Ask anyone in the civilized world today and they’ll tell you that we live in a media-driven society. A quick glance around a restaurant will show you that most people are walking around with tiny computers in their hands and are constantly bombarded with content at all hours of the day. That’s why it’s easy to see that video marketing has become one of the best ways to reach your target audience when promoting your product or service. 

According to a recent study from Wyzowl, 78% of marketers that used video say that it gave them a good ROI for their business. And, of the marketers that used video in their marketing campaigns, they claimed to grow their revenue 49% faster than those that didn’t use video. 

You’re likely already convinced that video marketing is something you should pursue to grow your business. However, how do you know if your video marketing efforts are working? We’re going to show you several metrics to keep an eye on when evaluating this question. 

What To Measure 

Before you know how to measure, you need to decide what you’re measuring and this is based on the goal of your video marketing. Most video marketing has at least one of these three goals: build awareness, increase engagement and conversion, or maintain a favorable ROI. We’ll show you what to measure for each goal so you can decide if your efforts are working or if you need to make adjustments. 

Building Brand Awareness

If you’re just entering a market or if you’re trying to reposition yourself, you may be using video marketing to build your brand awareness. There are three major metrics to keep an eye on if this is your goal and they work together to show you who is watching your video and if you’re truly reaching your target audience. 

The metrics for monitoring and building brand awareness include the following:

• Viewer Demographics: This is a major factor for brand awareness as it shows you the people that are viewing and engaging with your content. You’re able to see a breakdown of their location, age, and gender. By analyzing this data, you can decide if your video is being seen by your actual target audience or if you need to adjust your marketing strategy. 

• Play Rate: This metric measures how many times a viewer presses the button to play your video. The formula for this is the total number of people that play your video divided by the number of visitors your page has. If your play rate comes out to 30%, that means only 30% of the people that visit your page are clicking to watch your video. Since that number is fairly low, it may mean that the promotion of the video needs to be improved or that the video isn’t seen as interesting enough for the visitor to click on it. 

• Impressions: If your ads aren’t performing as well as you’d like them to, it may mean that your number of overall impressions is low. This metric measures how many times your video is being seen by the public, even if they’re not physically clicking on the video. If this number is low, you may want to adjust your ad settings to reach more people or raise your budget to spread your reach. 

Increasing Engagement And Conversion

If your marketing goal is to increase the level of engagement with your brand and to improve your conversion of visitors, the metrics you’ll want to keep track of are the ones that measure how your visitors are interacting with your content. If they’re not interacting, this may mean that they’re connecting with you or your product. 

Metrics to track and analyze for engagement and conversion include the following: 

• Watch Time: This shows an estimate of the amount of time someone spends watching the video. You’ll be able to see if most viewers watch until the end or if they click off at a certain point. If you see several people clicking off at the same point in time, it may mean that you need to adjust something in the video. 

• Likes/Dislikes/Comments: Just like on social media posts, this metric is a clear way to detect if your viewers are enjoying your content. Make it part of your weekly routine to read through your comments and interact with some of them. Also, monitor these interactions for any potential issues that you may need to address or room for improvement in the future. 

• Shares: Similar to word-of-mouth referrals, a share is the highest form of compliment when it comes to video marketing. You’ll be able to see the number of times your video is shared. If this number is consistently growing, it means your content is still relevant and well-received. 

• Live-Video Metrics: If your video is posted live, you can monitor your peak live views. This metric will show you when people are most engaged with your content and if they have a tendency to sign off before the video has ended. If too many people are leaving before the show is over, this is probably a sign that your video is too long-winded.

Maintain A Favorable ROI

You’re investing your hard-earned money into video marketing so you’ll obviously be expecting a favorable ROI. The formula that is used to measure this metric is calculated by dividing the sales that are a direct result of your video marketing by the amount of money that you spent creating and promoting the video. 

In order to get an accurate result, you need to make sure that you’re taking into account all of the money, time, resources, and campaign dollars that you spent to create the video. Next, you’ll need to come up with a firm amount of sales money you received as a result of the video. This usually requires some digging and asking your customers how they heard about you and your product. 

If your ROI isn’t as strong as you would like it to be, there are some questions to ask yourself:

• Is there anything about your video that would cause a viewer to click off? Are there visuals that may be irritating? Sounds or music that’s too abrasive? Are there any problems with load time? Anything that would give the viewer a reason to stop watching should be addressed promptly. 

• Do you need to increase your budget? This is something that should be addressed periodically. You may need to increase your overall budget momentarily to increase engagement. This can always be dialed back in the future.

• Do you have a clear call to action? Does the viewer know that there’s another step you want them to take after watching your video? Make it obvious and easy to follow by linking a URL in the video comments or on the page that the video is found and mention it in your video. 

Success Is Measured One Metric At A Time

The only way to know if your marketing efforts are a success is to know how to measure them. These measurements have to be quantifiable and should be taken at set times throughout your campaign. By understanding the exact metrics to keep up with based on your goal, you’ll be able to clearly gauge the success of your business video and make adjustments accordingly.

So what is your goal? Are you increasing the public’s awareness of your brand? Do you need to boost your engagement and conversion rates? Or are you simply wanting to make sure that you’re getting a good ROI from your efforts? No matter the goal, you now have a way to make sure you’re on the path to success.