Earlier this year, the world celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the first video ever uploaded to YouTube. Since that time, we’ve learned about the power of “going viral” and that cat videos are, indeed, the best things ever.
We’ve also seen the rise of online video monolith Netflix, and how it overtook traditional media companies like CBS in terms of valuation by creating original content for Web audiences. The power of video content is incontrovertible because, at its core, video is a compelling medium for storytelling.
As marketers begin looking at how to wrangle the complexities of executing a solid video marketing strategy, we’re learning that video marketing ROI can’t be demonstrated by number of views alone: Some of the most useful information from successful video marketing campaigns can only be found by integrating video to your marketing automation platform (MAP).
Programmatic/Strategic Delivery
Using B2C platforms like YouTube and Vimeo is great for quick access to a large audience, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into video marketing ROI. As covered by Convince Convert, a Forrester report determined that the shotgunning approach to video delivery offered by these types of platforms fails to deliver video content dynamically through the buyer’s journey.
Many marketers are familiar with customer profiles and delivering content tailored to their intended audience as they proceed through the funnel; there is no reason why video shouldn’t be included as part of a comprehensive strategy. Integrating your online video provider (OVP) with your MAP allows you to nurture customer engagement and create rules for following up with customers when appropriate. Delivering video content to your customers effectively can be the difference between discovering a lead or losing it to another Justin Bieber video.
Video Creation Workflow Management
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel every time you create a new video asset. Many OVP’s have built workflow management implicitly into their offering to help you keep it under control. Creating video content has its own unique challenges that a customized workflow can help address.
Being able to scale the creation process is key to maintaining content velocity and keeping your audience engaged. If you have already integrated with your MAP, it’s possible to seamlessly automate workflow processes across creation, management, and publishing. When thinking about video marketing ROI in real terms, part of the investment you are making is the time it takes to create and deliver content before it turns into lead and new business.
Effective Reporting to Drive Conversions
The easy, and often deceptive, metric people look at when measuring ROI is total views. We’ve all heard the stories of Super Bowl ads that captivated audiences and created buzz, but didn’t effectively translate into new business by their creators. Content with a lot of views can do the same thing without effective reporting. More sophisticated video analytics allows marketers to track detailed engagement data, such as how long a customer watched a video or specific segments that they rewatched.
Finding insights about what resonates with your customers will allow you to effectively experiment with the video content you produce and hone in on what works. After integrating with your MAP, you’ll be able to track what video content the customer interacted with through their journey to gain further insights.
Online video is here to stay. As with content marketing, the way we look at and measure the effectiveness of our work must quickly evolve to meet the demands on ROI. Integrating video into your marketing repertoire is an essential skill for brands in 2015.
For more information on measuring ROI, check out our eBook.