How To Measure The Success Of Your Video Marketing Campaign

You’ve finally put together your video marketing campaign! It looks great, the video is well edited, perfectly shot, the sound is crispy clear, and the narrative is brilliantly put forward. But with 3.7 million new videos uploaded just on YouTube every day, creating compelling video content is only half the battle; understanding how to measure the success of your video marketing campaigns is equally crucial.

Without proper analysis and data, you're essentially shooting in the dark. You need to be able to gauge whether your efforts are delivering the desired outcomes or falling short of expectations. By tracking key metrics, you can assess your campaign's performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, and pivot your approach accordingly.

In this sense, there are several key metrics to consider. We will go through the most important ones in this blog, but here’s a quick breakdown of some of the essential metrics we will be covering:

1. View Count: The total number of views your video receives indicates its reach and popularity among your target audience.

2. Play Rate: The percentage of viewers who click to play your video after encountering it, reflecting its appeal and relevance.

3. Engagement: Metrics such as likes, comments, and shares measure how actively your audience is interacting with your video content.

4. Conversion Rate: The percentage of viewers who take a desired action (e.g., making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter) after watching your video, demonstrating its influence on audience behaviour.

By analysing these key metrics in parallel with your campaign goals and objectives, you can gain a deeper understanding of your video marketing performance and make informed decisions to drive future success.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

View Count

The view count is usually the first metric we are drawn to. It’s a fundamental indicator of your video's reach and popularity. A high view count suggests that your video has resonated with viewers and attracted significant attention, potentially contributing to brand awareness, exposure, and engagement.

Tracking view count is essential for evaluating the initial impact of your content and assessing its performance at first glance in relation to campaign objectives. Whether you're aiming to increase brand visibility, drive website traffic, or generate leads, monitoring view count provides valuable insights into the general effectiveness of your video marketing efforts.

With that said, you can’t judge the quality and performance of your video campaign based on view count alone, and there are several reasons for this. Firstly, not all views are made equal. Some viewers may watch only a few seconds of your video, while others may watch it in its entirety. Therefore, view count alone may not accurately reflect the level of engagement or interest among your audience.

On top of that, many platforms often have algorithms that automatically play videos in users' feeds, which could result in inflated view counts. As a result, it's crucial to take view count with a pinch of salt and also analyse other metrics, such as watch time and engagement. This will give you a more nuanced understanding of your video's performance.

So, consider these points and try to adopt a holistic approach to video view count!

Play Rate

This metric is similar to view count but tells you more about how your audience is interacting with your video. The play rate metric tells you the percentage of viewers who click to play your video after encountering it, making it a vital indicator of your video's ability to capture and retain audience attention. If you’re looking to assess viewer interest and engagement, then this is one of the best starting points.

Digging into play rate analytics should provide you with insights into the effectiveness of your video's thumbnail, title, and initial presentation in attracting viewers. A high play rate tells you that your video's content and presentation are compelling enough to make viewers engage further. In other words, you’ve got them with a good initial hook that encourages continued viewing.

It’s not only a good metric for measuring initial viewer interest though, as play rate can also inform broader marketing strategies by highlighting areas for improvement in video promotion, distribution, and content creation. By tracking play rate alongside other metrics, such as view count and engagement, you can refine your approach to video marketing and optimise video campaign performance.

So, how do you improve the play rate? There are many things you can do to improve this metric, and the first one is to optimise your thumbnail and titles. These are the first visual cues viewers will see when coming across your video. Make sure they are eye-catching and relevant, as a compelling thumbnail and title can significantly increase the likelihood of viewers clicking to play. Also, pay attention to the introduction of your video. Use engaging visuals, compelling storytelling, or a strong hook to draw viewers in from the start.

As you go along, you can test and iterate strategies and from there, monitor and analyse play rates to get an idea of what's working and what's not. Experiment with different thumbnails, titles, and video content to see what resonates best with your audience, and adjust your approach accordingly.

Engagement

Engagement is a combination of a few things, all of which are related to actions that viewers take to interact with your video content beyond simply watching it. These metrics include likes, comments, and shares, all of which provide valuable insights into the level of audience involvement, sentiment, and interaction with your video.

Let’s start with likes. Likes are usually what we are first drawn to when assessing engagement; they are a simple but effective measure of viewer satisfaction. A higher number of likes suggests that your video has resonated positively with your audience.

Moving beyond the likes, we start to look at comments, which represent direct feedback on your video. Comments can tell you a lot about how your viewers are actually engaging with your video. It’s an opportunity for viewers to engage with your content on a deeper level, share their thoughts or ask questions. So, it’s natural that monitoring comments allows you to foster meaningful interactions with your audience, whilst also gaining an understanding of what’s working and what needs work.

Shares are a big one for engagement. They reflect the extent to which viewers are actively promoting your video content to their own networks. When viewers share your video on social media platforms, they extend its reach and therefore amplify its impact. Sharing tells you how truly impactful your content is, as if users are willing to share it, that shows how widely resonant it is.

By analysing these engagement metrics in conjunction with other performance indicators, you can start to paint a clearer picture of your audience's behaviour and sentiment towards your video content.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rates are one of the most important KPIs when it comes to analysing video marketing campaign success. The conversion rate takes into account the percentage of viewers who take a desired action after engaging with your video content. This could be anything from making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading resources. Understanding your conversion rate is crucial as it directly aligns with the effectiveness of the campaign, and lets you know if your video is driving the results you are looking for.

Conversion rates can be measured by integrating a compelling call-to-action (CTA), informative product demonstrations, or their narrative/story within the video. A conversion can be defined as many things. It could be anything from inspiring viewers to make a purchase, sign up for a trial, or engage with your brand further, so it’s important to outline what you deem a conversion from the initial strategy of your video campaign.

Whatever the case, make sure your video includes clear and decisive calls to action that prompt viewers to take action. CTAs should be prominently displayed through pivotal touchpoints throughout your video and aligned with your campaign objectives.

When it comes to converting viewers, you also want to optimise the destination they are being directed to. For instance, if there is a dedicated landing page you wish to send them to, make sure it is tailored to the specific offer or action highlighted in your video. Optimise these pages for conversion by ensuring they are user-friendly, visually appealing, and provide a seamless experience from video to action.

Don’t forget to tailor your video to the different stages of the customer journey and audience segments - this goes a long way in maximising engagement. This kind of personalisation can increase the likelihood of conversion by delivering targeted messages and offers that resonate with viewers' needs and preferences.

After monitoring and analysing conversion data, take the trends and patterns you’ve identified and start experimenting. You may notice ways in which your video is excelling, as well as areas for improvement, so by understanding what drives conversions and where potential barriers lie, you can use this data to refine your strategy moving forward!

So, next time your video campaign is off to a flying start, ask yourself why you think so! What metrics are you looking at? Do they support your initial strategy? Are they in alignment with your original KPIs that you set before launch? It’s easy to get sidetracked by vanity metrics; while they do provide us with some surface-level insights, it’s important to dig deeper in order to uncover and understand the full story behind your campaign’s performance. If you need help with your video marketing strategy and campaigns please get in touch and the team will put together a plan to help boost your video content!