In our latest social video analytics report, Social Listening for Video: Audience Analysis of the Silent Majority, we pull back the curtain on the shortcomings of relying on vanity metrics and offer a recipe for repeatable success by monitoring and applying behavioral insights.
Just how short are the shortcomings of vanity metrics? Tubular data reveals that the highest average of people who comment on a video, or the “vocal audiences”, is about 7%. However, the average typically falls around 2-3%.
In our analysis of Beauty Influencers with 100k-500k subscribers, we found that engagement peaks around 1-2%.
Does this mean an influencer with 500k followers and only 1% engagement isn’t valuable to your brand? Certainly not. There are many more in-depth metrics that reveal what behaviors an influencer directs such as what their audience shops for, searches for, shares, and more.
Just because a viewer doesn’t leave a like or comment doesn’t mean they didn’t click through to check out the product, search for the brand later on, or share it with a friend. These viewers are the silent majority and most marketers today are ignoring this extremely important and marketable audience.
In this piece, we’re dishing the quick bites from Social Listening for Video: Audience Analysis of the Silent Majority. For the data deep dive, download the report now.
Without further adieu, here’s your go-to guide for monitoring, validating, and applying behavioral insights on social video.
1. Monitor: Track content that uses relevant keywords, phrases, and competitive language
As a build-your-own burrito joint, it was only a matter of time until obsessed Chipotle patrons concocted a combination that took social video by storm. In 2022, food TikTokers Keith Lee and Alexis Frost shared their “tastes-like-a-Philly-cheesesteak” quesadilla hack. The combo spruced up a regular steak quesadilla with fajita veggies, vinaigrette, and sour cream.
Interest in the Chipotle hack took off across social with views peaking at over 3M+ views after the conversation started in late December and a huge spike in total user-generated content views overall.
With the neverending amount of user-generated content, brands like Chipotle should install monitoring systems using keywords, phrases, and competitive language to keep tabs on relevant content. This way, they can get early insight into customer sentiments and behaviors before trends hit peak interest. This is how brands can get ahead of the story and control the narrative around their positioning even in the wild west of social media.
Today’s audiences expect quick responses and creative pace. If a brand can keep up with user-generated content, it can fuel its online community.
2. Validate: Reach deeper into behavioral data and extract insights needed to validate choices.
It’s not about more data. It’s about the right data that proves the impact of business decisions and campaign strategies.
Accessing deeper insights that narrow your targeting help you spend marketing dollars wisely and maximize impacts.
Here’s an example of how behavioral data can improve campaign impact:
Consider for a moment that the NASCAR brand is interested in pinpointing and targeting Racing Audiences on social. Audiences who watch Racing are quite massive. TikTok accounts for a Racing audience of 27.2B while Facebook accounts for 2.9B. Relying on vanity metrics alone, a company like NASCAR would immediately opt for the TikTok audience. But with Tubular’s Audience Also Watches technology that measures audience overlap and relative viewing categories, we can see that the smaller Racing audience on Facebook is actually more targeted and aligned with the NASCAR brand. The Facebook Racing audience is 167x more likely to watch NASCAR than the TikTok Racing audience which is 119x more likely to also watch NASCAR.
NASCAR marketers could use these insights to make smarter partnership decisions, cut through the clutter, and speak directly to their audiences. This strategy uses market dollars more wisely by targeting a smaller Racing audience that has a higher affinity for the brand.
3. Apply: Social video becomes your go-to tool for success.
Through the first two stages of measurement and validation, you uncover the strategies that will drive impact for your business. Then— you apply.
Consider how Chipotle was able to monitor and keep pace with the explosive Philly-cheesesteak-quesadilla TikTok trend and respond quickly.
Traditionally, it would have taken months for a large corporate brand to measure, strategize, and implement ad content. But by leaning into the speed of social, Chipotle was able to respond to its audience in less than a week after the trend peaked.
They quickly recovered from recipe supply shortages and equipped their staff with the skills to satisfy curious customers. Then, to announce the launch of the Philly-cheesesteak-quesadilla on the menu, Chipotle went straight to the source. The brand partnered with the creators of the trend to make the big announcement that they will be adding it to their official menu – fueling community engagement and directly targeting interested consumers.
In the following graph, you can see how quickly Chipotle reacted to and engaged with the trend.
In-depth data lets you monitor social media behaviors, validate marketing & business decisions, and apply these insights to your content strategies. Tracking likes & views is just not enough to stay tapped into your brand perception across social. There are so many varying audiences, so many platforms, and so many mediums! You need monitoring systems that can validate true audience values across platforms all at once.
At the end of the day, we all want our social video strategies to drive major impact. If it feels like yours keeps falling flat, it’s time to level up. Click here to start making targeted investments: Social Listening for Video: Audience Analysis of the Silent Majority.
Ready to lead in the age of social video? Try Tubular for free today!