media update’s Taylor Goodman explains how you can measure the success of your video content. 

The insight that metrics give can help you increase engagement with your brand online and shift your efforts to creating more effective content. 

Video has been having a serious moment over the last few years and has found its way to featuring in many a digital marketing campaign. And with 45% of people watching videos online every day, it’s easy to understand why. 

If you need any more encouragement to consider video as a part of your content strategy, it is important to note that this medium is an effective way to get leads to engage with your brand. It also encourages them through the sales funnel. 

When it comes to the metrics that you need to look at to measure the efficiency of video, it’s about more than just views. To analyse what a successful campaign with this medium looks like, you need to measure video metrics. 

Without further ado, let’s look at the most important metrics to assess your video content

1. Views

Although views aren't the be-all and end-all of these metrics, it still is important to look at. This is because it indicates how many people your video has reached. 

Simply put, a view count demonstrates exactly how many viewers have watched your video. This is an important metric to look at to measure the success of your content, and especially if you are trying to get as many people to watch your content as possible. 

Although views may seem like the most simple metric to measure at first glance, it can be misleading. This is because, depending on which platforms you use, ‘views’ may be interpreted differently. 

For example, on Facebook, a view is counted once a viewer has watched three seconds of a video, while on Youtube it is 30 seconds. This is important to keep in mind if you are placing your content on different channels and plan on analysing views. 

2. Play rate

The next metric that is essential for measuring a video’s success is the play rate. This is the number of page visitors that clicked ‘play’ on your video, excluding autoplays.

This metric can help you to analyse how effective your content is in the location that it is placed (your business’s webpage or an email newsletter, for example) and whether your video is enticing to viewers. 

The play rate is a key metric to monitor if your business's goal is to get a certain percentage of your target audience to play your video

An example of where this would be important to monitor is if you had a video explaining your brand and what you do on your webpage. Taking note of the play rate in this instance will help you to gauge how many people are engaging with your content. 

A video’s play rate is affected by:
  • the size of the file: The length of a video plays a significant role in how intriguing it is to viewers. For example, if your film or ad is too long, it may be unappealing to viewers. 
  • how appealing the thumbnail is: If your video has a lackluster thumbnail, it is going to fail to grab the viewer’s attention. Rather ensure your thumbnail is engaging and colourful, so people want to watch it.
  • how enticing the copy around the video is: The better the copy around your video (e.g. the  title and description) outlines what the video is about, the better your play rate. If you outline what the content is about, viewers may feel more inclined to watch. 
  • how effective the positioning of your video was: The location of your video can make or break your content. If you find a sweet spot, you could increase the play rate. For example, posting your content on your brand’s social media pages may increase your campaign’s reach more than if it was on your webpage. 

3. Engagement 

Ah, now we’re getting to the real nitty-gritty of video analysis. Engagement allows us to get into the core of your content’s effectiveness because it shows how far into your video they have watched

According to SkeletonProductions: “By analysing engagement, you can see how your audience has watched, re-watched or stopped watching your content.” This insight can be useful because it can help you gauge how useful and engaging your video is to your audience.

The insight gained from how your viewers watch your content can help content creators know what their audience likes and dislikes, as you can note the drop-off times. This is when viewers click away in favour for something else

Once you can pinpoint when viewers click away from your videos, you’ll be able to better understand where you can tweak your content to better suit your audience. This insight, in time, can help you to get more people to watch your videos to completion as it will be more engaging to them. 

However, it is important to note that just like Rome wasn't built in a day, neither is high engagement with your videos. Rather, engagement comes from viewers that are familiar and loyal to your brand. As your audience grows and engages with your content, you will likely see an increase in your engagement. 

You can also work on increasing interactions by ensuring that your content is high quality. This means your videos should contain valuable information but still get straight to the point.  

4. Click-through rate 

Although a click-through rate (CTR) is not a unique metric to this medium, it is still important to take note of it. A click-through rate gives you insight into how many of your viewers click on your video’s call to action (CTA)

A CTA at the end of your content  is used to encourage the viewer to either give contact information or to continue engaging with your content. The end goal here is to transform viewers into marketing qualified leads. This is ‘a lead who has been deemed more likely to become a customer compared to other leads.’

Another aspect to keep an eye on concerning your video’s CTR is engagement. These metrics go hand in hand as nobody will see your CTA if they're not fully engaging with your content and don't watch your video to completion.

If you're looking to stay top of mind and drive audience engagement after they finish watching, ensure that your call is relevant to your content, well-timed and keep an eye on engagement to watch your CTR improve!

5. Feedback 

The last metric that you should monitor when trying to gauge the success of your video content is the feedback that you receive from your viewers. 

This differs from the other metrics mentioned because it is qualitative data instead of quantitative, and looks directly at how your audience interprets what they’re watching. 

Feedback can help you to truly holistically improve your video as it highlights the importance of not just looking at numbers and statistics but also the human point of view. 

Although it is important to note that, in the digital space, not all the feedback you get will be positive. The best practice in this regard is to interact and take into account any feedback, regardless of its sentiment. 

This feedback will allow you to tailor your content to exactly what your target audience wants to see, allowing you to boost engagement and brand awareness.  

Content creators, are there any other metrics you think are key in measuring the success of a video campaign? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

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Now that you know which metrics you need to look out for, what type of video content is best? Be sure to read Three types of video content your audience wants to see to find out more.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy