How To Increase Video Engagement On YouTube

With the average user spending upwards of 74 minutes per day watching videos on YouTube, video engagement is one of the best ways for you to get your brand out there. But how do you get people to properly engage with the content you’re creating? 

Like most things worth their salt, creating engaging videos isn’t exactly an easy business. But, we promise it’s worth it, and once you’ve figured out how to make engagement work for you, it’s simple! 

But first, let’s back up a bit. What exactly is video engagement? 

It refers to the likes, shares, comments, saves, etc that a video receives. 

Simply viewing a video isn’t engaging with it, unfortunately, otherwise this would all be a whole lot easier. Good engagement means that you have a high engagement rate, which is just a fancy way of saying that most of your viewers are performing engaging actions.

High video engagement ensures brands are reaching their maximum audience and building lots of positive relationships with their consumers. On top of this, video engagement allows you to collect important analytics data that is crucial for marketing strategy. Finally, video engagement ensures you are selling your product in the most effective way. 

Good video engagement is the key to online success and we’re here to help you achieve it.

How to measure video engagement on YouTube 

Now that we know what video engagement is, let’s take a look at how to best keep track of it. 

Start by taking a look at each video individually. Each video is a little piece of the puzzle that adds up to your video engagement. Next, take note of all those video engagement metrics we talked about. Likes, comments, shares, even dislikes, are all crucial to measuring your video engagement. Now, it gets a bit mathy. Don’t be scared, you’ve got this. 

To calculate your engagement rate for a specific video, use the following formula: 

(Total number of engagements / total impressions) * 100 = Engagement rate %

Your total number of engagements is just the sum of all your likes, comments etc. Your total impressions are provided to you by your YouTube engagement stats (score!) What this fancy little formula gives you, is your engagement rate for that video. 

Now, to find out your engagement rate for your whole account, you need to find your engagement rate for each of your videos, then calculate the average. Ta dah! 

Once you’ve got all that information under your belt, you can start to take stock of how your engagement is doing. Is your rate higher than you expected? Or lower? Are certain videos getting better engagement? What’s the common thread between those? Take note of anything and everything you can deduce from your investigation. 

Tips for increasing video engagement 

How exactly do you achieve good engagement and high engagement rates? To help you out, we’ve put together the best ways you and your brand can maximise engagement on your videos and benefit from video content as much as possible. 

Understanding your audience

The first great way you can up your video engagement is by understanding your audience. Your viewers want relevant videos that speak to them and their needs. Rather than wasting their time, and yours, ensure that each video you share fits in with your channel, and with what your audience desires. 

Thumbnails

Studies show that the best video engagement videos have effective and aesthetically pleasing thumbnails. In fact, a great thumbnail can increase your engagement by up to 154%! Make sure that your thumbnails show what your video is about, are custom, and showcase your brand’s personality. 

On top of this, thumbnails that feature a human face do far better than those without. Faces in thumbnails humanise your brand, making you seem more authentic and personable. 

Subtitles

Another key way to increase your video engagement is by including subtitles. It is shown that 75% of all videos are watched on mobile devices, and 85% of videos watched on Facebook are done so without the sound on. 

Your viewers are far less likely to sit through a video on the tube, or discreetly in the office, if there’s no way to do so without sound. Make sure you’re catering to the needs of the modern audience and plug in those subtitles! 

CTAs

Ensuring that your videos have a call to action is a sure fire way to increase your engagement. Tell your viewers to visit your website to get more information on the topic at hand, or maybe embed a blog right there in your video. 

Studies have shown that calls to action increase video engagement stats by a whopping thirty-one times! That’s 3100% more! Wowee. 

Video length

The next key tip is making certain your videos are the appropriate length. 

Despite the many rumours that us humans have the attention spans of goldfish, shorter videos do far better in the digital age. Make sure you aren’t rambling on, or including too much information at once. Try making a multiple part series if you want to cover a lengthy topic, encouraging your audience to follow through to the next video. 

Oner Active did exactly this by splitting its documentary up into chapters for YouTube.

Relevance

Now, let’s move on to relevance. 

It can be a difficult task to keep up with the ever changing trend landscape, but it is crucial to make certain your videos are relevant. Do this by keeping track of what trends are currently doing well on YouTube and engaging with them. Make sure to tailor the trend to your specific brand, however. 

Another great way to stay relevant, is by implementing search word optimization, or, SEOs. This is done by finding keywords that are trending and plugging them into your description, title, or any other space you can. This ensures that whenever that keyword is searched, your video is at the top of the list. 

Promote

The final tip we have for you is, promotion! 

It may seem obvious, but make sure you are self promoting your content as much as you can. It is important to make sure you’re making it super easy for your audience to find and engage with your content. Post upcoming videos on your social accounts, send emails about videos to your subscribers, or even just mention other videos in your outros. 

So, there you have it; how to maximise your video engagement. Given the effectiveness of videos as a marketing strategy for business, seeking high rates of engagement is a no brainer. Apply these tips to your brands videos, and you’re sure to see great results on all your hard work. 

FAQ’s 

What is video engagement? 

Video engagement is essentially every way that a viewer can connect with your content that isn’t simply viewing it. The most important ones are likes, shares, and comments. 

What is good video engagement? 

Good video engagement is when you are receiving lots of engagement on your videos. Having a high engagement rate is the way you measure if your engagement is good or poor.

How is it measured?

Video engagement is measured through the number of likes, shares, comments, etc. your videos are receiving. More specifically, video engagement is calculated by your engagement rate. This, in turn, is found through the formula below. 

(Total number of engagements / total impressions) * 100 = Engagement rate in %

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@ Socially Powerful