YouTube started out as a way for individuals to share their personal videos. However, it has grown into a valuable social media tool for businesses that contribute valuable content, educational information and entertaining promotional videos. YouTube video tracking is a key way that marketers can make sure they are providing value to viewers while also benefiting their own bottom line.

Videos are one of the best ways to share information on the internet because people like to engage with them that’s why marketers should develop video content marketing strategies as well.

Businesses that take advantage of this trend are a step ahead of their competitors. In addition, videos can be uploaded to almost every social media site, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Vine. There is no doubt that new social media sites specifically for sharing videos will pop up too.

And once marketers are taking notice of something, high-level analytics are never far behind. With all this activity surrounding video sharing, it is essential to introduce video link tracking so your team can centralize the measurement of this marketing strategy as it grows in importance. YouTube video tracking will be particularly useful early on as you hone your message, find your target audience and work out what’s most effective for your brand.

Setting up a YouTube channel

The first step to providing video content on YouTube is to set up an account. For most businesses, the best bet is to set up one channel per company, theme or product line. Using this method will maintain a focus on that name brand or product name. You can choose to set up a standard channel or a branded channel. A branded channel gives you more visual branding and tags, as well as more exposure on YouTube’s mobile site – m.youtube.com, so it’s probably the best choice.

Set out clear goals

As you work to build a following for your YouTube videos and channel, it is important to remember what your goals are. We’ve laid out the following to get you started and help you remember that it’s about drawing attention and taking viewers right through to taking an action, like signing up for your newsletter or buying your product:

• • To create videos that will be found in organic Google and YouTube search
  • To draw a relevant audience to your videos
  • To share your videos across social media networks
  • To draw customers to your site
  • To drive conversions and sales

Getting the Best ROI

With the proper video link tracking set up, you can measure the ROI of each of your social media channels. This allows you to tweak your marketing activities until they reach peak performance and lets you know where to invest additional resources. Tracking can also tell you which messages resonate with your audience most and which need to be replaced.

Beyond just tracking videos and the performance of your YouTube channel, ClickMeter offers centralized link tracking for all of your social media channels with great analytics insights that will let you quickly measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

What Tracking Shows You

YouTube link tracking gives you valuable information that you can view in your ClickMeter dashboard, including:

• How many views you have on each video
• How videos are rated – so you can know what resonates with viewers
• Where the traffic is coming from
• The demographics of viewers
• Where videos are shared
• Changes in viewing patterns

This information will assist you in determining which videos are popular, who likes them and why. As well as what new videos draw an audience and if these viewers are within your target demographics. Additionally, you will know when a video’s views drop off.

Conversion Tracking with Annotations

YouTube video annotations offer one opportunity to marketers to control the message of your videos and produce conversions. The goal is to drive viewers to convert without overwhelming them with promotional video content. There are five types of annotations:

• Speech bubbles
• Spotlights
• Notes
• Titles
• Labels

YouTube has a tutorial on how to create and edit annotations which covers the basics of how to set them up. For the purpose of creating video link tracking, spotlight and note annotations are the best choices.

Spotlight annotations are used to highlight specific items in a video and add clickable areas within a video. These annotations work well with a call to action added to them. The call to action could be to watch additional videos or read information on your website about the same topic.

Note annotations add a pop-up box with text and a colored background to videos. Note annotations offer a quick method of adding links to a video even after it has been made. Links added to annotations can be tracked using the same methods as other clickable links.

Video Splash Screen and Credits

Another way to add a URL and brand name to your video is by using a splash screen and video credits at the beginning and end of your video. Remember, it takes an average of viewing your brand name 20 times before someone will take action.

Social Media Sharing

Any time a YouTube video is shared on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media sites, the connecting link is trackable. Tracking these links will add to your data and let you know who is viewing and sharing your videos so you can determine relevant marketing material.

ClickMeter offers other features that can benefit your video link tracking, including domain name cloaking or cPanel link cloaking for shorter, more memorable links which are more likely to clock up share.

Related Reading:

• How to track your Tumblr visitors
• How retargeting links can expand your marketing reach
• How to create a tracking link
• How to track conversions

This blog post is about:

• YouTube video tracking
• Link tracking for YouTube
• Link tracking for videos
• YouTube video tracking in ClickMeter