Are Your Video Campaigns Working?

The power of video in marketing campaigns has been well-established (Forbes) and by now you may be investing in creating more video content. But how can you evaluate if your association is realizing a return on investment (ROI) on video campaigns and demonstrate the value they add to your campaign goals? And, most importantly, what will you do with that information?

Determine the Cost of Your Investment

Before evaluating the results of the campaign, establish the costs of creating it. Did you hire a videographer or invest in a video editing software? Did you purchase stock imagery or use volunteer talent? You may need to drill down to determine the cost per video out of your overall video budget.

Tip: Stretch your budget by repurposing video content across campaigns. Pay a videographer to capture b-roll at an event once and use it in event promotions, membership drives, and more throughout the year.

Focus on the Goal

There’s an overwhelming amount of data that can be collected on video, depending on the platform(s) you’re using. You can track views, clicks, engagement, and conversions (to customers or subscribers) but there’s no need to evaluate and report each data point! If the goal of a video you created for Instagram was to encourage comments on the post, focus on the engagement rate (comments, likes, shares) instead of clicks to your link in bio. But if the call-to-action was clicks to your website, don’t get hung up on a low engagement rate. Your return on investment is personal to your specific goals and will likely vary campaign to campaign. 

Tip: For user-generated content campaigns, the success metric may be just the number of videos created and those other data points are irrelevant. 

Learn and Pivot

After evaluating if your videos are helping your association reach its goals the question becomes – what are you going to do with that information? Use what you learned from the audience reception to inform future video campaigns. Do you need shorter videos or to share them on different platforms?

Tip: You can do this in real time using A/B testing. Create two versions of a video with small changes like adding captions or using different messaging and share both simultaneously. Compare the call-to-action metrics to determine which is more effective.

And one last tip for the road – Qualitative results are just as important as quantitate results. For example, alongside reporting how a video moved the needle on membership renewals, share how featuring the Board President made members feel more connected to association leadership. Video is an important component for brand identity but that ROI is harder to demonstrate with data.  

Erin Espy is in Marketing & Communication Services at Smithbucklin.

Erin Espy

(she/her)

Marketing & Communications Services
Smithbucklin