There’s no denying that video marketing is huge right now. It can be used for promoting your business, services or products in a creatively engaging way. Video marketing is also a great medium to present tutorials, promote testimonials and deliver viral content. On the surface, video marketing seems simple enough. Your brand creates video content to engage customers and prospects. But, in practice, it is much more complicated, which is why so many businesses choose to outsource the work to digital marketing agencies who offer video production services. Video marketing is data-driven, so it’s important to be aware of the different metrics so you can effectively measure it. Let us take you through the most important metrics that will empower your video marketing efforts.
Number of Views
This metric is one of the easiest to measure. However, it’s important to not regard a high view count with success. Your view count will give you a good understanding of the traction your video content is achieving, but it doesn’t mean that your target audience are engaging with it.
Watch Time
Watch time refers to the total amount of time that all viewers have spent watching a single video. It gives you a strong indication of what video content viewers watched based on when they dropped off. This metric can also help you plan the length of future video content. For example, if you are creating videos that average 5 minutes in length but the average watch it is 1 minute, then your videos need to be shorter.
Click-through Rate
Click-through rate is calculated by dividing the total number of video views by the total number of video clicks. No matter how long a video is, whether it’s at the start, in the middle or towards the end of a video, a call-to-action much always be included. However, placing a call-to-action at the wrong point may result in a low click-through rate. Keeping your video relatively short and to the point is the best way of getting viewers to engage with a call-to-action.
Shares, Likes and Comments
These 3 video metrics come together as they indicate the overall popularity of your video content and the engagement that is generating. For example, like and comments that tell you the emotional effect that your video has had on the viewers that have watched it. Additionally, shares are the digital equivalent to word-of-mouth marketing. The more that a video is shared, the more your content (and ultimately your business) will be seen as a credible source of information.
Impressions
Impressions are a brilliant way of knowing how many people have seen your video content. They are the number of times your video content is displayed, whether it was clicked on or not. If your impressions are low, then this indicates that something is wrong with how you are trying to reach your target audience.
Play Rate
Play rate is the total number of times a video is played divided by the total number of views it has generated. A low play rate can indicate that your video is irrelevant to interests of your target market or followers. It can also help to identify other issues with your video such as the copy that surrounds it, its visual appeal or simply the channel that it was posted on.
Backlinks
Video is the most popular type of content to be shared, which means that people are more likely to link to it. However, video isn’t necessarily the best way of building backlinks, but keeping an eye on it will help you to understand how your video content is complementing your SEO strategy.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the number of leads or customers you gain from your video content. This metric is a little bit more difficult to track and analyse. The best way to manage this metric is to use a piece of analytics software like Google Analytics. You will also need to work out your own attribution model in order to analyse your conversion rate.
Final Words
Video marketing is one of the top forms of digital content and isn’t going anywhere anytime in the near future. Learning how to identify and measure the metrics, we have covered in this article will lead you down the path of having successful video marketing for your business. Creating great video content is not about being the next YouTube sensation. As a business, you need to ensure that your marketing objectives are being achieved.
