Facebook has recently been criticized
for inflating video viewership stats in order to encourage more paid video advertisements on their platform. So what metrics can you trust? How do you know if your video marketing is reaching your target audience, and therefore is worth investing in?
The obvious – but deceptive – metric: views
Views can be a tempting metric to track – after all, what better way to gauge how awesome your content is than by how many people have watched? As with many metrics, this one can be deceiving, depending on the platform. On Facebook and Instagram, three seconds of continuous play count as a view. YouTube does not explicitly state what is considered a view, but users believe it’s about 30 seconds of play. With video autoplay on websites, it’s also important to note that a video must have at least 50 percent of the video pixels in view for the required time in order to count as a view.
Views can be unhelpful because you don’t learn anything about the viewer. Autoplay gets your video in front of more eyes, but doesn’t tell you whether it was useful. It also doesn’t tell you whether the intended audience is watching, or is actually watching the entire video and ultimately creating conversions. By taking a look at other metrics, you can put video views into context and get a better understanding of how well your content resonates with viewers.
Metrics that matter
Watch time
A view might mean that your viewer only saw three seconds of your video – was that enough for them to get to the call to action? Probably not. Watch time lets you know if your videos are engaging viewers long enough to absorb the point, and hopefully reach the call to action.
Play Rate & Replays
While views can occur whenever someone simply visits your webpage, play rate and replays let you know when someone actively decided they want to watch your content. Play rate tracks whenever the play button is pressed, while replays track whenever some clicks the replay to watch your video for a second time.
Shares & Comments
Having a potential customer share your content is the best promotion available – not only is it free, but it’s also a testament to the value of your content. Internet comments can be a mixed bag, but a comment on your video represents a viewer taking the time to weigh in on your content, for better or worse. This is both quantitative and qualitative feedback – the number of comments can be helpful, but their content even more so.
Click-through Rate (CTR)
Ultimately your goal in creating video content is to create sales conversions, or encourage a similar call to action. Click-through rate, or CTR, is the best indication that the viewer not only watched your entire video, but also engaged in your content the way you intended.
Traffic Sources
If you’re investing in creating quality videos, you’ll need to know where users are viewing your content most. If you’re getting referrals from Facebook, but not YouTube, perhaps you should invest your efforts in targeted Facebook ads. Or, change up your strategy in how you use and market with YouTube.
Conclusion
Videos are a great way to quickly engage potential customers and get them excited about your product, but as with any marketing tool, you should try to understand how your target audience is responding. Tracking these metrics over time will help you understand how video content is helping you meet your marketing goals, and what changes you need to make in your strategy. Say hello
and let us design video marketing and creative strategies that engage, inspire and activate your brand.
About Us
Spin Creative is a video production company and creative agency helping marketers create winning video and creative strategies that engage, inspire and activate targeted audiences. Spin is headquartered in Seattle with offices in San Francisco and London, serving brands around the globe.
