A video marketing question we hear often here at Kuno Creative is, "How does one truly measure the power of video?" It's an excellent question, and the truth is, videos are difficult to measure. How do I know my videos are inspiring viewers to take action and learn more about my products or services? Are people even watching my videos?
To help me answer this question, I had a chat with Michael Litt, founder & CEO of Vidyard. Vidyard is a video hosting and management company that provides marketers and sales people an easy way to post video online, and then see exactly who is viewing that content and for how long. Here's how Litt says marketers can measure their video marketing efforts with Vidyard:
Using analytics with video is a new technology, but it is also a very useful one. In the past, the number of clicks, likes and views could give us an idea about the popularity of our videos. But, according to Litt, that's not really the case anymore.
“At the very basic level, when someone watches a Vidyard video, you can actually see how that individual interacts with content,” he says. “Say the video has been viewed by 1,000 people; we can show you how the 1,000 people viewed that content. If there's a significant drop-off in the beginning of the video or something was said that was misinterpreted or misaligned that caused the significant drop offs, you can actually use that data to perfect the performance of that content in future iterations.”
Using video in lead nurturing and drip campaigns is an excellent way of mixing up the content for your visitors. Instead of having leads download or read another guide or whitepaper, you can include a short video. Vidyard provides you with a way to optimize that video.
“Video is an incredibly engaging medium. It's the next best thing to being there in person," he says. "With advanced video player technology and proper planning, you could actually have a video player that interacts with web content. At the end of a video, a new page loads, and it displays some different content, which slowly takes the viewer down your marketing funnel. They don't even have to find their own way through it; the video can actually guide them through that process.”
The driving force behind any campaign is the use of email, and Vidyard knows this. “The play button is one of the most compelling calls-to-action on the web,” Michael says. “We've started embedding thumbnails with play buttons inside of email campaigns and have actually seen a 63 percent lift in click-through rate when we embed a video thumbnail in an email.”
He continues: “The idea is to increase click through and conversion. When people click that video thumbnail in an email, it automatically redirects directs them to a web page where that video player is embedded. Because we know they came from the email, we automatically play the video when they visit. It's a very seamless experience from seeing the email to clicking play and watching the video.”
To boost use of video thumbnails in email, Vidyard has partnered with ExactTarget to provide users of both platforms this experience. Now those users are able to seamlessly track the path of their visitors through email to their videos.
Everything dealing with marketing is measured by return on investment, and video is no exception. The great thing about video is that, once it's on your website, it's there forever (or at least until you take it down). This means web visitors can watch whenever they want. With the cost of equipment and software decreasing and the technology improving, video ROI is becoming easier to measure.
“ROI is certainly obtainable, and I do think an investment in video marketing is probably one of the wisest strategies today,” Michael says. “That's something we are solving with our integration with Salesforce. You produce a video that costs you $10,000, a client worth $20,000 watches that video, and you've actively proven the ROI in that video. I'll use a quote from our contact at Salesforce: ‘Having ‘X’ number of videos on your website is like having ‘X’ times infinity number of active sales reps who never sleep, because people can come and browse that content at their own will.’”
It is always easier to see how companies are utilizing a strategy before embarking on your own. Companies are using video in some creative methods. One company who is using online video to track visitors and customers is Home Depot.
“They'll publish a two-minute video that answers a highly searched question, such as 'How to Replace a Toilet' on YouTube. Then at the end of the video, the Home Depot employee will say, ‘Hey, click the link in the description field or the annotation, go to homedepot.com, and see the full version of this content.’ When the users do that, we've got them. They're in the sales funnel and locked into the Home Depot site,” Michael explains.
What questions do you have about measuring video marketing? Share them in the comments below!
Photo Credit: Clarity
With a degree in Electronic Media, Dan Romanski has five years of video production, both professionally and independently. When he is not assisting with lead nurturing campaigns and projects at Kuno, he can be found exploring different parts of Cleveland with his camera. Connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Plus.
