Companies that are following the video landscape this year know that Facebook is now giving considerable priority to video content. If you are paying attention, you know that this has not made YouTube irrelevant.  These two channels anchor your video strategy -- if not your whole content strategy -- for most video outreach content. Now more than ever, companies should be reaching their clients and customers with video and learning from the metrics they track.

Knowing what you want to do with video is a solid start. Are you creating content that captures potential customers searching for how-to videos on your product, services or area of expertise?  Then pat yourself on the back for having vision and goals, my friend. But know that for many companies, maintaining video production output goals and evolving useful metrics into actionable feedback present more of a challenge. Use this self-assessment checklist to determine whether your approach is working for you.

Have you updated the way you calculate ROI for your video outreach this year?

Return-on-investment is not a "set-it-and-forget-it" metric. The change of emphasis at Facebook should make video production more valuable in general, but the efficacy of visual storytelling will vary depending on the quality of your videos as well as the intrinsic visual appeal of your business sector. There is NO substitute for paying attention to specific videos and poring over the analytics to estimate revenue generated by each one. If you make changes to your pricing or revenue streams, updating ROI calculations promptly will be key to understanding the costs of your video content program.

Do you repurpose strong video content effectively?

If you are producing longer-form video content and not pulling out short segments for use in new contexts, look into the opportunities repurposing can bring.  If you add a video platform such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Vine, consider excerpting some of your best previously produced work for presentation as tight little clips. Short clips can be a little bit challenging. Vine videos can't exceed 6 seconds in running time. Twitter videos can be around 15 to 20 seconds. Embracing these tight video lengths pulls your marketing outreach into a focus that only brevity can compel. You may find that the process of editing down excerpts helps you create shorter "long" videos, too. Shorter, tighter video means less abandonment by your watchers.

Transcribing those segments gives you even more flexibility in upcycling strong moments from your video library to some platforms.

Are you paying attention to the correct metrics?

The simple metrics built into the major platforms are the first place to look, of course. YouTube and its parent company, Google, have been leaders in analytics for decades now. By all means, check weekly or more often to see whether your video posts show up listed in your Top Tweets.  On Facebook, start by sorting "Insights by Post Type" to compare the reach and engagement of your videos with the other types of content you post. Simple indications of interest come first. There are a variety of ways to measure the success of a specific video. You'll gain useful insights by tracking view counts, watch-time, shares, and comments.

Noticing engagement -- what interests your followers -- provides crucial insights, but you will need more insights to understand the ROI of your video marketing. Track intermediate steps such as lead generation as well as revenue.  You must follow the money on a granular level to determine whether your video initiatives are worth the investment.  Make sure to include calls to action in your videos, drawing watchers to your website for more information. Well-crafted calls to action can be tracked and carefully honed over time to improve ROI. Link tags called UTM parameters allow links you provide near your videos to be tracked specifically in Google Analytics. Some video platforms provide the ability to incorporate the act of email capture into launching a video player, and may improve the granularity of feedback you see.

Do you know what actually works for video virality these days? 

Video that went viral two years ago might not take off today. Keeping aware of what's hot can inform your aesthetic, if your own video content tends to be trendy. Even if your video content is paced to be educational or is markedly niche in subject matter, watching top trends can provide inspiration. In addition, the methods for tying viral videos to revenue streams are evolving, too. This piece about a viral video master on Facebook may inspire you to align your video program with an email subscription signup, for example. Build Facebook trends into your video strategy. Watch for trends among your followers. Take the newest meme and post a Facebook video that plays with the concept. Include trending hashtags to attract views from those who are watching the relevant trends.

We're a Photo and Video boutique creating commercial images for branding. We have been working with video strategy for 14 years. We used to be just edgy. Now we're edgy and wise. When you contact us, we'll discuss your current strategy with you to see whether we can improve your video ROI.