Is My Video Marketing Actually Working? A Brief Intro to Analytics

In the world of video marketing, it can be hard for businesses to gauge success, even if you do produce a minute or two of entertaining, quality viewing material that generates a ton of views.

Related: 3 Questions to Ask Before Buying Cheap Video

So what? More than likely, your goal isn’t to be a viral superstar.

At the end of the day, you’ll end up asking the critical questions. Did my video drive real results? Is it even possible to tell if it was a success?

You may have started with a real objective (brand storytelling, lead generation, etc.), but the play button isn’t the ideal metric to tell if you succeed.

And thankfully, it’s not the only one. This post will hopefully give you a few ideas to measure the success of your next campaign.

Start with Questions

Data won’t answer questions that aren’t asked. That’s why setting goals and intentions for your video marketing campaigns is the first priority. There’s no way to tell if your efforts work unless you know what you are trying to achieve.

Ask Yourself These 3 Key Questions:

• Who is the ideal viewer? (New viewer, lead in your sales funnel, client.)
• What action do we want them to take? (Click-through to page, sign up for email list, download whitepaper, schedule demo.)
• What style do we want? (explainer video, case study/testimonial, live-action, etc.)

Related: Five Ways Explainify Explainer Videos Are Different

According to Forbes, 75% of executives watch
work-related videos at least once a week.

Achieving Analytic Victory

Once you know your desired result, it will be way easier to measure it against the right numbers. Choosing the right metrics to focus on will make the whole process very manageable. Here are several metrics that may help you measure the ROI of your videos.

By the way, this is the perfect opportunity to tell you about our friends over at Wistia. They’re a video-hosting platform for business that allows you to see and understand a ton of useful metrics related to video marketing.

Retention: (Key Metric) All of the following numbers can only be useful if the viewer watched to the end. A huge indicator of quality and the first step to a successful campaign is how much of your video people watch. Consumers and B2B buyers are running to video marketing, but they won’t watch junk.

Number of Views: While this certainly isn’t the most important, it is pretty cool to see the counter tick higher. Put your video in front of your target audience and spread the word.

Social Shares: Getting people to watch your video is one thing, but having viewers share it is a whole new level of reach. Shares can also be a metric that shows loyalty.

Video Comments: Your audience asking questions or sharing their story along with yours is a great way to build trust and loyalty. Make sure you’re talking with them.

Click/Play Rate: If you have a video on your site that doesn’t get clicked, there is no way for you to convey the call to action. Make sure your video is getting viewed as much as possible by split testing placement, size, and other factors.

Conversions: This is where knowing what you want from viewers comes into play. Are they clicking your CTA after consuming your content?
 

 
Site Traffic: The video isn’t the only indicator of success. If you’ve built enough intrigue your site should receive curious onlookers.

65% of executives visit a marketer’s website after watching their video.

Increased Inquiries: Another “outside” indicator is the number of questions and communication you get from the video. Pay attention though, as emails and phone calls as a result of a video can be a sign of either striking a chord – or striking out.

Don’t Go Crazy

Just because a number can be measured doesn’t mean it’s necessary for your efforts. We urge you to find the best metrics for your campaign and really try to drive those home. A couple of quick examples.

You want awareness?

Make a super personal, intriguing, or entertaining video that’s going for Views, Comments and Shares.

You need more leads in your funnel?

Show the benefits of your free resources and give a clear call to action. Measure Conversions, Site Traffic, and Comments.

You want higher conversions?

Try conveying the pain point of your customers and highlighting the benefits of your solution followed by a CTA leading them down your sales stream. Measure Click/Play Rate, Conversions, and Inquiries.

Ready for Retention?

Now that you are familiar with different ways to measure your prerecorded prowess, you need to create videos that hold people’s attention.

At Explainify, we create short (but powerful), informational (yet entertaining) videos that explain whatever message you hope to convey. In short, our videos get watched all the way to the end. They’ve also helped some awesome brands shorten sales cycles and increase conversions.