from Think with Google
Four types of video micro-moments
Video micro-moments generally fall into four categories: “I want-to-watch-what-I’m-into” moments, when people are seeking videos on their passions or interests; “I want-to-know” moments, when people are trying to learn something; “I want-to-do” moments, when they’re looking for step-by-step instructions on how to make or do something; and I “want-to-buy” moments, when they’re using video to try before they buy.
Three ways to adapt your video strategy to micro-moments
Brands can ensure they’re relevant and useful in these four video micro-moments by understanding their consumer’s intent on YouTube. Expand your focus from just who consumers are (for example, 18-34-year-old women) to what they want (“spring fashion trends”). In a micro-moments world, intent trumps identity.
Here are three ways to make sure you’re staying relevant and useful in moments that really matter—when your brand has a meaningful role to play based on what people really want:
1. Identify the micro-moments where your audience’s goals and your brand’s goals intersect
People come to YouTube millions of times each day, looking for videos that meet their needs, wants, and interests. Reimagine your consumer’s journey as a collection of these video micro-moments: What are his needs and questions, and when does he look for them? Once you’ve mapped out your consumer’s micro-moments, understand your place on the map: Where does your brand have the right to play?
Beauty brand Sephora, for example, knew that beauty content on YouTube grew by 50% from 2014 to 2015 and that YouTube searches related to “how-to” were up 70% year over year. For Sephora, how-to videos and tutorials were the magical intersection of the brand’s beauty-centric message and its audience’s beauty needs. That how-to and tutorial content now makes up more than 60% of Sephora’s library of video content.
2. Be there when your audience is looking with useful content that answers their needs
Once you understand how your brand maps to consumers’ video micro-moments, you can build a plan to be there when people are looking. The first step is creating relevant, useful YouTube content that adds value in those key micro-moments. The second is making sure your brand shows up when they need you, with organic and paid search, for example, or withshopping ads on YouTube.
Sephora has become a resource in its customers’ micro-moments by creating a variety of video content. To answer beauty fans’ calls for on-trend makeup and hair tutorials, Sephora uses the CCC content model: the team creates their own original videos, curates playlists of videos on trending YouTube topics like “beauty hauls,” and collaborates with YouTube creators to make content that feels organic in the YouTube environment. To make sure its content is discoverable, Sephora uses TrueView in-display ads, which give its videos prominent placement at the top of key beauty search results.
3. Help your audience find you, even when they’re not looking, with relevant video ads
Even when people aren’t actively looking for answers, brands can delight them by showing up with messaging that’s relevant to their interests. That means going beyond demographic targeting and connecting with viewers based on signals of intent or context.
Choice-driven ad formats are a great way to show that your brand understands and respects people’s intent; if someone chooses to watch your ad, it’s a powerful signal of their interest. Sephora, for example, usesTrueView advertising, YouTube’s skippable ad format. In-market and affinity targeting can also help your brand serve messaging that’s timely and helpful to consumers based on their most recent and repeated digital behaviors.
Context is also key. First, there’s the context of video. Video ads feel more at home in a video context than non-video environments. But beyond sharing video ads before or during video content, you can share your ads when people are in the mood for that messaging. For example, when Sephora consumers are already watching beauty videos on YouTube, they’re more open to Sephora’s beauty-related ads.
The purchase journey has been fragmented into hundreds of micro-moments. It’s imperative that brands be there in these micro-moments with relevant, useful videos. Those who “get the most points on the board”—and who prove themselves useful and relevant in the most micro-moments—will establish the greatest brand equity in an era of infinite consumer choice. If your brand isn’t there in your audience’s moments of need, another brand will be.
