Six Reasons Why Your Videos Aren’t Being Watched

You’ve done it. You produced your first series of marketing videos. They’re uploaded, and so all that’s left to do is sit back, relax, and watch the viewer counter rise.

Except, it isn’t.

Many businesses invest large portions of their marketing budgets to video creation, yet it sits on Youtube getting little views. Your content is awesome, so why aren’t your videos being watched?!

Below, we’ve compiled a list of the most common factors that turn viewers away. Keep these in mind when you’re formulating your next video content strategy.

You’re Targeting the Wrong People

I love kittens. I love kitten videos. We all love kitten videos. Here’s one for you now. But what do they have to do with your brand?

Whenever creating visual content, that’s a question you need to ask, “What does this have to do with my brand?”. And, while there may be a way to incorporate kittens into that, it still needs to be relevant to your audience.

When you begin the video process, a crucial thing to consider is what your audience wants to watch (prospective and current customers alike). What is going to be useful to them? What will grab their attention, make them glad they clicked your video, and answer the questions that brought them to your video originally.

You’re on the Wrong Channel

When you think video, you think YouTube, right? And your assumption isn’t wrong. A third of all the people on the Internet use Youtube. Incredible!

However, YouTube is not the only place videos are watched, and it’s not the only place you’ll find an audience. Facebook is the undisputed king of social media channels, so, if you’re focusing on Youtube alone, well you’re missing out on a key portion of viewers, and this could explain in some part why your videos aren’t being watched.

Where you post your videos is determined by who you’re trying to reach. According to Adweek, Gen.Z “can’t live without YouTube”, and is more than likely going to consume content on their over Facebook.

That’s why you need to know where your audience spends its time online, which can help you determine the type of video you wish to make and where you want to share it.

It’s Too Long

As if you don’t already know, the average human attention span is dwindling. So, in summary, keep it short.

That doesn’t mean your videos should be eight seconds long, just make sure your video has an engaging introduction if you want people to stick around. Don’t over indulge, be entertaining, but to the point. Maybe your videos aren’t being watched because they’re eleven minutes long?

You’re Not Optimising

First off, your video needs a relevant and clear title. Where YouTube stands out is how it provides detailed levels of optimisation better than most video sharing platforms. Let’s discuss how best to optimise on YouTube

Description
This shouldn’t be too long, but catchy enough to entice people to watch. Remember YouTube only displays the first two or three lines of text, so load it with as much information as possible/

Tags
Tags are as much for the viewer as they are for YouTube, which uses “tags to understand the content and context of your video”.  This way, YouTube can associate your videos with similar ones, broadening your reach.

Category
Categorising your video is another way to group your video with similar ones, but it may not be as simple as it sounds. YouTube’s Creator Academy suggests marketers “think about what is working well for each category?”.

Find out who are the top creators within your category, are there patterns with the viewing audience of similar channels, and does your video have similar production qualities with others in its category?

It Doesn’t Make the Viewer Feel

Remember when we spoke about people being short on time and attention? Well, there’s nothing that’ll stop your video being watched more than a video that leaves the audience feeling like they haven’t gained anything by viewing it.

Emotions can influence spending decisions, even more so if there’s a narrative involved. So, when you create video content it can help to have people review it before releasing it. Impartial people mind you, I’m sure you’ll say it’s great. Remember what your intention was before you made the video (was it meant to be informative, moving or entertaining). With that in mind, ask your impartial viewer if they feel the way you hoped they would. If not, ask how or what the video did make them feel. If it’s unenthusiastic, that’s probably a good sign you should start again.

Remember, emotions are what makes people share something. Doing what you can to provide the viewer with emotion means they’re more than likely show someone else. That’s how a video becomes successful online.

However, be careful not to create content that’s purposely offensive or crude, just for the sake of a reaction, remember,  the point of your video is to attach your brand to something positive, or something helpful.

Struggling to get eyeballs on your content? Get in touch with our marketing team at SLX on 1300 859 600, and let’s discuss why, and how to fix it.