Wondering if you can fast-track your YouTube channel growth with Facebook ads?
Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users and running ads really is a good way to grow your channel. And the conversion rates are not as bad as they say!
But randomly running ads or boosting a post won’t cut it.
The campaign targeting and placements need to be super optimized.
In this detailed post, I’ll show you step-by-step on how to set up, target, optimize and run Facebook ads for Youtube subscribers.
#1 Create A YouTube Subscription Link
The first step is to create a subscription link for your YouTube channel. This is different from your normal channel URL.
This link also takes viewers directly to your channel, but will show them a pop-up asking them to subscribe . This increases your conversion rates A LOT.
Otherwise the viewer has to go, find the subscribe button and click it.
⚡Also Read: Youtube playback based CPM explained
Here’s how this link looks like
https://www.youtube.com/@MattDiggity?sub_confirmation=1
It’s basically your channel link + ?sub_confirmation=1
Unfortunately, these links only work on desktop. They won’t work on mobile devices.
But don’t let that stop you! There are still tons of viewers browsing YouTube on their computers.
Go ahead and create a link like this for your channel and test it out to make sure it goes to your channel and shows the popup.
#2 Create The Campaign
If you don’t already have one, create a Facebook Ads Manager account. This is where you’ll create and monitor your ads.
Now I usually ask people to set up a Facebook Business Manager account. It allows you to manage multiple ads, pages, and clients under one centralized dashboard.
However, the normal ad account will be enough for this.
Next, go ahead and create a new ad, and do the basics.
Choose the objective as “Traffic” since you want to drive visitors to your YouTube channel. Also give the campaign a name like “Subscribers”.
#3 Basic Targeting
Facebook offers incredibly great targeting options to narrow down your target audience. Take full advantage of these to get your ads in front of the right people.
Let’s take a look at the basics options first.
Location
First up is the location settings.
Check your YouTube Analytics to see what countries your existing subscribers are from.
For example, if 80% of your current subscribers are from the United States, you may want to target just the US first. Or target 2 -3 of your top countries.
You can test different countries later on.
⚡Also Read: Best countries to target Facebook ads
Age And Gender
Again, analyze the age range and genders of your current views and audience.
For example, if 40% of your viewers are in the 18 to 24 range and 30% of them are 25 to 34 old, only target only these ages.
Same with gender – target the largest group.
But if it’s like around 60% – 40%, you can target both genders.
#4 Targeting Interests And Behaviors
Now let’s get into interests and behaviors targeting. This is pretty much the most important part of the ad campaign.
This is where you can really target people by focusing on specific topics and characteristics.
Mess this up or skip it and you are headed for failure, guaranteed!
Interests allows you to reach people based on posts, pages, topics, etc.. they have interacted on Facebook.
For example, if you run a home improvement channel, target interests like DIY, home renovation, gardening, and interior design.
The best interests to target are ones directly related to your channel niche or video topics. You can dig around your YouTube Analytics to see related topics and search terms and use these as ideas.
You can also add additional interests to further narrow your audience.
For example, if you have a video gaming channel, start with an interest like PC gaming.
Then add interests like esports, Twitch, Steam, DotA 2, Fortnite etc.
This makes your targeting to be superspecific, since not everyone interested in PC gaming likes every game. So adding related interests builds a highly targeted audience.
⚡Also Read: Facebook Ads For Junk Removal Businesses
#5 Ad Placements
Remember the subscription link only works on Desktop right? So we need to only show it to desktop users. This is where you do it.
Under devices in the placements section, uncheck mobile and only select desktop.
Also uncheck automatic placements and use manual placement.
Then, only turn on News Feed placements, and uncheck all the other placements like Stories or in-stream videos etc.., as these tend to have low conversion rates.
These settings will make sure your ad shows up on the News Feed of desktop users.
#6 Ad Budget
For Bidding, select link clicks, as you want to drive traffic to your YouTube channel.
With link clicks bidding, Facebook will automatically maximize clicks on your ad without driving your costs up too high.
When it comes to budget, start on the lower side between $2-$10 per day.
You can always increase the budget later if it’s performing well.
Also keep in mind that Facebook’s estimated results (on the top right corner) are not always accurate. The only way to know for sure is to test the campaign live.
#7 Ad Creative
The last step to setting up the creative. Soo fun!
I recommend using one of your best videos. Don’t use images, your CTR will be low.
Write an intriguing headline and description covering what viewers will gain by subscribing. This is where you convince them to click!
Make sure to use the YouTube subscription link you created as the ad destination URL.
Finally, use a strong call to action like “Subscribe Now” or “Join My Channel.” and then select the Subscribe button.
Wrapping Up
Once your campaign is live, you need to regularly check performance in Ads Manager. Track link clicks, cost per result and conversions.
If needed, tweak targeting, creative, and budget. Also try A/B testing different ad variants.
The key is testing different targeting combinations to see what drives the most YouTube subscribers.
If you do these right, running Facebook ads for subscribers will yield awesome results!
