Video is quickly becoming a hot type of advertising for brands and businesses. With the emergence of user created content like Vine, placement of videos on landing pages, and the upcoming options to advertise using video on Facebook, there is an obvious trend to use video as a primary component of marketing campaigns. As with all campaigns, however, advertisers must consider the ROI of a video ad, and ensure that it is generating the leads and driving the conversions that will ultimately and positively contribute to the brand’s bottom line.
Regardless of what type of video ad unit you choose (e.g. YouTube video, hosted video on a landing page or an ad unit inside of a social network) it’s critical that you measure the performance of these videos. This means choosing the right kind of video platform so you can tweak campaigns accordingly.
Luckily, there are several available options to measure the performance of videos, should you choose to integrate them into your marketing campaign. Just last week YouTube quietly released a new data set to their analytics, which gives publishers the ability to see what type of device users are watching videos on, including “computer”, “mobile” “tablet” or “unknown”. This data is especially important for brands and businesses, as it allows them to tailor videos, particularly if they are targeted. With information about devices, publishers can make videos shorter or longer, change the calls to action, or even tailor the content itself.
Other video platforms such as Wistia make it easy for advertisers to create hosted videos that can be placed on landing pages to drive calls to actions, generate leads or even directly convert users. While a YouTube video can also serve this purpose, Wistia offers detailed information about who is watching their videos, how they’re watching the videos and what parts of the videos they’re watching. Jordan Munson, one of Wistia’s “Customer Champions”, said that this information “is a powerful thing as it enables businesses to capture potential leads and know which of them have the best chance of panning out.”
Wistia also makes it easy to create engaging videos with its new mid-roll links. As Jordan said, “Our new mid-roll links tool helps you easily turn viewers into leads or customers by making the viewing experience interactive. For example, companies can now add a ‘Buy this’ button while a particular product is being discussed or demonstrated in the video. Similarly, marketers can use the mid-roll links to direct viewers to an email signup form or a free trial page, without disrupting the flow of the video.” Adding links in a video is not a revolutionary feature, but Wistia users can easily track the success of these links to determine how they performed, which can help advertisers decide how to implement them differently (and more effectively) in future campaigns.
While most video platforms offer a litany of features and analytics, it’s critical that advertisers be able to measure the performance of their video, including at what point users start and stop watching the video, clicks on links in the video, and demographic data about users watching the video. If a video platform doesn’t offer the ability to track this data, it may be time to consider using a different platform for your next video. Even if you can generally point to a successful campaign, it’s critical to understand what components of that video made it a success. Understanding how to measure and break down the performance will ensure that future video advertising campaigns will be just as successful.
Author
Becky is the Senior Content Marketing Manager at TUNE. Before TUNE, she led a variety of marketing and communications projects at San Francisco startups. Becky received her bachelor's degree in English from Wake Forest University. After living nearly a decade in San Francisco and Seattle, she has returned to her home of Charleston, SC, where you can find her enjoying the sun and salt water with her family.
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