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For big projects and small fixes, people look for how-to videos on YouTube, increasingly on mobile. Of smartphone users, 91% turn to their devices for ideas while completing a task. See how brands like Home Depot and M·A·C are using mobile video to reach people in these ‘I-want-to-do’ micro-moments

Learning how to do these sorts of things used to be time-consuming. We might’ve combed through an instruction manual, tracked down an expert, or called up good ole mom and dad—or worse, customer service. Today, we can find out instantly. We simply grab the nearest device and search—and not just on Google. Searches related to "how to" on YouTube are growing 70% year over year,1 and more than 100M hours of how-to content have been watched in North America so far this year.

The most popular how-to educational searches show a range of interests—from the practical ("how to tie a tie") to the creative ("how to draw"), from style ("how to curl your hair with a straightener") to cuisine ("how to make a cake"). And although we see these searches across age groups, it’s most pronounced among millennials. In fact, 67% of millennials agree that they can find a YouTube video on anything they want to learn.

Moments of intent

We have mobile technology largely to thank for this consumer behavior shift. Ninety-one percent of smartphone users turn to their smartphone for ideas while doing a given task.4 Being constantly connected has trained us to expect immediacy and relevance in moments of intent—the I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, and I-want-to-buy moments. These micro-moments are the new battlegrounds for people’s hearts, minds, and dollars. "Mobile has significantly changed how we connect with customers at The Home Depot," says Trish Mueller, senior vice president and chief marketing officer. "We’re now laser focused on how we can use digital to deliver against our customers’ needs every moment of the day and every step of their home improvement experience."

Being there in these moments may be the single most important thing a marketer can do, but many aren’t. 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. The reason for this is simple. Most marketing plans are grounded in traditional one-way media: Broadcast from brands to large audiences. Without signals of intent, traditional media makes it impossible to know whether someone actually needs or wants your product. But when people ask how to do something, that’s a need. That’s someone asking, "can you help me out?" Digital media let brands respond to those questions and be there at the very moment someone needs them most. Brands that successfully do this can win loyalty and drive sales to boot. In fact, nearly one in three millennials say they’ve purchased a product as a result of watching a how-to video.

How-to content comes to the rescue Successful brands are building content strategies around these "I-want-to-do" moments. On YouTube, The Home Depot has a range of how-tos for home improvement, from outdoor projects to homeowner basics. Top paint brand Valspar’s YouTube channel has content that spans from project inspiration and color guidance to painting processes and tools, helping people throughout the purchase journey. "[Seeking content] can happen early in the project for those who plan in advance, during store visits to guide purchase decisions, and even in the middle of painting a room for those who didn’t prepare or want to ensure they are ‘doing it right,'" says Heidi Petz, vice president of marketing at Valspar. The brand makes sure users can easily find and engage with content across screens. "Mobile is increasingly becoming the dominant way [consumers] access our content," says Petz.

M·A·C has used its range of how-to beauty content to drive sales in local markets. Last year, the beauty brand partnered with Google on a YouTube gadget that allows viewers to shop directly from its "Instant Artistry" how-to video series on its local e-commerce platforms. "A user watching our videos in Brazil will engage with a version of the gadget that is entirely in Portuguese and will be driven directly to the Brazilian M·A·C Cosmetics site to purchase. We have seen fantastic engagement as well as incremental sales on e-commerce that far exceeded our expectations," says Noelle Sadler vice president of global consumer engagement.

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