Setting goals is important for a YouTube creator. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned content creator on YouTube or someone who’s starting from scratch.
Setting goals for your channel helps in directing your content creation process, ultimately leading to success on the platform. And what better way to create goals for yourself, than by leveraging the power of YouTube Analytics.
So whether you’re looking to grow your audience, or increase your revenues, this blog will guide you on how to set goals using YouTube Analytics.
Contents
Determining Your Overall Objectives
Before diving into YouTube analytics, it's important to determine your overall objectives. Are you trying to grow your channel's views or watch time, or generate more revenue? Having a clear understanding of your objective will help you set more specific goals.
Firstly, you need to determine what kind of content you want to create on your channel and what niche you want to focus on. Based on this, think about who your target audience is and what their interests or needs could be. When you understand your target audience, you can create content that resonates with them to keep them coming back.
Once you understand your niche and target audience, you can determine your long-term goals using SMART objectives. The acronym SMART stands for-
S- Specific
M-Measurable
A- Attainable
R- Relevant
T- Time based
The idea is to create specific objectives for your channel that are relevant to your niche. These objectives need to be within your control. When you try to improve on metrics that are directly affected by your content-creation process, like engagement metrics, you will see measurable achievements.
For example, if your goal is to be consistent, you can start out by creating 12 videos a month for at least 3 months. Using SMART objectives will help you set goals that align with what you want out of your YouTube channel.
Setting up YouTube Analytics
Once you have a set of objectives in mind, you can delve into the data and numbers provided by YouTube Analytics. You can access YouTube Analytics from your YouTube Studio on PC, or download the app on your smartphones.
YouTube Analytics page display general data, and
By default, YouTube Analytics displays general data related to the whole channel. If you want more specific data you can use the Search Bar to view analytics for a particular video.
We have written more about Basic and Advanced YouTube Analytics on our blog. Be sure to check those out.
Identifying Key Metrics and Specific Goals
There are several key metrics that you can track on YouTube analytics, depending on which you can change track the overall objective for your channel. We have listed a few examples below of the type of metrics and goals you can keep:-
Increase Click-Through Rate: Click-Through Rate is a key indicator of how effective your video is at capturing the attention of viewers and encouraging them to take action. A high CTR indicates that your video is engaging, relevant, and valuable to your target audience.
To set a specific CTR goal for your YouTube channel, start by analysing your current performance. Look at the CTR for your existing videos and determine an average rate. Then, set a realistic goal that is slightly higher than your current average rate. For example, if your current average CTR is 5%, set a goal to increase it to 7% or 8%. Once you have set your CTR goal, focus on optimising your videos to achieve that rate.
Increase views: If you want to increase visibility for your content, a specific goal could be to increase your total views by a certain percentage in a given timeframe. Key metrics to track would include total number of views, views per video, and average view duration. For example, you may notice that a certain type of videos are getting the highest views — so your goal could be to make more of that type of videos.
Increase engagement: To increase your likes, comments, and shares by a certain percentage in a given timeframe, the key metrics to track would include engagement rate, likes, comments, and shares. For example, the data shows that videos where you’re replying to comments by viewers are performing well — this could help you set a goal of increasing your engagement with your audience through comments.
Increase watch time: If your objective is to increase audience engagement and retention, a specific goal could be to increase your total watch time by a certain percentage in a given timeframe. Key metrics to track would include total watch time, average view duration, and audience retention rate. For example, you may notice that for some videos your retention rate is very less, the viewers drop off very early — you could set a goal to improve your editing skills, to make the start of your video more interesting.
Increase revenue: If your objective is to generate revenue from your channel, a specific goal could be to increase your total earnings by a certain percentage in a given timeframe. Key metrics to track would include revenue from ads, sponsorships, and merchandise sales.
It's important to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for each objective, and to regularly monitor your progress towards those goals using YouTube analytics.
For example, if your goal is to increase engagement, you could set a SMART goal to increase your comments by 20% in the next month. You can then track your progress using YouTube analytics and adjust your content and engagement strategies based on your performance.
Similarly, if your goal is to increase revenue, you could set a SMART goal to increase your earnings from ads by 15% in the next quarter, and track your progress using YouTube analytics to optimise your ad strategy and target high-performing videos.
Tracking Progress
After setting goals on YouTube analytics, it's important to regularly track your progress to ensure that you're on track to achieve your objectives:-
Review the data: You can go over the data from different metrics on YouTube to see if your objectives are being met. For example, if your goal is to increase audience retainment, you can go over the data on your latest videos.
Set benchmarks: Set benchmarks for each metric that you're tracking. These benchmarks can help you determine if you're making progress towards your goals. For example, if your goal is to increase engagement, you may set a benchmark to increase comments by 20% in the next month.
Monitor progress: Monitor your progress regularly to ensure that you're on track to achieve your goals. You may want to review your metrics on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, depending on the timeframe of your goals.
Adjusting your Content Strategy
You can use the data from YouTube analytics to identify areas where you need to improve, and experiment with different strategies to see what works best for your audience. Adjusting your strategy can include social media promotions, new content ideas, or collaborations.
In order to achieve your goals, it is important to review and adapt the content strategy based on what the data shows you.
You can check our blog to see how you can improve your content strategy.
Conclusion
By identifying your overall objectives, key metrics, and specific goals, you can create a clear roadmap for your channel and track your progress along the way. Setting goals and consistently tracking your progress will help you to create a channel that engages your audience and drives growth over time. So, take some time to define your goals and start tracking your progress using YouTube analytics today.
