Data, data everywhere… These days, data seems to be involved in every personal and business decision. Every like, share, page viewed, purchase made, or video watched leaves a digital fingerprint. With more information at our fingertips than ever before, every company is trying to get their slice of the pie, and we have been talking about data as being the new oil for over a decade now.
Companies that hold data, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, have gone from nothing to being some of the largest companies on the planet in two decades. But marketing departments have also benefitted from data.
When used well, data can be a powerful tool in a marketer’s arsenal. However, it is easy to pump resources into data without really knowing how best to use the information you get back. This, therefore, means that many companies don’t feel the full benefit of data analysis. So, how can data help you feel the benefits of video marketing?
Well, armed with data, there is now more intel into exactly what kind of content is landing with your audience – who is watching what and for how long? What do people like to see? Perhaps more important than finding out who is watching your video content, is who isn’t, and why.
Knowing why you are on the wrong track can be more important and impactful than thinking you are on the right track. So, if you have a feeling that you aren’t using data correctly, and have a hunch that your video marketing strategy isn’t taking you down the right path, what are the tell-tale signs? Here are some key indicators that are driven by data, and our suggestions for how to overcome them:
1. Early Drop-Offs
We have known for decades that most people only read the first few lines of a newspaper article and will only stay if they are captivated by the first paragraph or so. In this new digital age, your audience behaves in the same way – if they are interested in the content of your video after a few seconds, they are much more likely to stay for the duration. If not, they drop off.
For video marketers, ensuring you grab attention early on in your content is key. Data will show you how quickly people are dropping off your content. As such, if this consistently happens early, this is a clear indication that you aren’t doing enough to capture your audience’s attention early on in your video content. There is no point in saving all the juicy stuff for the middle or the end of your video content if your audience is dropping off after a few seconds, so get to the punch faster.
2. Poor Results of Video Marketing
Ultimately, your video marketing aims to help spread your message and sell your product. Data can show us how long people are viewing your content, but it can also give us an indication of how successfully your content marketing drives sales. In short, if people are consistently watching your content from start to finish, but they aren’t buying at the end of it, that content isn’t doing its job.
For some companies, this might mean that your Call to Action isn’t strong enough. You might have created a great piece of content, but without a strong Call to Action, you’ll never convert viewers into buyers.
3. A Lack of Views
A lack of views is a key indication that your content isn’t landing and the most obvious indication of whether your video content is successful. You can have what you think is a great piece of content, but if you aren’t getting any views then what is the point? There are several reasons why this might happen.
Of course, creative content will always shine brighter. Topical content tied to a recent event is also likely to outperform content that has no context. The platform your content is on can also mean different audiences view it – or don’t. Finally, videos that are promoted often outperform those that aren’t.
4. Incorrect Indexing of Video Content
Getting your indexing right is crucial to content marketing success. Imagine going to a library and looking for a book, but without any inkling into how those books are arranged – are they alphabetical by title, or author? Now imagine that, but for every video on the internet, with millions and millions of files. It is easy for your content to get lost in this ocean of video.
Without correct indexing, views will never be as high as they could be, and your content could be wasted. Rich snippet information combined with a site map can help to drive better engagement with your content marketing.
5. The Wrong Audience
This may sound obvious but tailoring your content to your audience is crucial to success. If you have identified a very niche targeted audience, it makes sense to target them with longer, more informative videos as they already have an interest in your product. Likewise, a broader consumer base is likely to prefer a short sharp piece of content. Different ages and genders may prefer particular subjects and formats. Different people use different channels – one may prefer content hosted on news websites, whereas others might prefer videos on social media.
Data can give you an indication as to how audience sectors prefer to consume video content, and getting this right is incredibly important to not only focussing the style and content of your video marketing campaigns but also where you distribute it.
6. A Lack of Repeat Views of Video Content
A lack of repeat views might mean that you managed to get your audience’s attention for one viewing, but they haven’t enjoyed your content enough to re-watch it. Essentially, it wasn’t engaging enough to revisit.
This is often hard to achieve, but great creative shines through. How often have you watched that advert from 10 years ago, because it was great? Or watched that content that made you laugh, smile or cry over and over again? This is what great creative instils in us – emotion and buy-in, which often leads to repeat views.
7. A Lack of Shares
What do you do when you come across great content? In general, people share it with friends, family, colleagues. So, if your content isn’t getting many shares, you have a problem. It shows that people don’t like your message enough to share it with others. We have all seen the power of viral video – one day it doesn’t exist and the next it seems like everyone is watching it, sharing it and talking about it. Whether it be ‘Charlie bit my finger’ or a company’s latest advert, shared video content can spread like wildfire, creating instant success.
This level of success is hard to achieve, but at the very least, you should see your video content should be getting shared, even if it doesn’t go viral. Again, a solid Call to Action helps, as well as embedded social links and – perhaps most importantly – creativity shining through, capturing imaginations and making people want to share it.
8. Unwelcome Comments
You will often find unwelcome comments on your video content but having a lot of them on the same piece of content can be extremely damaging. This is direct feedback from your audience, and while the odd negative comment here or there won’t be irreparable, a glut of them could be. Negative comments are a symptom of your content not hitting the correct audience with a relevant message at the right time.
This is hard to achieve, but factors such as tone, language, the platform you publish content on, and the format of your video content all contribute towards success or failure. Again, it is about using data to ensure you are hitting the right areas with your content.
Conclusion
For companies, this is a lot to consider, but if your content isn’t landing and isn’t getting the results that you hoped it would, chances are it is for one of these reasons.
These are problems that only become apparent in retrospect, meaning that you could feasibly create content that ticks so many boxes but overlooking just one of these factors could mean that your video content doesn’t fulfil its potential.
This is why bringing in a trusted partner can make a real difference for brands. Any content marketing agency worth their salt will be able to create a video strategy that takes these factors into account. Combine that with further data analysis into what you are doing right and great creative, and you have a winning formula.
Not only will they be able to do this for upcoming content that they create for you, but they will also be able to advise on your previous content marketing assets and why they weren’t landing so that together, you can learn from these mistakes.
Data is such a powerful tool when used correctly. It can show you where you are going right, but also what isn’t landing and why.
If you want to find out how data can influence your digital marketing strategy, get in touch here.
