Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know that videos have become increasingly popular. They’re literally in your face on every major social network, taunting you with their content and luring you to watch them. Be it a cute kitten video that makes our moms squeal in delight or an advertisement that has us going “Hm, they’re right. I do need that new mascara,” video content is here to stay.
And numbers do show that video is the future of marketing. Well, not only the future but also the present. In fact, 78% of people watch online videos every week while 55% do that every day. The numbers are expected to grow in upcoming years with more people gaining access to the Internet.
Our point is — if you haven’t, it’s time for you to jump on the video bandwagon. Trust us, if you examine the key video metrics, this bandwagon will roll you down the success path before you know it. Don’t worry — we are here to broaden your horizons and tell you all about engagement, view count, and other key video metrics!
Let’s dive in.
Starting Your Journey
So you’re preparing to share your video with the world. Congratulations! Or even better, you’re on the verge of authorizing a new video project. Fun and exciting times await you, we know!
But before you start, you still need to figure out how to measure the success of your video. Although posting it is a huge milestone, that’s only the beginning of your journey. The next stage is thinking about key video metrics.
Of course, some marketers examine them before they launch a project, but if you’re new to the industry, then it’s perfectly fine to do this after posting it for the first time. We’ll go as far as to say that this is arguably the most crucial part of the whole process. And why’s that? Well, without it you’ll never know for certain if your video content was successful.
Continue reading and we’ll guide you through all the relevant metrics so you can conclude whether your video achieved all of your marketing goals.
Food for Thought
If you’re a complete novice, then you might initially think that video metrics are both confusing and overwhelming. But, don’t worry — many have been in your place before and they eventually came to understand them. Here, it’s important to define your objectives. What do you want to achieve with your video? Once you narrow this down, it’ll be easier for you to select those metrics which speak to your specific goals.
One way to bring this closer to you is by comparing these metrics to those of websites. For instance, say that your plan is to increase revenue. You take a look at your website traffic and see that it’s doing great, but still, your revenue isn’t growing. Well, this is because traffic isn’t the right metric here — conversion rate is.
This works for videos as well. Let’s imagine that your ultimate goal is to generate more leads and you decide to focus only on the number of views. This would be a grave mistake because, even if you have a lot of views, you might not be reaching your target audience, thus you’re unable to meet your objective, i.e. generate more leads.
Therefore, it’s paramount to pay attention to the right key video metrics. Set your goal first and then go from there. Lastly, don’t measure the success of your video just for the sake of it. It goes without saying that you should use your findings to grow, improve, and lead your future video campaigns to victory.
Now, we’ll look at those metrics which are relevant to common marketing goals.
View Count
We’ll start with the most deceptive of them all — view count.
Undoubtedly, the first question you’ll get after releasing a new video is “How many views does it have?” Today, people are obsessed with numbers; they think, the more — the merrier. However, view counts can actually be extremely misleading. We can even go as far as to call it a vanity metric. And we’ll tell you why.
For example, a cosmetics company released a heart-warming video aimed at those who weren’t feeling comfortable in their own skin. It went viral because of the message it delivered, however, it was still a whopping failure. Why? Because, even if it touched millions of hearts, none of the viewers were the company’s target audience.
In contrast, if the video had only 200 views, but it still reached the right people, then it would’ve been a big win.
When it comes to this metric, it’s important to know that it’s counted differently on platforms. For instance, to get a view on YouTube, 30 seconds of the video need to be seen. In contrast, a Facebook view requires 3 seconds of watching.
The gist is — don’t chase views. Sure, it’s amazing to have a good video reach, but this might not fulfill your ultimate marketing goal.
Play Rate
Play rate is a good one to track in that it shows you whether the audience finds your content eye-catching. To be specific, it indicates the percentage of page visitors who clicked play on your video.
What’s more, this metric demonstrates how relevant your video content is based on the location it’s been shown and how successful it is at luring people to watch it. A low play rate could occur because your video doesn’t have subtitles, it has little appeal, or simply you’re sharing it on the wrong network.
If you ever find yourself in this situation, we have you covered. Here are some suggestions on how you can increase this metric:
- Replace the thumbnail with a more engaging and vibrant one;
- Make sure to add a clear and attractive call-to-action (CTA);
- Move the video to another page.
It would be remiss of us if we didn’t emphasize that this video metric doesn’t only depend on attractiveness — your content also matters. A video that strikes a chord with your target audience will ultimately end up having a higher play rate.
Engagement
And now we’re getting to the real deal. This will show you just how effective your videos are. Remember, we don’t want to post content just for the sake of it — we want it to leave a lasting impression on our viewers and encourage them to watch until the very last minute. And we’ll know whether we’ve achieved this by taking a look at engagement.
So, engagement is expressed in percentages that tell you how much of your video one viewer watched. You’ll also come across average engagement and, instead of one, it measures all of your viewers and how long they stayed tuned to the video on average. As you can probably tell, this is one of the key video metrics for a reason.
Obviously, this can be incredibly useful because, as a publisher, you’ll know whether you’re making the content that your audience wants to see. Are viewers immersed and watching to the very end? Or are they only interested in a specific part? Well, engagement will answer these questions.
Social Sharing
It’s undeniable — social media has taken the world by storm. With 3.5 billion users worldwide, companies are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of having a strong presence on big platforms.
Just look around you, people are glued to their phones; especially now that many countries are in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, it would be a huge mistake if you decide to ignore this video metric.
Of course, with social sharing, you’ll know how many times your video content has been shared across different social channels. The more it gets reposted, the more views you’ll have. Also, it is a good indicator of how appealing that video is to your target audience.
Shares are going to increase your brand awareness and allow you to reach a larger portion of your customers. However, don’t be sidetracked by the number of shares or retweets. Remember to read all comments you receive and see whether they’re positive or negative.
Click-Through Rate
With click-through rate (CTR), you’ll know the exact percentage of people who were so compelled by your video that they decided to take action once it ended. CTR is measured by dividing the total number of video clicks by the total number of views.
You should always include a CTA in your video, be it at the beginning, middle, or end because having a lot of views isn’t enough. It’s all about delivering content that will be so engaging that your viewers will go “I want to learn more.”
In addition, the click-through rate is crucial if you want to drive your audience on after the video has ended. It has to be high if your objective is to get more traffic or get customers to reach a landing page. To do this, it would be wise to keep your videos short, to the point, and concise so that a huge number of customers get to the CTA.
Conversion Rate
The conversion rate is a key video metric that indicates how many customers or leads you’ve generated thanks to your video. Depending on your desired goal, your audience might fill in a form, subscribe, or purchase something in order for the conversion to be successful. And all of this is a great way for you to see whether your video makes an impact or not.
Admittedly, this will be the trickiest key video metric to measure and you’ll probably need to start using analytics software, e.g. Google Analytics.
In the end, to be effective at achieving conversions, you should test your CTA. Once you’re sure that the viewers will easily understand what you want them to do, then you have the right call to action.
Feedback
Last but not least is feedback. This isn’t a number, we know, but we couldn’t help but include it as well. With feedback, you’ll receive qualitative data that will inform you how your audience is reacting to your video content.
Therefore, always keep an eye on your customers and acknowledge their input. Of course, positive comments are better than negative. However, sometimes companies want to elicit the latter. For instance, charity videos aim to do just that in order to strike a chord with their community.
The point here is — whatever your target audience, they’ll appreciate your brand more if they see you’re taking some action after reading their comments. So, make them feel engaged in your marketing processes and you’ll get good results.
Improve Your Video Marketing Campaigns
Statistics indicate that video content will remain popular for years to come. To make the most of it, you should include these key video metrics in your daily marketing campaigns.
When you’re creating new content, you should think as a marketer. This means that you’re focused on your goals and actively working on achieving them. Make sure to deliver videos that will encourage your target audience to stick with you and raise your brand awareness.
And for the time being, why don’t you join us here at Brid.TV? We offer a state-of-the-art video platform that allows you to host, manage, and monetize. Not only that, but also we can help your business grow and increase your return on investment. Our Video Analytics Engine helps you keep track of everything (including viewer engagement) and takes the brunt of this process some call tedious.
Have any questions? Contact us now!
