategy that connects your messaging with the people who need your services Contact us today at 888.307.7304 to schedule a strategy session.
For a list of references, please contact us.