Engagement is the key to monetization.
Will your video content thrive or die?
What’s the number one reason why some content providers grow exponentially, driving followers and subscribers? They ask themselves one single question: how will my target audience engage with every single video content post?
Video engagement at scale is not easy, as it requires big data and even artificial intelligence to predict which pieces of video content will connect with each specific user. It includes a handful of different metrics, for example:
- Virality Index
- Session Frequency
- Start Time and Speed of Startup
- Average Time to Register
- User-Generated Content Frequency
You can’t hope for engagement to magically happen. So, how to optimize audience engagement?
1. Design it for mobile, and adapt it to every screen
It’s no surprise the first step to increasing video engagement is to make your content easy for people to find. That means keeping your content social and mobile-friendly. Keep your aspect ratios on point — that means 1:1 for Instagram and 9:16 for Facebook — and your video short and sweet to resonate strongly on each platform.
2. Nail the intro
When it comes to video, the name of the game is to start strong. No matter where your content resides, the make or break mark for all online video is between 3 and 5 seconds. That’s the amount of time you have to hook your viewer into watching more, rather than clicking or scrolling away.
3. Make it bright, clear, and crisp
Quality multi-camera video production used to require expensive equipment and technical expertise, resulting in a costly and time-consuming endeavor. You can check out apps like Live2.Social to create quality live streaming from your mobile devices.
4. Don’t ignore the title and thumbnail
Your video’s thumbnail is the first thing your audience will see when scrolling through their feed (or your grid). A solid thumbnail that’s informative, enticing, and aesthetically pleasing will help you get initial interest, while also letting your viewer know what they’re in for. Properly optimized thumbnails have been found to increase video engagement by over 150%.
5. Subtitle your videos
Don’t assume your viewer is going to be watching your video with sound. A recent study found that 90% of mobile video watchers consumed their content while on mute. You can work around that by providing easy-to-read captions on your video whenever a voiceover is present.
6. Include a CTA
It might be customary to wait until the end of your video to deliver a CTA to your audience, but depending on the overall length, sometimes it pays off to break the rules. Place CTAs throughout your videos, whenever it makes sense to do so. Front-loading your calls to action makes it easier to reach more people — and let them know what to do next.
How to track and monetize your video engagement
There are plenty of easy ways to gauge engagement at a glance — reviewing your views and comments on social and websites is an easy way to get a sense of it. But for those who want to dive deeper, Streann offers a suite of video analytics tools tailored to help you get smarter about your video-making.
Streann looks at the future of content like no one else does, and we just launched new features to help broadcasters gather insights about their users and build dynamic monetization options.
About Streann
Streann Media®️ is the world’s most innovative and interactive content creation, distribution, engagement, and monetization streaming platform. With Streann, content providers can create live streaming content and build next-generation Web 3.0 business models, with more than 150 proprietary features. Established in Miami, Florida, the company has won several industry awards for its innovations and has millions of active users in 141 geographies. For more information, visit www.streann.com.
