Top tips for return on investment on video marketing

Video is a very powerful tool for marketing and is now being deployed in most marketing strategies. The power of video is that it can communicate much more efficiently than other forms of marketing media. 60 seconds of video is equal to 1.8 million words. That may seem like an outlandish figure however, humans can process visual information 60,000 times faster than text, and 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual– humans excel at interpreting visual information and this is why the numbers start to add up.

Marketers have begun to realise the full potential video has and because of this are now investing more time, money, and effort into creating video content. The downfall is that not many are tracking their video marketing campaigns, either because they don’t know how to measure, or they don’t have the time to. This means that they have no way of knowing if a video marketing campaign has been successful. To get the best return on investment from your video you must first define the metrics that you want to measure and then learn how to measure them.

In this blog we’re going explore how to best to track and measure the ROI on video content and then what to do with this information, to improve your future video marketing campaigns.

Setting your SMART goals

The most important thing when starting any video campaign is establishing your goals. The goals will define everything in your campaign, from what key performance indicators you’ll be measuring to the very foundations of what content your video will include. It’s essential that the goals you pick are SMART:

Specific- your goals should be specific and well-defined. “I want to drive people to my website with this video”, is too vague. Instead, pick quantifiable goals. The more clearly defined your goal is the easier it will be to plan out the necessary steps to achieve it.

Measurable- you need to be able to track your progress. If you can’t measure your goal, then it can’t be tracked. “I want to see a 20% increase in traffic to my website from this campaign”, this is a measurable goal. Having a measurable goal allows you to see your development and if you’re on track to reach your goal.

Achievable- You want an obtainable goal. If you pick a goal that you know will be outrageous to achieve, you’re not going to come close to achieving it. Picking something that you know is achievable will give you the motivation to get to the endpoint of goal completion- don’t set yourself up for failure.

Relevant- Each of your goals should align with your long-term goals. If you’ve picked a goal that doesn’t contribute towards your broader business objectives, you may need to rethink it. When you achieve your aims, you want it to be something your business directly benefits from.

Time-based- Set a clear time frame in which you know you can achieve your goal. You want to set a reasonable amount of time for you to achieve your aims. You need to set a time so you can check your progress along the way. If you don’t achieve your goal, then maybe you need to reconsider if your goal was realistic and achievable. “I want to see an increase in traffic to my website in the first Quarterly review meeting”, this is a SMART target.

Your goals for your video marketing campaign may be based on qualitative data. These are goals such as improving brand awareness or educating your audience on a product. These goals can be measured, for example, you could monitor your comments or ask for feedback. However, qualitative data isn’t as easy to measure and track as quantitative data, and therefore proving your video was a good ROI might be more difficult.

Picking your KPIs

Now you’ve defined your SMART goals it’s time to pick what you’re going to measure. What you measure will be your key performance indicators and these numbers will let you know if you’re on course to reach your goals. The metrics you pick will be completely dependent on the SMART goals you’ve set, it’s not necessary to track everything. Here are some things you could potentially measure and how you measure them:

Views- This is the total number of people that have viewed your video. Most platforms that you post your video to will already have view counters built-in. If you’re embedding your video into your website, you can track views via Google Analytics by adding some tracking code to your website then set up an event goal. Click this link to learn about tracking views on a video in Google Analytics in more detail.

Audience engagement- Measured by how many people are interacting with your video. Audience engagement is most commonly people liking, commenting, and sharing a video. Again, most video-sharing platforms have built-in functions to measure this for you. It’s important to remember that not all engagement is equal. For example, a share is worth a lot more than a like. When someone shares your video, they are expanding its potential audience.

Traffic- This is the number or percentage of your audience you’re driving to a predetermined destination. This can be done by including a link in the description of your video. Traffic can be measured on Google Analytics by either having a specific landing page for users to arrive on or by using a UTM tracking code. A UTM code is a snippet of code that you can add to the end of a URL. The UTM code will tell you the source, medium, campaign, term, or content that a user used to be directed to your website. You can make UTM codes completely for free here.

Average watch time– How long your audience is watching your video until they are ‘dropping off’ or when they stop watching your video. If your video is on YouTube, you need to look for ‘viewer retention’, this can be found in the YouTube studio under the engagement tab. If average watch time is one of the main KPI you’re measuring YouTube is a great platform to track it as it will give you the fullest and most detailed reports.

How to improve your video to gain ROI

Improve your views- Improving your views comes down to putting your video in front of the most people you can. Start by sharing your video on all the platforms you can. Linking back to your video whenever it’s relevant is another good tactic, link to it in email campaigns, blogs, and your socials.

When you’re posting your video to different platforms make sure that it’s fully optimised for where it’s being posted. A lot of social media sites now have specific video dimensions. Specifically, you need to think if your video is being viewed horizontally or vertically due to the mobile user experience. Less than 30% of users will turn their phones sideways to watch an advert. Take the time to think about how to make your content more accessible for your audience. You can find out more about adapting horizontal video for social media here.

Improve your audience engagement- The easiest way to improve audience engagement is a call to action. Directly ask your audience to like, comment, and share the video they are watching. If you don’t give a verbal CTA, you can always include a visual one. Include a pop-up during the video or an end card that instructions your viewers on exactly what you want them to do.

Improve your traffic- Again, having a CTA in your video is key to driving traffic. Tell your audience where you want them to go and why they would want to go there. Give your audience incentive to click a link, whether that be an eBook or a discount code- give your audience anything that gives them added value. You also need to give thought to the copy that surrounds your link, ideally, you want it to be front and center and not in the ‘see more’ part of the description.

Improve your average watch time- When you monitor what time people drop off from your video, it can give you a real insight into what parts of your video aren’t working. You’ll most likely find a lot of your audience drop off just before the 30-second mark. This is why the first 30 seconds are so important- hook your audience at the start, you have to lead with your value. You need to assure your viewers that they will get exactly what they were promised, show them that sticking around will add value and won’t be a waste of their time.

If you’re sending out your video to prospects and you intend to convert them into leads you want your video to be under a minute for the best watch time and to optimise your chances of conversion. When it comes to a video that is for a well-established audience you can afford to make your video longer. The golden rule is your video should be as long as it’s interesting to your audience.

Conclusion

As with any marketing campaign, successfully measuring ROI is important to make sure you’re getting the best results. It’s important to make sure you’re regularly and correctly reviewing all the data you collect to make certain that your campaigns are yielding the desired results and then making the right adjustments if they aren’t. Doing this will ultimately save you money and time as you’re not wasting efforts on marketing that isn’t bringing in a return.

If you have an accountant, they should be your first stop for business advice. If you don’t have an accountant or they can’t help, BuBul has a wide range of experts available. For more advice on getting a great return from investing in video for marketing, contact our expert* Julie on LinkedIn.

*We’ve picked experts we know and trust who are good at what they do. All of them will give you at least an extra 30 minutes free advice if you contact them and would then charge their normal prices. They don’t pay to be on BuBul and don’t give us any money from anything they earn as an expert.

Julie Tumilty Video marketing expert Julie and her team produce amazing videos for both internal and external communication, helping you get your message across!