Researching an Audience to Make Engaging Video Content

Video content is a great thing to have in your digital marketing strategy and a perfect way to expand your brand’s reach. At least when you offer the right content to the right people.

In the past, being personable and a good communicator used to be enough - with individual clients. But now that you have to engage a broader audience, you may not know where to begin.

Well, knowledge is power, as they say. If you want your video content to be successful, first you have to understand who you are addressing. Knowing your audience leads to a more effective strategy, as any video company can tell you.

And, since we aim for you to have the best possible content, let’s get close and personal, shall we? Allow us to walk you through the best tools out there to help you learn about your target. Let’s begin!

Listening to Social Media

It’s pretty simple: if you want to know what people are saying, listen.

Don’t worry - there’s no need to be a fly on the wall for that, not anymore. Today, consumers’ voices can be heard through social listening.

Tracking feedback and mentions, you can learn what consumers say about your brand. It can even help you realize some sore points in your customer relations you need to work on! In other words, social media listening can provide you with clear goals for your video content. Perfect when your strategy needs a boost, and you don't know where to begin.

Social also allows you to follow up on important keywords and trends to stay up to date on what’s relevant for your audience. With this information in mind, you can hone your content and make your videos extra appealing for whom you need them to be.

Of course, as unbiased as the data might be, it will only be as useful as you make it. Analyze it, act on it, and adapt your marketing strategy accordingly. This way, you'll be able to deliver the content your audience hungers for - and don't forget to track their response afterward!

Analyzing the Metrics

The most impersonal of the bunch, this option is all about hard data. You know, the kind of thing you might want to back your marketing strategy with.

Luckily, you can use Google Analytics to learn all about your consumers, and then some. Measuring engagement with your brand on a global scale, Analytics grasps users' interactions and predicts behaviors using machine learning. With YouTube Analytics, you can go even deeper and into your video content’ metrics.

Now, perhaps you think there’s such a thing as too deep. You probably can already tell if your audience prefers motion graphics videos over live-action ones just by looking at the view count. Well, sure, but we are not looking for broad strokes here, are we? To understand different aspects of your audience, you must get to know it like the back of your hand.

Let’s dive head-first into the YouTube Analytics options. The Reach tab gives us a summary of how your audience discovers your video content, while the Engagement tab tells us all about how your videos are performing. And of course, the Audience tab is the place to find everything you’ll need to know: demographics, viewing times, other YouTube channels with audience’ overlap, and more - a marketer’s dream!

Remember that considering these metrics will not only make you knowledgeable about your target but also allow you to assess the health of your audience’s engagement. If need be, you can calibrate in near real-time according to the audience’s response. Cool, isn’t it?

Setting Up a Sweepstake

Social media is the ideal medium to gather audience information, doubly so when combined with a sweepstake or giveaway. You can check your social media feed if you don’t believe us! This promotional tool is all the rage nowadays.

In a sweepstake, participants stand an equal chance to win a prize, which doesn't need to be too grand. As a result, this strategy can be a very cost-effective way to entice potential consumers to share data.

You see, to enter the contest, the public must offer something in exchange. In social media, the engagement is more than valuable - likes, shares, and comments are nothing if not direct feedback from your audience! Their willingness to partake is an opportunity to tap into your target's preferences regarding your video content – and go beyond.

Start by deciding the information you wish to collect - What do you need to know? With that in mind, choose the question or action for your audience that better suits your goal.

Now, selecting a prize is no small matter. You can offer a taste of your product to the audience to see what’s the demand. Otherwise, you should at least provide something related to your business. That way, you'll stand a better chance to attract the audience you're aiming for!

As you can see, this type of marketing strategy works not only for audience research. Your social media presence, product promotion, and lead generation can benefit too - all but for the price of one!

Asking the Audience

The oldest way to gain information, and it never goes out of style. After all, reaching out to your audience with a little survey can go a long way if you know what to ask.

There are two kinds of people that you might want to collect some data on: clients and potential clients. The former is your customer base, and you can reach it using the contact information you already have. Their answers can help you profile your ideal buyer persona. People who haven't engaged with your brand yet can be found via your social media accounts. In any case, throwing an incentive into the mix might gain you a consumer as well as a willing respondent 😉

As with everything else, be mindful of what you hope to learn with a survey. Or else, you might find yourself drowning in ultimately irrelevant data. Design your questions with care and keep in mind: brevity, brevity, brevity. It’s nobody’s hobby to fill out questionnaires!

To ease the process, start with demographic and close-ended questions (yes/no, good/bad, rate from 1 to 10) and save the open-ended ones for last. Take it easy, though: only leave room to elaborate when the answer could help you gain insight! Otherwise, people might drop the survey altogether for a question you don’t even care that much about.

Careful now: as dull as a survey can be, try and make it attractive for the public. Use clear language, short, relevant questions, and a simple design. Your survey speaks for your brand too, after all.

To Sum It Up

To create engaging video content, you'll need to obsess a bit about your audience. Here we offered you a wide range of options to do just that.

Get as close to your public as you want to, or take in the big picture. These days, you have all the tools available online. No big budget required. No excuses!

Armed with information, your marketing plan will have a rock-solid ground to help your brand grow. Now you will be able to produce the kind of content that meets your target’s expectations (and your goals!). Research, learn, adapt. Good luck!