How to Enhance Your Marketing Videos With Analytics

Creating video content can be a grueling process, leaving marketers with carpal tunnel from hours upon hours of editing and fine-tuning. On top of the production process, marketers stress about video promotion to enable people to find it, like it, and share it. Lucky for you, YouTube recently launched an improved and more thorough analytics report to help you understand what's working and what isn't with your video marketing efforts. You can determine which specific demographics watch your videos, track the sources of where people find and watch your content, and discover how long your audience is watching with YouTube's audience retention report. Using these insights, you will be empowered to create future video content that better appeals to your audience and makes a bigger dent in your marketing goals.

To access your videos' YouTube analytics reports, simply log in to your YouTube account and visit http://www.youtube.com/analytics. Here are the three valuable insights YouTube's analytics report offers marketers and how you can use them to improve your video marketing content for greater success.

YouTube Demographics Report

What does it measure? YouTube’s demographics report will let you know which gender and age group is viewing your videos.

Why is this important? You could have a problem on your hands if you're creating content that's tailored to a male audience in their mid-twenties and the YouTube demographics report reveals that the majority of your viewers are middle-aged women. The demographics report is a great resource that can help measure whether or not you are effectively communicating your message to your target audience.

How can I make improvements? If you're trying to attract the attention of a different age group or gender, you're going to have to create new content that is relevant to that demographic. Also, keep in mind how you're choosing to present this information in your videos. Pay close attention to the style, pace of your video, and editing techniques that you're using. A younger audience tends to watch video content that is fast-paced, flashy, and has a strong focus on the aesthetics of the video. Viewers of an older generation tend to prefer more traditional style videos. They generally have a longer attention span that is suitable for a slower paced and informative video without all the bells and whistles. 

YouTube Views and Sources Report

What does it measure? After you upload your video, track the number of views it gains each week as well as its sources. It's also helpful to track the number of 'likes' and subscribers. Ultimately, you want to identify which is the most effective channel to embed your video. YouTube analytics will reveal if your video is gaining more exposure directly on YouTube or from being embedded on a blog, a Facebook page, or your website.

Why is this important? Your total number of views, 'likes,' and number of subscribers is how you will measure your level of success on YouTube. People who stumble upon your YouTube channel are more likely to stay and watch your videos if they notice your channel has a ton of views and subscribers. How other viewers have reviewed and rated your content will also influence how a newcomer perceives your channel. The number of views and subscribers you gain will build your reputation and image. 

How can I make improvements?Optimize your video’s tags to make it easier for people to find your content. In addition, search YouTube for content similar to your own video project, and leave a video response to their video. This will help redirect that video's viewers to your own video. Make the video experience engaging, and encourage your audience to share the video with others. Add video annotations reminding viewers to 'like' your video and subscribe to your channel to stay updated with future video content. Naturally, your viewers will leave comments if your video is awesome and thought-provoking, and you'll generate a following of returning viewers if they're engaged enough to leave comments and start conversations. 

YouTube Audience Retention Report

What does this measure? YouTube Analytics offers an awesome audience retention report that measures your audience’s level of engagement. You can even see the specific points in your videos when viewers lose interest and stop watching your videos.

Why is this important? This report is great for measuring the effectiveness and quality of your videos. The audience retention graph can help pinpoint the weakest section or sections of your videos. The engagement graph will show you drastic decreases, which indicate an issue with your content or presentation. If more than half of your audience is bailing on your video after only watching the first minute, there could be an issue with your content (e.g. boring, irrelevant to the viewer), production quality (e.g. below average video and audio quality), or the duration (e.g. video drags on).

Not only does the audience retention report help you understand where your video needs improvement, but it also compares your audience retention/engagement to other YouTube videos of the same length. It’s helpful to know how your content is performing compared to your competitors.

How can I make improvements? Structure your video accordingly. Make sure you grab your viewer’s attention from the get-go and then keep them interested and focused throughout the remainder of the video. If you notice your viewers are typically abandoning your videos after two or three minutes, create shorter videos in the future. Take more time to plan your projects, improve the production quality, make sure your sound recording is perfect, and work on your editing skills.

Creating video content takes time, resources, planning, and hours of editing. Tracking your video's views, the source of the views, and analyzing your audience retention report can greatly assist in the planning, production, and success of your next video. Don’t waste your time and effort creating content that isn't capturing your audience's attention. Utilize YouTube analytics to help you understand how to plan, create, and share the next video your audience is searching for so you can achieve better video marketing success! 

Are you leveraging YouTube's analytics to create better video content for your marketing efforts?