Alastair KaneWhy Create A Video Or Webinar Campaign?
As varied content like infographics or ROI calculators increase in popularity, video content is increasingly common.
There are many reasons you might use video within content marketing campaigns. From a recorded webinar to an informative short, a June 2015 report from B2B Marketing stated that video is the second most effective content format after case studies. According to Brainshark, 93% of marketers are already using video for online marketing. And it has proven effective; if used in email, video can boost open rates by 20% and increase CTR 2-3x.
So what processes should you have in place to measure the effectiveness of your own video campaigns?
Considerations When Measuring The ROI Of A Video Campaign
A successful video strategy is as much about preparation as having relevant targeted content. After all, if you can’t measure your effectiveness, target key personas or promote your video, your campaign won’t be effective, and you won’t be able to judge ROI!
Step 1. Know What You Want To Achieve
Effective campaigns, video, or otherwise, are those that clearly define goals and strategies from the outset. So when considering a video campaign:
- Define what ROI means to you. What do you need to measure? Are you defining ROI based on a certain number of leads? Video views? Increased traffic to your site?
- Consider the content. You don’t want any old content here. For best ROI your video must be relevant to your buyer personas, and used to help solve their pain points. So in your video think; can I demonstrate how to do something difficult? Showcase how my product works? What can I really help my customers with?
- Consider the CTA. Linked to what ROI means for you, think about what you want your video to achieve. What should viewers be encouraged to do next, and how are you going to move them along the purchasing funnel? Should they sign up for a trial, visit a landing page to download more content? Are you planning to gate your video behind a sign-up form and create an email workflow to nurture leads?
Step 2. Make Sure Analytics Are In Place
Decided on your ROI KPI’s? Once you know what you want to achieve you need to be able to measure and track the data ahead of launching your campaign. This may be via your video platform’s analytics, Google Analytics, a closed-loop marketing automation platform or a combination of tools.
When it comes to metrics, remember that to prove ROI you may not be looking for a figure (though it’s worth calculating what each engagement, webinar sign-up or view is worth to compare with other channels). Brand awareness, social interactions, shares by target buyers and increased reach or engagement may all be indicators, and are equally as important. It all depends on your campaign goals.
Step 3. Consider Promotion Strategies
Once analytics are set and your video is in place you need to promote it. For consistent targeted reach (and better ROI), ideally you should form a defined process to use for all video and other content promotion. This may include:
- Social Media. Social promotion is integral to the Inbound Methodology, so make sure you’re sharing your content and engaging across your channels. But to really make the most of social and ensure your video is targeted at/ seen by the right viewers, consider social advertising, particularly LinkedIn sponsored updates.
- Co-branded content. If you can co-brand your content with key thought leaders in your industry, you’ll increase reach and credibility. However you work together, from hosting a webinar with someone of note, to guest posting content on their site, influencer advocacy is a great way to increase reach and awareness – so reach out.
- Employee advocacy. We’ve written about the benefits of employee advocacy before, and video promotion is no different. If employees are happy to share, make the most of their reach to promote your content.
- Support throughout the funnel. If your video (or more likely a webinar) is middle or bottom-of-the-funnel content, use your top-of-the-funnel content (such as blog posts) to promote it: have CTA’s leading to a sign-up page on your blog and on the homepage of your site, and promote it as part of email workflows when relevant.
A note on webinars. Pre-recorded webinars make excellent videos as they’re usually informative and helpful. Measuring webinar ROI is very similar to a video regarding knowing what you want to achieve and measure, however bear in mind that promotion and measurement strategies for webinars must be in place well in advance; from social promotion to workflows you’ll need to build and measure sign-ups beforehand, and should continue to promote and measure afterwards. Typically you will need two separate workflows for post-webinar promotion, one for those who attended, and one for those who did not.
Securing Your ROI
Video campaigns are a highly effective, engaging content type – as long as the right audiences are targeted, and relevant content is created. Whatever your campaign goals, content message and chosen metrics, the key lies in being able to reach and appeal to the right, specific audience throughout.
This was originally published on the Strategic Internet Consulting blog and has been re-published with permission.
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