Question: What is the best way to measure ROI on an online video campaign?
Answer: Using an analytics platform is an ideal way to track a campaign's success because it gives marketers real-time intelligence that will allow them to continually optimize the cam-paign and ensure the highest ROI. For example, if you know that the bulk of your Web traffic is coming from ads placed on a particular site, you can increase efforts there and increase overall campaign effectiveness. The most appealing aspect of using analytics software is that it combines data from all sites so that, if advertisers are running a multiplatform campaign, they can assess the entire campaign through one analytics dashboard.
Search engine rankings are also a quick way to gauge an online campaign's success. Since search engines now crawl and rank sites based on blended content—including images, video and audio—tracking how your ranking for various branded keywords changes over the course of an online video campaign is a great place to start.
Another benchmark of success is the traction video content gets on aggregator sites such as YouTube, MetaCafe and Blinkx. In addition to monitoring how many people watch your video, these sites allow viewers to tag, bookmark, rank and comment on videos. Such feedback is another invaluable way to gauge how video content is being perceived online.
Brand interaction is another effective way to monitor the success of an online video campaign. Several metrics can be used to address brand interaction: Tracking how long viewers watch an advertisement, what percentage of the video clip viewers watch and how often they see an advertisement can provide valuable information to online marketers. For example, if users consistently watch only a small percentage of a video ad, marketers might want to try A/B creative testing or change media placements.
By combining the above data, marketers can have a real idea of how much traction their online video campaign is garnering. The more information, the better off marketers will be.
Andreas Roell is co-founder and president-CEO of online marketing agency Geary Interactive (www.gearyi.com).