Videos bring together sound, pictures and interesting story lines.And when the “social” aspect is added to these videos, what we get is a surefire way of delivering a targeted message to consumers instantly.
But it is extremely difficult to measure the returns created by an online video. Sometimes,marketers and agencies spend more money on determining success than actually producing the video..
Here, we have lined up the important measures and metrics that should be invested in early on if you are planning to create viral videos. These are the top 10 measures of a video campaign’s success.
1. Number of Views:
These depict the number of times a video has been opened. This doesn’t automatically mean that the video was watched through till the end. But a good number of views will let you know that at least the thumbnail and title are attractive enough to get a click from potential viewers.
2. Click-through-rate (CTR):
You need video viewers to get to your website and sign up! If your video got 4000 views but only 1000 of those viewers clicked on the link to your site, then your CTR is 25% and you need more engaging videos that get more traffic to your website.
3. Conversions:
This is the number of people who took the action that you wanted them to. Did they buy your products, sign up for newsletters or registration an account of your website? If yes, then you have some good conversions. Give them some amazing videos and a conveniently placed link to your website, and they will follow through.
4. Return-on-investment (ROI):
ROI is the amount of money you make as a result of your video. The ROI measure helps assess the real value derived from the viral web videos.
5. Audience Engagement:
This measure lets you find out if the viewers are engaged throughout the whole video or if they leave, where exactly do they drop off in the video. This gives video marketers an idea of how sticky the video really is.
6. Play Rate Metrics:
This one comes in handy when you are imbedding videos into your blog posts. It gives info on how many of your readers actually click on play. This depends mostly on how attractive your video’s thumbnail is. Try a few different ones and stick with the one that works the best.
7. Site Referrals:
Find out how viral your video is the number of sites that refer back to you. Link backs are a great way of improving traffic to your website. Your industry’s authority sites may be directing customers your way.
8. Customer Feedback:
Customer experience also defines the success of your marketing campaign. So ask for feedback, find out if the audience enjoyed it and then act on the data you get.
9. Audience Demographics:
Identify whether your audience belongs to a certain age group, gender or a specific geographical location. Then create content especially catered to your audience to ensure its success. Audience demographics must be studied thoroughly to guarantee your future video content becomes a hit.
10. Use the Right Tools:
YouTube Insights, Google Analytics and other video analytics and monitoring tools let you scrutinize all the aspects of online videos. Use these to find out number of plays, time viewed, traffic sources etc to build a successful viral marketing campaign.
