Video has become one of the most effective ways for companies to connect and engage with current and potential customers online. Busy lives and short attention spans have created a need for content that is both comprehensive and brief. Video content is far more interactive than static images or text.
According to one statistic, 85% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. And consumers appreciate it. 84% of consumers admit that they’ve been persuaded to buy a product or service after watching a video.
So, can you just start dropping videos on your website and social media pages and wait for the sales to roll in? Probably not.
Why Do You Need Video Marketing Analytics?
Many brands make the mistake of thinking that just any type of video will work. It won’t. To get the most out of your video and inbound marketing strategy, it’s vital that you understand why and how your viewers are interacting with your content.
The ins and outs of video content marketing aren’t what we’re talking about today. But, if you’re going to go to the trouble of creating videos for your brand, you need to know how they’re performing.
The good news is that the data is available to help you advance your digital marketing strategy.
Which Video Marketing Metrics Are Appropriate?
When planning your video content, one thing to keep in mind is how you will judge the success of your digital marketing efforts. It makes sense since you likely do the same with written content and paid ads through various analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs).
When trying to determine the best KPI for your video, it’s important to avoid your personal opinion and consider your goals. You might love the video, but that won’t necessarily make it successful. Further, Google points out that having a ton of views might look nice, but it may not translate into increased sales if they don’t click on the CTA.
That said, here are some video marketing analytics you can use to measure the effectiveness of your next campaign.
Impressions
An impression refers to how many times your video shows up as someone is browsing the internet. It’s a good indicator that your video is well-optimized and addresses a subject that is of interest to consumers.
A person doesn’t have to click on or watch the video to register an impression. But, if you are getting a high number of impressions and a low number of views, you might need to make some adjustments.
Views
One of the best ways to gauge the effectiveness of your video marketing efforts is to start by tracking the views of your video. The higher the number of views, the better. On most sites, like YouTube, you can simply click on “Analytics” to access this data.
Calculating views is different depending on the platform. Here is the minimum length of time that a viewer must stay on your view to register as a view for a few popular sites:
- YouTube: 30 seconds
- Twitter: 3 seconds
- Facebook: 3 seconds
- Instagram 3 seconds
If you have some videos that are getting more views than others, this can be an indication that you’ve chosen a popular topic. Look for ways to expand that topic so that you can create additional content.
Maybe you know you’ve chosen a popular topic, but the view count isn’t what you’d like. In that case, you might want to make some changes to the video’s title and look at promoting your content differently.
Finally, the number of views tells you how many people started watching your video. It doesn’t indicate how long they stayed with your content or if they finished it. You’ll need to look at other KPIs for that data.
Play Rate
Your video play rate measures the ratio of your plays to impressions. If you have a low video play rate, it means that people are seeing your video in search results but not watching it.
This is a simple mathematical formula where you take the number of views divided by the number of impressions. If your play rate is terrible, see if you can improve your video’s thumbnail image, title, and description to make it more appealing.
View Length
Only about half of viewers will watch a video all the way to the end, even if it’s short. You can measure whether or not a video resonated with your audience with this metric. It tells how long viewers stayed with your content before bouncing.
On-Site Actions
Whether your inbound marketing goal is brand awareness or sales, you’d probably like visitors to take some action after watching a video. This might involve signing up for a newsletter, downloading a gated asset, or going for the gold and purchasing your product or service.
You can track these conversions using analytics data to determine the success of your efforts. If they aren’t where you’d like them to be, consider A/B testing to make improvements.
Demographics
Information is power, and you can use your videos to learn more about your audience. Google and YouTube make this easy by giving you detailed demographic data about visitors.
This data can tell you who is most interested in your content by location, traffic sources, and gender. If you determine that your audience is strongly segmented, you use this information to tailor future content for that group.
Return on Investment (ROI)
If you want your video marketing investments to translate directly into bottom-line results, you should track these figures. You’ll want to consider how much you spent on video production, including equipment, salaries, and travel expenses. Then, divide the attributed revenue by that investment. If the number is positive, you’re making more than you’ve spent.
If you’re ready to get started with video as part of your digital marketing strategy or would like to step up your game, we can help! Connection Model focuses on results-driven solutions for its clients, and we’d be happy to discuss how a robust video marketing strategy would be beneficial for your brand. Contact us to get started or check out this DesignRush curated list of top video production companies or this clum creative page for a list of the top 73 video production companies in the US.
Written By: David Carpenter
