A recent article on Advertisement.com provides 7 key metrics to track for optimal use of YouTube. Below are the key metrics with our summary.
Audience Demographics and Playback Location
Understanding demographics provide insight into the age, gender and other data regarding your contents consumer. The article discusses hitting your current target audience, however this data provides insight into who your target audience is comprised. Perhaps you are missing a segment of buyers?
Views and Watching Time
The key component of this metric is understanding what parts of your content are being viewed. Should you create shorter videos (especially in the world of TikTok and micro videos?). Let the data dictate your content, especially duration.
Audience Retention Rate
This quality measurement gives insight to the consumer (your audience) and the content. Understanding the portion of videos that are watched (or not watched) assist in curating the digestible parts of your content. Future content can be delivered around the “best of” fashion.
Traffic
Traffic is critical to understanding consumotion and promoting your brand. Our favorite quote from this article is “Understanding the traffic source metric will let you refine your video distribution strategy by identifying the sources that can be improved upon and the ones that aren’t worth taking the trouble”
Devices
Understanding which device people use assists in developing strategy. We assume a majority of people view content on a smartphone or tablet, but what if your audience is on larger screens? Understanding the screen is similar to cinema versus television.
Audience Engagement
Perhaps the most critical measurement provided in this is the breakdown of views; likes/dislikes, shares, comments and subscribers. As marketers we love views and more is better, unless you become an ill-timed internet sensation or meme.
Referrals
Understanding site referral traffic provides insight for delivery platforms. The conversion rate is a measure of your audiences understanding of the message. Always seek data that illuminates contents performance to the desired outcomes (buying, subscribing etc..).
YouTube remains a powerful platform and a must in your social media strategy. Spend the extra time to create content based on analytics and data for desirable results.