A live example of analysis and improvement of a content cycle (Youtility).
Could you do something similar?
Reverting to the old – long blog post format.
Main metric results
Youtility’s blog post and YouTube video finished their cycle on 5th of May, while the ads ran from 6th to 13th of May.
The main goal remained the same – E-mail Subscribers.
The result: 1 form visitors and 0 subscribers. (06-13.05)
Previous(Content Inc.): 4 form visitors and 1 subscribers. (14-29.04)
Below is a screenshot of the Youtility form results, taken from ConvertKit (!Disclaimer – Affiliate link).
Now let’s analyze what caused the difference.
Raw Ad Numbers
YouTube (Video)
| Youtility | Content Inc | |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | 10$ ~ | 20$ ~ |
| Impressions | 52,640 | 114,458 |
| Views | 1,026 | 2,477 |
| Likes | 13 | 39 |
| CTR | 1.94% | 2.16% |
| View-to-like ratio | 1.26% | 1.57% |
| Average View Duration (During ad activity period) | 0:30 (06-13 May) | 0:30 (14-29 Apr) |
Facebook (Video)
| Content INC | Youtility | |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | 8.75$ | 8.75$ |
| Reach | 2,640 | 450 |
| Clicks To Reproduce | 11 | 98 |
| Reactions | 0 | 0 |
| CTR | 0.41% | 21.77% |
| View-to-Reaction Ratio | 0% | 0% |
PPC (Blog Post)
Something went wrong with the PPC campaign for the second time now and it got 0 clicks or impressions. I´ll try to analyze what it was when creating another PPC ad, this time for Content Rules. Hopefully it works.
General Assumptions About the Different Results
The CTR* and View-to-Like ratios are lower in Youtility [Only ratios should be taken into account as the length of the campaigns was different. (One week vs. two weeks)]
Difference 1: The difference in CTR might be caused by the headline, because the thumbnail images are largely the same. (Details Below)
Difference 2: The view-to-like ratio is usually a result of the content itself(Comparing to CTR, which is a result of metadata like thumbnail, headline, sub-headline). (Details below)
Conclusion and Actions To Take
Difference 1 (CTR) Deeper Analysis
The CTR difference might appear negligible.
114k to 2.4k (2.16%) vs 52k to 1k ( 1.94%)
It might just be because of different people or different moods of people. Even though I targeted the same audience with the ad.
Nonetheless, what might influence the CTR and depends on us, apart from the stated above is 3 factors:
Thumbnail, headline and sub-headline.
Out of those three, thumbnail and headline have more influence I believe.
And so, because the thumbnail is largely the same in the two pieces, creating a headline that is also similar to CI in the next content piece may allow to isolate the difference in audiences as the cause for the different CTR.
Action to Take Difference 1 (CTR)
I’ll try reverting the heading to exactly the same format of CI this time, and see what happens [ Content Rules – 3 Useful Content Ideas (Animated), whereas CI´s was Content Inc. – 3 Useful Content Ideas (Animated) ]
Difference 2 (View-To-Like) Deeper Analysis
After deeper analysis (Of organic views too) I saw that the retention rate is also lower at Youtility, and if you open the video and see how it starts, at least part of the reason becomes clear.
I start the video of Content Inc. With: “What is content marketing? Content marketing is defined as”
While the video of Youtility with “Robert Stephens, the founder of Geek Squad was giving a keynote speech at an event when an audience member asked him: “
Which one seems more curiosity inducing?
So people viewed the video for a shorter period, and when they do so, they might also hit the like less times ( Because they liked it less, because they saw less of it duuuh.. 🙂 )
Action to Take Difference 2 (View-to-Like)
Pay more attention to the way you open the video.
Bonus Action (Blog Post CTA)
Changing the CTA* in the blog post from several buttons to an embedded form. When I previously done that it generated more subscribers (In Scientific Advertising).
Then if the PPC Ad works I´ll run one for Youtility and CI too, and we´ll be able to analyze the effects.
Bonus Action 2 (Separate Analysis Post)
I guess that is way too many actions already, but I’ve already completed this analysis post separately, as an additional differentiating action, since I didn’t want to over-clutter the main blog post.
Final Goal for Content Rules (During one ad cycle)
At least 1 subscriber and 4 form visits.