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A recent survey found that 68% of consumers spend a quarter or more of their time on social media watching videos. This is great news for marketers who want to find ways to connect with their target audience. But simply putting content out there is not enough — you have to monitor your campaign’s performance and correct course as you go.
To make sure everything is on the right track, you’ll have to keep a close eye on video marketing key performance indicators (KPIs). But if you’re not sure which indicators you should focus on, you could first take a look at what you want to achieve.
Here’s an explanation of three common KPI campaigns, and some of the KPIs involved with each.
Awareness campaign KPIs
The objective of an awareness campaign is to generate interest in your brand. It must establish your online presence and set you apart from your competitors. This stage sets the foundation for everything that comes next, and these video KPIs will help you navigate your campaign.
Impressions
Impressions are the number of times your content is shown to a viewer. If the same person comes across your video twice, it counts as two impressions. Some platforms consider the appearance of the video thumbnail as an impression; whereas others count viewing the first frame of the video as an impression.
This metric helps you analyze the level of campaign awareness and allows you to make sure that you’re not overwhelming your audience with repeated exposure. If this number is low, it could be because your content didn’t meet platform guidelines or the keywords didn’t trigger your video.
Reach
Reach indicates the number of unique individuals who have seen your video since it was published. This KPI can give you an idea of the best time to publish your content. A broad reach would mean that your content is getting seen and possibly even shared.
Views
Video views are measured differently by different platforms. It’s best to check how each platform treats it before analyzing views.
For instance, YouTube counts a view as watching at least 30 seconds of the video, while platforms like Facebook and Instagram consider watching until the three-second mark as a view. Views let you know if people are getting hooked or completely ignoring your content.
Unique users
Unique users are another crucial KPI to consider while analyzing an awareness campaign. It is more specific than impressions and can help you measure the difference between the former and the actual number of individuals who watched your video.
When you have a lot of views but few unique users, it indicates that the same people are watching your video several times.
Ad recall lift
Once your video campaign is ripe, you should see an increase in the number of people who are familiar with your product or service.
Ad recall lift is an estimate based on consumer research. It’s a perception-based metric that tells you how many people remember your brand or video after a specific period. This could be as simple as asking, “Do you know about this brand?”
Related: 5 Steps to Achieve Millions of Impressions On Social Media
Consideration campaign KPIs
A consideration campaign aims to get people to think about your business and nudges them to look for more information about it. KPIs at this point should give you a sense of how much traction and engagement you’re getting as a result of your campaign.
Here’s what you could monitor:
View-through rate (VTR)
Google defines VTR as “the number of completed views of a skippable ad over the number of initial impressions.” It essentially measures how many people have watched your entire video.
To calculate this rate, divide the total number of people who watched your video until the end by the total number of views. If your view-through rate is low, it means people lost interest and scrolled past or clicked off your video.
Watch time
This metric measures how much time viewers have spent watching the video. It can help you gauge whether your content is engaging or not. A higher average watch time suggests that prospects are finding your video content helpful.
Video clicks
The click rate is a good initial gauge of whether your video is getting attention. The higher the number, the better the reach. However, this metric alone can’t say much about the success of your campaign.
Bounce rate
Your bounce rate is the number of visitors that clicked on your content but then soon left without taking any action. Moreover, the point at which viewers are churning tells you whether your content is relevant and interesting.
Click-through rate (CTR)
CTR is the percentage of people that saw your post and clicked on the CTA (call to action). It’s a great indicator of your audience’s interest in your product/service. A high CTR means that more people want to know about your offerings.
Consideration lift
Consideration lift measures audience perception and whether the campaign has had the desired effect. The responses you get will help you analyze if your video campaign is going in the right direction.
Related: Lead Generation Without Brand Trust is a Losing Game
Conversion campaign KPIs
A conversion campaign aims to get people to take a specific action. Content at this stage should give your audience that final nudge to choose you over competitors. Conversion KPIs measure how well your overall strategy is working and whether it’s yielding results.
You can monitor the following to get an accurate analysis:
Leads generated
This KPI shows how many people are interested in your product or service after watching your videos. This expression of interest could be in the form of direct messages, emails, clicking your CTA or taking some other action on your website. With a little bit of nurturing, these prospects will be more likely to sign up for your service or make a purchase.
Sales
As the name suggests, sales tell you how many people have made purchases after watching your video. It’s not exactly easy to link a purchase to one piece of content because, typically, it takes repeated effort to turn a prospect into a customer.
Purchase intent lift
Purchase intent lift is an estimate of a customer’s willingness to buy from your business. You can write a survey question based on platform guidelines to assess your audience’s intent.
Cost per acquisition (CPA)
This metric tells you the total cost of a customer completing a desired action. It’ll give you perspective on how your campaign performed and if your videos proved beneficial.
Wrapping up
One metric alone can’t define the performance of a video campaign; therefore, while analyzing KPIs, be sure to look at the complete picture.
Moreover, don’t overindulge vanity metrics, such as impressions and likes, because they might not show you your campaign’s actual performance. Focus on measurable results and tweak your strategy as you go.