Including video on your website increases SEO, is more likely to connect with an audience than text alone and is a favourite of online marketers. So if you’re using video, you’ve made a good choice. Now it’s time to get specific about what your video analytics are doing for you by analyzing relevant statistics. There’s more to video analysis than just views and plays. Read on for the KPIs that tell you what your video does well and what it could do better next time.
Paid Analytics vs. Free Analytics
To explore the numbers generated by your videos, look at your hosting services. YouTube and Google provide free analytics for videos. Check into how your video ranks in searches and plays. How is your SEO performing?
Sites like Wistia, Vimeo, and Vidyard provide analytics as part of your subscription. With these services, you may be able to customize a dashboard. That means you can look at the analytics that applies to your company and ignore what’s irrelevant. You may also have the option to organize this information in a way that’s handy to present and easy to explain to employees or board members.
Views
Views are the top level of assessment when it comes to video success. It’s like evaluating job success based on salary. That is to say, pure numbers do give a snapshot of achievement. However, there’s much more to the story—as you’ll see.
If you have more than one video, which one attracts the most attention? Why? Think about what connects with viewers in your most popular pieces. Is it the format? The length? The message? Can you tailor future videos to target the same numbers?
Watch Time
Watch time is a measurement of how long people look at your video. With a CTA typically coming at the end, it’s important to maintain engagement with the viewer. If the video is three minutes long, but most viewers click away after fifteen seconds, you’re not getting much bang for your buck. If you can see when viewership drops off, try to identify what’s making people turn away.
Demographics
This information will tell you if you’re reaching your target audience. Who’s watching your video and from where in the world are they watching it? If you have a local business that’s reliant on walk-ins, it’s important that you speak to people in your area. However, if you ship a product globally, it could be helpful to try and capitalize on a far-away population. These numbers, like all analytics, can guide your marketing plan. Seeing how your video is viewed can help you adjust future videos and even how you do business overall.
Traffic Source
Analytics that tell you where viewers found your video can affect advertising. Did they click on a link in a blog? Were they searching for keywords? How did they end up on your landing page?
How was your video viewed? Did you know that over half of video content is viewed on mobile? Knowing how your viewers watched your video may lead you to make platform-specific videos in the future.
Social Shares
Who is sharing your content and how are they sharing it? Video shares are an important number of online marketing. Research shows that each share leads to 25 additional views. It’s a personal endorsement and word-of-mouth promotion. Yet another measure of how successful your video is and the kind of business it’s generating.
Feedback and Comments
The internet is a haven for opinionated people. Most of us feel free, even entitled, to tell the world what we think of a video or product or business. Have a look at what people are saying in the video comments. Learn what speaks to your audience and what isn’t working. Ignore the trolls, but be aware of negative comments that come up repeatedly.
Take a peek at the stats of other videos. Copy what successful videos have done and learn from the mistakes of others. If a competitor has found a formula that really connects with your target market, maybe you can adopt their approach?
First Step
Before you can analyze the success of a video, you need to make a video! If you want to make video part of your marketing arsenal, call us today for a free quote.
