First of all, it is important to distinguish between views and impressions for web pages. Page Views is a metric which shows the number of times a particular page was viewed (such as a blog article) whereas impressions denote the number of times an element on a web page was viewed (such as a banner ad). However on most social media channels the metric “Views” does not exist and is represented by impressions.
Depending on which platform you use, this metric can have alternative names such as Raw Views (Hubspot), Form Views (Hubspot), Media Views (Twitter), Profile Views (Instagram), Page Views (LinkedIn, Hubspot, Facebook etc.) or Video Views (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Ads etc.).
Reasons to track Views
Views are a method to track engagement. Tracking the quality and quantity of your audiences’ engagement with your brand is one of the most important things. Views help marketers to decide which content they should leverage for calls-to-actions or for instance regularly update with new and entertaining content.
Common variations of Views
| Name | Description | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Form Views | Shows the number of times your form has been viewed. | Hubspot |
| Media Views | Shows the amount of times your media was played (autoplay and click) counted across videos, vines, gifs, and images. | |
| Profile Views | Shows the number of views of your profile (duplicates included). | |
| Page Views | Shows the number of views of your webpage (duplicates included). | various providers |
| Video Views | Shows the number of views of your video (duplicates included). | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Ads |
How can tracking Views help you to become more data-driven?
Views is a powerful metric to find out which web pages are suitable for which calls-to-action, which content works best on which channels and how well your audience engages with your brand, product or service. But the power of this metric doesn’t stop there. Views is often at the very top of a marketing funnel.
So if you compare the views with the clicks and conversions that were generated through a certain message, you can identify which message is the most effective. These insights are really valuable to every marketer. Also, especially for video views but also for page views, the amount of time something was seen is highly relevant – check out articles on “Time” to learn more about it.
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Additional information about Views
- Five “Must-track” Marketing KPIs Every Digital Marketer Should Know
- 15 Tips to Building a Better Social Media Presence
- 140+ Social Media Statistics that Matter to Marketers in 2020