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YouTube is the second most used search engine in the world after Google.

That means the likelihood that your customers will see YouTube is very high (okay – HUGE). They use the video platform to find entertainment and education.

Depending on your business, your YouTube strategy may include a little bit of both. For example, we love teaching about email campaigns to increase conversions … while one of our managers is wearing a flamingo shirt.

But what is a YouTube channel without a strategy?

A very brave idea. While we love bold ideas, we love strategy as well. What do all great strategies have? METRIC!

Metrics tell us when we are good and when we are bad. You are our lighthouse when we are at sea and try to find the mystical land of traffic and renovations.

If you want to expand your YouTube channel, here are the 5 most important metrics to track your growth.

NOTE: The first 4 metrics can be tracked in your YouTube analysis. The last metric can be tracked with a link tracker.

# 1: time

Playback time is the amount of video someone is watching. On YouTube, the average watch time for each video is averaged and reported in your analysis. Do not be afraid if you find that your playback time is not 100% for every video. This is something like a 100% conversion rate – you have to be so perfect in a niche that you can create the holy grail of marketing success.

That can happen … but don't shorten it if it doesn't.

Watch time is an extremely important measure of your YouTube growth as it tells you how well your content is answering your viewer's problem. If viewers don't feel like they're getting what they promised in their title and thumbnail, click on your video. Conversely, if they feel like you are enlightening them and keeping their attention, you will have excellent timekeeping.

For example, if we find that our watch time for a video is less than 40%, we will really rate the template for that video and see what needs to be done to improve that watch time. Perhaps our introduction was too long, or the time we spent on the subject of the video was not short enough, and viewers decided to go elsewhere.

We always aim for over 40% playback time for every video we publish and use the videos that perform well to show us which general template to use for future videos.

# 2: Impressions clickthrough rate

The click-through rate for impressions shows how often a video is clicked. You can equate it with the clickthrough rate (CTR) of a Facebook ad. How many people clicked to view your video for every specified number of people who saw your video in their feed?

If your videos have a high click-through rate, you've done something really good. That could be that your title hit the pain point of your customer avatar and your thumbnail was an eye-catcher and contained the correct information.

As most YouTube stars would tell you, everything is in the thumbnail. Changing your thumbnail image can have a dramatic impact on your clickthrough rate. If you’re constantly seeing a clickthrough rate of less than 5% on YouTube, change your thumbnail motif to see if you can improve it.

For your videos to perform well, keep an eye on the thumbnails and titles and how you can replicate them in the future. Remember, your metrics should show you the way. Let them guide you.

# 3: The Most Popular Videos

You can find your most popular videos by clicking the filter option on your YouTube page and selecting "Most Popular". This shows you your most popular videos in descending order so you can see which videos are the most weighty for the rest of the team.

This metric will help expand your YouTube channel by providing a direct line of communication between you and your customer avatar. What content you created LOVE it… and how can you create more of it?

Another advantage of this metric is that you can also watch your competitor's most popular videos. This way you get more content ideas and can check what content your viewers want to see. If you have an audience similar to you, you know that your audience is likely to want to see this content as well.

# 4: audience information

Target group information is essential knowledge for anyone trying to build a social media fan base or company. Knowing your audience is key to creating the content you want – and ensuring that you create content for the right people.

There are two metrics here, the first are your internal traffic sources. Find out how many viewers came to your video by suggesting it, finding it on YouTube search, selecting it on your channel, etc.

The second is to look at your external traffic sources. How many viewers came from a Google search, Facebook, website, or email link they received?

If you know these key figures, you will find out where your target group comes from and what you are doing right or wrong. For example, if you find that many of your views come from YouTube search, you can create great videos that your customer avatar specifically searches for.

If you email your current YouTube video to 100,000 people every week and don't see any sources from emails, your email subscribers won't take the bait in your email to watch your videos. If it is important that you watch them, it is time to develop a new strategy.

# 5: Actions per video

Actions per video are the number of viewers who clicked on the link you asked or told in the video. This is the only YouTube metric that YouTube analytics cannot track. However, it is very important that you pay attention to it.

Having a million views on a YouTube video is great, but if no one clicked your lead magnet, how successful was that video?

For example, you may have a video that is one of your least popular, but a 15% clickthrough rate for your call to action. While the video title or thumbnail doesn't meet the needs of the average viewer, your call to action is.

This shows you that it is really good how you designed your call to action or the offer you created for this video. You should try again.

To track this, use a link tracker to see how many viewers clicked on the link you placed in the video or in your description (or both!). Then you will see how many people watched the video. Divide the number of viewers who clicked by the total number of viewers and multiply by 100 to get the click rate of your link for the video.

Your YouTube metrics will be your beacon, helping you empower your followers and raise awareness, subscribers, and customers of your business.

Use these metrics to grow your YouTube channel and sail smoothly into the port of the mystical land of traffic and conversions.

See you there.