When it comes to searching for how to do something, 91% of smartphone users rely on their devices to find that information. This has resulted in a 70% year-over-year increase in “how-to” searches on YouTube, according to this article published by Google today.
In 2015 alone over 100 million hours of “how-to” content have been viewed on YouTube in North America. The most popular of these content types deal with how to do practical things like tie and tie, how to apply makeup, how to cook recipes, and so on.
The majority of these searches are coming from millennials, with 67% of millennials surveyed agreeing that they can find a YouTube video on anything they want to learn. In fact, nearly one in three millennials say they’ve purchased a product as a result of watching a how-to video.
It’s not just millennials, everyone is increasingly turning to YouTube to gain insight on how to do things, and Google says marketers are not taking full advantage of this opportunity.
“Marketing is still largely planned against brand moments and milestones, and it is anchored to campaign flights and product launches—not personal moments like these.”
Marketing plans are grounded in traditional one-way media, Google says, referring to broadcasts from brands to large audiences.
With the limitations of traditional one-to-many broadcasts, marketers are not able to accurately gauge whether or not a customer actually needs or wants the product being marketed.
When people search for how to do something, they’re already establishing a need. Digital media, such as informational YouTube videos, offers marketers the opportunity to respond to those needs.
Google offers the following advice to marketers on how to better take advantage of these opportunities:
- Identify the I-want-to-do moments in which consumers have a need and your brand can play a role.
- Figure out the questions and concerns people have related to the types of products you sell or the types of projects they are used for?
- Create I-want-to-do content for your website and YouTube channel to serve as resources for them.
- Look at when how-to searches occur. Are there particular times of day, week, or year when some topics are more popular?
- Make your videos easy to find by adding descriptive titles, details, and relevant tags to each video.
- Use measurement solutions, such as Google’s Brand Lift, to determine if your content was seen by your target audience, and whether or not they paid attention to it.
For more information about YouTube video marketing, including case studies from brands like Home Depot and MAC, see Google’s full post here.
