How to Track Video Performance with Vidyard Analytics

Picture this: It's a Friday afternoon, and the sun is lazily draping its golden rays across the room, doing its best to pull us away from our computers. We're gathered around a cluttered desk; a few of us are holding half-empty mugs of coffee—which should have switched to iced by now, seriously—and we're absorbed in a discussion that took an unexpected twist. It started with a simple question: how can we really tell if people are loving our countless hours of effort poured into those neat little video nuggets flickering across the Web?

That’s how we found ourselves diving into the world of Vidyard Analytics. But let’s not get ahead of things—back to that Friday meeting. Rick, the guy with the penchant for ridiculous animal print shirts, was adamant. “There must be a way to dig deeper, guys,” he said, waving an arm and narrowly avoiding sending his coffee cascading over the edge—fate intervened, just this once. “We need more than views. We need to know who's pressing the replay button just to watch my goofy intro again.”

The table was set. Vidyard was our next port of call—our North Star for tracking video performance in a way that gave us real insights into the heart and soul of our content. Let's explore how we peeled back the layers of Vidyard to crack this nut open, step by step.

Setting Up Your Vidyard Account

Before we get to the sparkling guts of analytics, there's the minor ordeal of setting up—which, surprisingly, was less ordeal and more a rain-slicked slide of ease. Imagine transitioning from Rick’s insistence to sitting cross-legged in front of our laptops.

1. Create Your Account: Navigate over to the Vidyard website. The sign-up button is right there waiting for you like a faithful labrador. If you've ever signed up for anything online before (who hasn't?), you’ll soar through this.

2. Customize Your Profile: Vidyard is accommodating like that overly friendly neighbor who keeps insisting you stop by for barbecue. Personalize your dashboard to feel like home—add your brand logos, colors, right down to cookie preferences.

3. Install the Browser Extension: This step? Child's play. Almost as if Vidyard stands on the porch, handing you each tool like a YouTube carpenter assistant. This extension is vital—it’s how you capture and manage videos faster than your coffee cup cools down.

By the time we capped off our week, we'd turned what we thought would be dull admin work into a surprisingly enjoyable endeavor—possibly due to Sid's new playlist humming along in the background.

Uploading and Organizing Videos

Our Monday morning huddle had an air of clarity, like we collectively decided to eat that frog early. Adding videos to Vidyard can be as simple as sipping that first, glorious coffee.

1. Drag and Drop: Locate your video file, and as delicately as you’d hold your grandma’s china, drag it over to the window. Vidyard’s technology is magpie-fast, scooping up the video into your library.

2. Organize with Folders: If your grandma’s attic full of random knick-knacks taught us anything, it's the importance of organization. Vic, our unofficial archivist, grouped our videos into folders based on series, themes, and even mood. This way you’ll never end up rummaging through digital cobwebs.

3. Add Descriptions and Tags: As you’re processing this organizational triumph, do not forget—tag the heck out of those videos. Remember when Josh, with his incredible knack for remembering the most mundane details, insisted on color-coded tags? Here’s where that same energy needs to come in handy. It's vital for searchability later.

Sid’s playlist transitioned to nostalgic 90s tunes, and you could feel the team's energy lift. Tuesday was shaping up to be less tepid than anticipated.

Embracing the Analytics Dashboard

On Wednesdays, we wear data. Or at least, we carry ourselves with the weight of newfound insights while Rick FaceTimes his cat for midweek motivational support. Getting comfortable with Vidyard's analytics dashboard is where things start cooking with gas.

1. Navigate with Purpose: The dashboard resembles an art gallery where each click has the potential to reveal a masterpiece. We bask in click-through rates, view counts, and more. It's like unlocking a secret clubhouse for data enthusiasts.

2. Engagement Graphs: Ah, the raw truth! Here’s where we see exactly how far our audience typically sticks with our videos before their attention spans leap skyward like caffeinated squirrels. It was as if we could hear Rick shouting, “I knew they'd love my dance at minute three!”

3. Viewer Insights: This feature? It's like finally acquiring X-ray vision to peek into each viewer's journey. We discovered what drew audiences back, all while avoiding the creepshow factors of Big Brother. Managed with finesse, the balance lies in enhancing content without the invasiveness.

By Thursday, Rick had way too many cat videos under his belt, and our newfound analytical prowess meant even our overcaffeinated discussions now had data to ground and glue us.

Custom Reports and Digging Deeper

Peeling back another layer in Vidyard’s analytics felt like finally growing up and choosing spinach over pizza because you've realized it’s actually kind of awesome. We got cozy with custom reports.

1. Select Your Metrics: Crafting reports is like building a snowman; each metric rolls into the next until the sculpture is your own creation. We cherry-picked viewer location, device use, and time spent.

2. Schedule and Share: Once we crafted immaculate reports that even our most fastidious team member Nick would praise, we scheduled them. Turning data into bite-sized monthly rituals to keep everyone in the loop is key. Sharing reports with stakeholders previously unused to analytical excitement made us feel rather Santa-esque in our deliveries—only with more Excel sheets and fewer reindeer.

As Friday swirled into the room with casual neon sneakers, it left us all with a deeply satisfying sense of accomplishment. Like having completed a puzzle, albeit a data-driven one.

Lessons, Laughter, and Looking Forward

By week's end, Vidyard wasn't just a tool—it was like that quirky aunt who introduces you to your new favorite band at family reunions. We bonded over data-driven clarity. Indeed, even Rick toned down his shirt choices—whether these two events are connected, we leave to philosophize over.

The layers of analytics Vidyard offers brought us closer to our audience in meaningful ways. Sure, it’s not the end all, but it’s a powerful flashlight in the labyrinth of video content intricacies.

Reflecting on our journey feels like gazing at all the paths crisscrossing our lives. We realized that understanding video performance was more than numerical validation; it was nurturing an ever-evolving dialogue with every viewer. And really, isn’t that what we’re all here for—to connect and keep learning, piecing together an understanding through our shared knowledge and endeavors?

So here we are, dear friends, perched at the end of this chapter, feeling a bit like proud guardians of our little corner of the creative world—Rick still adamant about those dance sequences but, hey, it’s all part of our process. Who knew data could foster this much joy?