In times good, bad, or uncertain, a strong relationship with your customers will help your brand thrive. And to build this connection, it’s important to first show up for audiences where they are.
In Indonesia, YouTube is where audiences choose to be. It’s their No. 1 place to go deep with what they love, from perfecting a new skill to discovering heartwarming stories.1
The platform is also where audiences say they build relationships with brands: 84% of YouTube viewers agree that YouTube facilitates stronger bonds between them and brands,2 and 92% of viewers say they’re open to branded content when watching personally relevant videos on YouTube.3
So we studied the winning video campaigns from YouTube Works Awards Indonesia 2022 to uncover a recipe for connecting authentically with audiences. The following three ways can help you take your 2023 video marketing strategy to the next level.
Shine the spotlight on your audience instead of your brand
As marketers, we typically shine the spotlight on our product and its benefits, and use this to spark a connection with audiences. Yet we’ve found that winning campaigns do otherwise. They place the spotlight on the audience and their everyday struggles.
This approach may seem counterintuitive for brands, but audiences, in fact, feel seen and acknowledged. And this has helped brands build relationships successfully.
Personal care brand Dove, for instance, used its “Rambutku Mahkotaku” video campaign to boldly give voice to the bullying that 1 in 2 women in Indonesia face due to their hairstyles.
The campaign features the real stories of five female content creators and how they overcame the bullying they faced. By letting personal experiences take centre stage in the campaign, Dove was able to strike a chord with millennial and Gen Z audiences, and empower them to feel confident, regardless of their hairstyle. Its brand power score among this hard-to-reach group of audiences grew significantly by 30 points.
Everyday customer pain points can also spark meaningful connections between brands and audiences. Online logistics platform GoSend took this approach in its “#CepetanGoSendInstant” campaign, which uses empathetic humour to relate to people’s frustration with online delivery delays.
The YouTube marketing campaign features popular musician Ariel Noah giving voice to the experience of consumers as they wait longingly for their online purchases to be delivered. The punchline in the video comes when the musician realises belatedly that GoSend could’ve spared him from a lengthy, fruitless wait.
By shining a spotlight on customers and showing that it understands their needs, GoSend’s campaign not only achieved a 41% view-through rate, which is significantly above industry benchmarks, but it also increased new users by 38%.
Let your collaborators’ authentic selves win over audiences
As more brands work with collaborators to reach audiences — this year’s YouTube Works Awards Indonesia received 140% more submissions of brands partnering with collaborators — it’s clear that there’s a winning way to do this.
Don’t just engage collaborators who share your brand’s values; design your campaign around their authentic selves. When your collaborators, whom audiences trust, speak sincerely about your brand, your credibility is raised in the public’s eye.
Indeed, 96% of Indonesian viewers believe authentic YouTube creators give recommendations they can trust.4 This insight speaks to the strategy that online retailer Bliblihome used to raise awareness and build trust in its new home and furniture platform.
It worked with the celebrity couple Ringgo Agus Rahman and Sabai Morscheck, who are known for sharing their family life online. The video marketing campaign featured the couple easily buying furniture via Bliblihome to meet their family’s needs, from storage for their children's toys to expandable tables for hosting meals with visiting relatives. The authenticity of the campaign resonated with viewers, and it achieved a 46% view-through rate and a 13% lift on purchase intent.
Another winning campaign that allowed its collaborators’ true personalities to shine through was Head & Shoulders’ “#MoveOnBro 2.0.”
The shampoo brand played up the distinct personalities and physical qualities of its collaborators — the suave movie star Joe Taslim and the playful comedian Fadil Jaidi, to remind audiences that men's hair and scalp conditions are nothing alike. That’s why they need a shampoo that meets their unique needs.
The onscreen chemistry between the duo was video gold, bringing in 105 million views and high conversion rates, with more than 86% of shoppers purchasing the product after considering it.
Strike the perfect tone with audiences by listening to their needs
Winning video campaigns also strike the perfect tone in relationship building by having a firm read of what matters to their audience. The latest Culture and Trends Report from YouTube, for example, reveals that 69% of Gen Zers often return to content that feels comforting.5 And for some people, this means light-hearted content that provides cheer in times of uncertainty.
Digital payment platform GoPay responded to this desire for uplifting content when it rolled out its GoPay Coins reward system in the GoTo digital ecosystem, which includes the Gojek, Tokopedia, and GoTo Financial platforms, this year.
The campaign invited people to hunt for its reward coins, and it intentionally used a scrappy, first-person video format to make it feel more relatable to the average person. The video also included humorous interviews with people hunting for the coins. The spot-on tone of the campaign helped to increase its monthly transacting users by 37%.
Brands that have solid relationships with customers are well-positioned for growth. And given that YouTube builds bonds between brands and people in Indonesia, you can take your 2023 video marketing strategy to the next level with YouTube campaigns that shine a light on your audiences and collaborators.
Contributor: Stacy Yulianto, Associate Product Marketing Manager
