Video contents on the web has evolved and became one of the most popular way to deliver information as well as entertainment. And on YouTube only, there are more than a billion hours worth of videos added each day.
Since video consumption rises, nearly every social media networks are giving their specialized video feature, packed with algorithms to target the audience better. For this particular reason, video marketers need to know how to ace the algorithms in order to champion their videos.
By understanding the trends and videos that went viral, based on data that includes metrics from analytics, marketers can have the information to create their own video which should perform better.
The first thing they need to know, is the key performance indicators (KPIs). These will help them in determining whether they're able to reach a realistic goal, based on the content their audience prefers, who watches the videos, and how people are finding them.
To ensure marketers' video strategy and yield results, below is a list of metrics they need to track.
Most Engaged Videos
For video marketers, their top priority should be optimizing engagement rates. On YouTube, engagements are measured with likes, dislikes, comments, shares and subscribers.
These engagement currencies are the primary directives for YouTube's algorithms. Videos with higher engagement rates indicate more popularity. YouTube will find those videos to be more interesting and worth interacting with, and this will make those videos to show up more often.
By knowing how top videos perform, YouTube marketers can replicate their formula to create the type of content formats, topics and styles to lure the algorithms, making their videos to appear higher in internal search.
It is important to note that YouTube has a large amount of categories. Marketers need to aim those videos that have the same niche. Different niche targets different types of audience, so it's wiser to stick to those videos that have similar category.
Average View Durations
Next up, is the average view durations. This crucial metric provides the data based on what YouTube's algorithms have analyzed. A longer view duration means that the video is able to capture its audience's attention.
To improve this metric, marketers need to know where they currently stand. If they manage multiple YouTube channels on various verticals, they need to have reports to all of those, individually..
To establish watch time via the Creator Studio, marketers can select Analytics > Watch Time Reports > Watch Time.
Monitor and collect YouTube data points like average view percentages and view volume for various channels. Each channel can even be set up as its own dashboard that is embedded in client-facing reporting system, or shared with a managed group of user profiles.
This type of high-level oversight gives marketers the data needed to increase views, video watch times and subscribers.
Subscribers-To-Views Ratio
What's important to know is that, a channel needs to create contents that really appeal with the audience. Not just subscribers, marketers should also increase the number of subscribers-to-views ratio
This is an indicator that shows how much value the marketers are providing to their loyal viewers. By understanding this metric, marketers should be able to adapt to the audience's taste.
This audience's satisfaction rate should also give marketers' channel an algorithmic edge. Videos that generate views from more subscribers within a few days of posting, tend to perform the best over time.
To determine the subscribers-to-views ratio, marketers can filter their dashboard to only show results for the last 28 days. From there, they can compare the number of views to their total subscribers and calculate the percentage.
To deepen your competitive research, compare the data with others in the niche.
This data should also give a good starting point for finding the most effective content strategies to experiment with.
Suggestion Referrals
When a video appears on the suggestion column alongside a video with tons of views, can lead to a massive increase in videos, engagements and subscribers.
This is why marketers need to always monitor and track which of their videos are most often suggested to YouTube viewers, and which of them are sending the best audience. To get into this metric, marketers can go to Analytics > Traffic Sources > Suggested Videos.
"Is a specific video from others are sending a significantly more traffic than any other?" This question can be answered by analyzing the metric. This metric should give the information needed to determine the common themes to replicate others' successes.
Search Referrals
YouTube channels that have just been created, may not have much of a choice rather than depending on YouTube's internal search for traffic.
After having some videos posted, marketers can find and track the keywords searches that are sending the most YouTube users by heading to Analytics > Traffic Sources > YouTube Search.
Here, marketers can see the impact of the keywords, and how they attract viewership, in any given time period, and relative to each other. If marketers can get their video to perform well for certain search terms, YouTube may rank their channel and content highly for those queries.
Recognizing the importance of YouTube search for users, marketers should optimize their channel to be found and monitor the results of their efforts.