Welcome to My Blog

Hi. I’m Nick, and I’m new to the HubSpot Marketing Blog. But I’m not new to HubSpot.

I’ve been working at HubSpot for over a year now, and in that time, I’ve created more than 50 videos for HubSpot’s Facebook page.

And over the last year, we’ve grown our organic Facebook video views by nearly 250%. We used a lot of different content creation strategies to change our approach to Facebook videos, and knowing specifically what to track — and why — was a critical part of measuring our success and growth.

Enter Facebook Videos Insights: Facebook’s metrics panel that tells you anything and everything you’d want to know about how your videos are performing on the platform. In this post, I’ll take you through why you should be creating videos for Facebook (if you aren’t already), what the different metrics mean in Facebook Insights, and which five metrics are the most important to measure.

Why Use Facebook to Create Videos?

1) Bigger Audience

At more than two billion users, Facebook is used by almost one-third of the world’s population. That kind of audience isn’t anything to sneeze at, and you should take advantage by publishing video content on the platform.

What’s more, Facebook users spend more than 100 million hours per day watching videos on the platform — almost as much as Netflix. Facebook has a huge audience that’s engaged in video content consumption — so why wouldn’t you post videos on the platform?

2) The News Feed Algorithm

The algorithm that dictates what content is served up in users’ News Feed heavily favors video content — especially if it’s produced live, or if a lot of users are engaging with it (more on that later). Videos on Facebook are more likely to get surfaced to users unfamiliar with your content — thereby growing your audience and leading to more video views.

3) It’s Easy … ish

It’s easier than ever to create and publish video content on Facebook. You can start broadcasting using Facebook Live with the press of a button, and you can even record high-quality videos with a smartphone. With numerous free editing software options and a video camera in your pocket, there’s no reason to wait to start filming for Facebook.

11 Key Facebook Video Metrics to Understand

To access these metrics, navigate to the “Insights” tab on the Facebook Page you manage.

From this tab, scroll down to the “Videos” section on the left-hand side, and click on the video post you want to analyze.

1) Video Views

“Video views” represents the number of users who watched your video for three seconds (or more).

2) 10-Second Views

This metric is the number of users who watched your video for 10 seconds (or more). This number is typically smaller than the number of three-second video views, but ideally, the number is close — indicating that users started watching your video and stayed for at least seven more seconds to keep watching.

3) Minutes Viewed

“Minutes viewed” is the total amount of time users have spent watching your video (in aggregate).

4) Video Average Watch Time

This metric is the average amount of time each user spent watching your video. It’s calculated by dividing the total minutes viewed of your video by the number of video views.

5) Average Percent Watched

“Average percent watched” represents what percentage of your video the average user watched.

6) Audience Retention

“Audience retention” represents how well you’re able to maintain your video’s audience by visualizing where during your video viewers dropped off.

7) Reach

“Reach” represents how many users saw your video somewhere on Facebook — in other words, how many users your video reached.

8) View Rate

Your video’s view rate isn’t a metric provided by Facebook, but it’s a good number to calculate on your own. Divide the number of video views your video earned by the total reach. That will indicate how many users actually decided to watch your video, out of the number of users who saw it.

9) Volume On

This metric indicates how many users viewed your video with the volume turned on or muted. This number is particularly valuable because, as recently as last year, 85% of Facebook users watched videos without sound.

Last month, Facebook began auto-playing News Feed videos with sound, so we’ll be interested to see how this percentage evolves. Here at HubSpot, we’ve started creating videos that are volume-agnostic, or indicating with captions and graphics that the user should turn on the volume to get the full effect of the content.

10) Reactions, Comments & Shares

This engagement metric includes likes, reactions (like anger, sadness, and laughter), comments, and shares of your video. These are indicators that your video is resonating with — or at least provoking — your audience, and this engagement helps your video rank higher in the Facebook News Feed algorithm.

11) Clicks

Clicks to Play

The “clicks to play” metric indicates the number of users who clicked on your video to watch it.

Link Clicks

The “link clicks” metric indicates the number of users who clicked on the link in your Facebook video post.

The Best Facebook Insights to Measure

1) Reach

It doesn’t matter how many followers you have if they aren’t seeing your posts. And since Facebook switched to an algorithm-based News Feed, reach has become more important than ever.

Since Facebook started down-rating posts from brands and publishers in the News Feed, make sure you’re optimizing your organic reach by posting on Facebook no more than three times per day.

2) 10-Second Views

This metric is more meaningful than three-second views because a user could be scrolling, and not even really be watching. In fact, Facebook had a controversy with that earlier this year, when they were found to be inflating video view numbers using this metric.

3) View Rate

This metric represents how many people are watching your video relative to your total reach, and it tells you how relevant or catchy your topic is — or if it’s not resonating with your audience.

4) Shares

This is the ultimate engagement metric, and it’s another measure of relevancy. As a bonus, shares earn you more organic reach when you get free exposure to users’ friend circles.

5) Average Watch Time

This metric tells you how engaging your video is. What’s more, Facebook cares about this metric and provides greater organic reach for more engaging videos in the News Feed.

So, there you have it. Make sure you’re focused on the right metrics — and not just vanity metrics — when you publish your next video on Facebook so you can keep iterating on what works to better engage with your audience.

Starting to notice some droopy shoulders around the office? Sounds like it’s time to plan a team outing.

Team outings are a great way to facilitate bonding with your team members, reduce employee stress, and give them the chance to get to know one another outside of the office.

And, you know, they’re really fun.

But how do you find ideas for a great team outing? Maybe you start with a Google search for “team outing ideas” and stumble upon an article that suggests “field trips” and “professional development activities.” Sounds like a starting point, but where’s the real excitement?

Next time you plan an outing for your team, cut the trust falls and get one of these ideas on the calendar instead.

Corporate Team-Building Activities, Games, and Exercises for Work

1) Scavenger Hunt

Find a beautiful day, break everyone out into groups, and have a scavenger hunt around the city. You can organize one yourself, or use an app like Stray Boots. Your team will feel nice and rejuvenated after some fresh air and fun challenges. Be sure to take plenty of silly pictures — you can even have a slideshow when everyone regroups at the end.

2) Cook-Off

Here’s a culinary team-building activity that could end in dessert or disaster — in a fun way. Creating new dishes together requires creativity and will require everyone to put their team and leadership skills into action. Divide your team into smaller teams, pick a food category, and challenge each team to whip up something delicious. The category could be anything from ice cream, to salsa, to pizza.

One fun twist you could add? Pick a single ingredient that all teams must use, like maple syrup or Oreos. Or, have each team get creative with the shape of its food — you can make pizzas into almost any shape.

Source: Teambonding.com

3) Improv Workshop

Comedy and improv events are fun, interactive experiences that’ll have your employees roaring with laughter while teaching them useful communication and soft skills, like focus and trust. Depending on your budget, you could do anything from simply playing improv games with your employees to bringing in professionals to run competitive, fast-paced activities.

Source: Al-Jazeera

4) Board Game Tournament

Here’s one way to spark your team members’ competitive sides without having to leave the office. Organize a team-wide board game tournament. Especially if your team is pretty big, it might be easiest to pick a single game, then have people sign up for specific time slots when they’re free to leave their desks and spend some time playing the game. Some great games with reasonable play times include Boggle, Jenga, or even games using good ol’ playing cards. Don’t forget to incentivize with prizes for first, second, and third place.

Source: Glassdoor

5) Professional Development Workshop

Want to encourage your employees to bond while providing them with an opportunity to learn and further their career? Offer a shared learning experience either at your office, or at an off-site workshop or conference. The activity could be specifically related to your employees’ jobs, or it could be something broader, like a negotiation or leadership skills workshop.

Company Outing Ideas

6) Volunteer

Giving time to support a good cause isn’t just good for the soul; it’s also a great way for your team members to bond. Place-based volunteering ideas include things like volunteering at a local soup kitchen, helping build a Habitat for Humanity house, or delivering gifts to children’s hospitals during the holidays. Skill-based volunteering is a cool way to stretch your employees’ expertise: It’s when your team volunteers its time and uses its professional skills — anything from marketing to app development to writing — to help a nonprofit.

Try VolunteerMatch.org for either type of volunteering opportunities, and Catchafire.org for skill-based volunteering opportunities.

Source: VolunteerSpot

7) Mystery Dinner

Mystery dinners are one of the most beloved traditions here at HubSpot. On a single night, you send a group of folks from different teams within your company to dinner somewhere in your city (or at someone’s house). The dinner is hosted by one of your company’s leaders and paid for by the company. These dinners allow random groups of people from the same company to spend an evening chock full of good food and conversation together.

What makes them a mystery dinner? The only thing participants should know about the dinner ahead of time is the date and time. Then, on the afternoon the dinner is supposed to take place, send each group an email with the name of the restaurant they’re going to and who they’ll be going with, so they can arrange transportation together.

Optional: Give every dinner host the name of a restaurant or bar to invite everyone to congregate at once the dinners are over.

8) Room Escape Games

Here’s a great bonding activity that requires leadership skills, teamwork, logic, and patience. Room escape games — Escape the Room, Puzzle Break, AdventureRooms, etc. — have become a wildly popular team-building exercise for groups around the globe.

Here’s how it works: A group of people gets “locked” in a room for one hour. During that one hour, they have to find hidden objects, solve puzzles, and figure out clues to locate the key that will set them free. And it’s not easy: Only 20% of players actually make it out before the hour is up.

Source: Escape the Room St. Louis

9) Kayaking/Canoeing

Nothing says “let’s work together” quite like trying not to end up in the water. Want to take advantage of the outdoors? Grab a paddle and head down to the closest river for a great spring or summer outing.

Many public rivers and ponds have boat houses where you can rent kayaks and canoes — and you can encourage folks to rent multi-person ones and pair up with people they don’t usually work with.

10) Trampoline Parks

Hey, who says trampolines are just for kids? Take your team to a trampoline park for some jumping fun and a chance to work off the day’s stress. Many cities have local places with trampoline activities — if you’re in the Boston area, check out Skyzone for trampoline dodgeball and basketball games.

Source: Mustbeart

11) Karaoke Night

What better way to get your employees to break out of their shells than to have them get up and sing some karaoke? You can even have a contest for best group karaoke performance. Bonus points if there are feather boas and cowboy hats involved. This works best for a more extroverted group, so if your team isn’t into strutting their stuff on stage, consider an idea on this list that caters more toward those personalities.

Source: derekgavey

12) Something Touristy

Embrace your city! Pick a hot tourist destination and go as a team. You can even do a Segway tour. (Fanny packs: optional.) It’ll be fun to laugh at how silly it feels to be a tourist in your own city, and you might even learn something new.

Source: Wikimedia

13) Kart Racing

Nothing like a little competition to bond a group together. An adrenaline-pumping event like kart racing is a great way to get employees to interact with one another in a totally new and fun way. Just make sure everyone pays attention during the safety lecture.

14) Laser Tag

Another great way to get your adrenaline pumping? A good old game of laser tag. Not only is it great fun, it’s also an opportunity for employees to exercise their strategy and logic skills, as well as teamwork skills. Bonus: Determine teams ahead of time and have people dress up.

15) Painting Class

If you’re looking for a slightly more relaxing activity, take a group painting class. Paint Nite hosts painting classes by local artists at various bars throughout major cities for painting on canvases, wine glasses (like in the picture below), and so on. It’s a great way to let your team members unwind, catch up over some drinks, and express their creativity.

16) Cooking Class

In the mood for something a little more… culinary? Change up the usual outing to a bar or your local restaurant, and try a cooking class. Through a service such as Kitchensurfing, you can hire a professional chef to come cook a fancy meal for you in your home or office kitchen. Between the multiple courses prepared before your eyes, your team will have plenty of time to strike up a conversation and enjoy the delicious aromas.

17) Explore a New Place

Few things more fun than getting out of the city and exploring for a day. So, why not do it with your team?

For bigger events — maybe on a quarterly basis, when you have more budget to use for outings — charter a bus and take your team to a new place. You can all take a historical tour of the new place, grab lunch at a restaurant serving the town’s finest, or take in a local attraction together.

18) Sports Game

Round up the team and head out to a sports game. What a fantastic way to rev up team spirit while combining both competition and camaraderie.

Source: Wikimedia

Now you’re ready to show your team a great time while increasing their happiness and creating a great company culture. And hey, you might just be the “cool boss” now. How cool would that be?