How to create custom reports with vidiq?

 Tracking and analyzing the performance of your YouTube content is crucial for optimizing your channel’s growth. VidIQ provides advanced analytics and reporting tools that allow creators to customize reports based on specific metrics that matter to them. In this blog post, we’ll walk through the process of creating custom reports with VidIQ to better understand your channel’s performance and make data-driven decisions.

Why Custom Reports are Important

Custom reports help you:

• Track Specific Metrics: Focus on the performance metrics that align with your goals (e.g., watch time, engagement, SEO performance).
• Monitor Channel Growth: Get an overview of your channel’s growth in terms of views, subscribers, and video performance over time.
• Understand Viewer Behavior: Analyze your audience’s watch patterns and engagement rates to optimize content for retention and growth.
• Benchmark Competitors: Track how your content performs compared to your competitors, helping you refine your strategy.

Creating custom reports with VidIQ enables you to dive deep into data and tailor insights to meet your unique needs.

Step 1: Access VidIQ’s Reporting Tools

Install and Access VidIQ

If you haven’t already, begin by installing VidIQ and connecting it to your YouTube account. Once logged in:

1. Open the VidIQ Dashboard: Head to the VidIQ dashboard through your browser extension or the web platform.
2. Navigate to Analytics: Look for the “Analytics” or “Reports” section in the VidIQ interface. This is where you’ll find access to performance metrics and the option to create custom reports.

Step 2: Choose the Metrics for Your Custom Report

VidIQ allows you to choose from a variety of metrics to include in your custom report, so you can focus on the data most relevant to your channel goals.

Key Metrics to Consider

1. Views and Watch Time:

   • Track how many views your videos are receiving and the total watch time generated.
   • Understanding this metric is crucial for gauging how your content is resonating with your audience.

2. Engagement (Likes, Comments, Shares):

   • Monitor how many likes, comments, and shares your videos are getting.
   • High engagement indicates that your content is sparking interest and interaction with viewers.

3. SEO Score and Ranking:

   • VidIQ offers an SEO score for each of your videos based on how well they’re optimized for search engines.
   • You can track the SEO performance of your videos to ensure they’re being discovered by new viewers.

4. Subscriber Growth:

   • Track your subscriber growth over time and compare it with specific content uploads to see which videos drive subscriptions.

5. Audience Retention and Drop-Off Rates:

   • This helps you understand where viewers are losing interest in your videos.
   • Audience retention is a key factor in YouTube's recommendation algorithm, so keeping viewers engaged is crucial.

6. Top Performing Videos:

   • Identify which videos are generating the most views, engagement, or conversions, and use this data to replicate success with future content.

7. Competitor Analysis:

   • If you’re using VidIQ’s competitor analysis tool, you can include data on how your performance compares to that of your competitors. This can be useful for identifying strengths and areas for improvement.

Step 3: Customize Report Filters

VidIQ allows you to customize reports further by setting filters to focus on specific time periods, video types, or particular goals.

Time Periods

1. Daily/Weekly/Monthly Reports:
   • You can generate reports for specific time periods to monitor short-term performance (e.g., how your videos performed last week) or long-term trends (e.g., monthly growth).
2. Compare Periods:
   • Compare metrics across different periods (e.g., how did your videos perform this month versus last month?).

Focus on Specific Videos

You can also choose to focus your report on specific videos or types of content:

1. Individual Video Reports:

   • Select specific videos to track their performance in greater detail.

2. Video Category/Playlist Reports:

   • If you organize your content into categories or playlists, you can generate reports based on these groups to understand what content types work best.

3. Trending Content:

   • Focus your report on trending or high-performing content to replicate success.

Step 4: Generate and Export Your Custom Report

Once you’ve selected the metrics and filters for your custom report, it’s time to generate and export the report.

Generate Report

1. Run the Report: After selecting the desired metrics and time frame, click on “Generate Report” or a similar command to compile the data.
2. Analyze Insights: The report will display insights based on the metrics you’ve chosen. Review the data to understand which areas of your channel are performing well and which need improvement.

Export Report

VidIQ provides several export options for your custom reports:

1. PDF/CSV Export:
   • Export your report as a PDF or CSV file for easy sharing or further analysis in external programs like Excel.
2. Automated Reports:
   • You can set up VidIQ to automatically generate and send reports at regular intervals (e.g., weekly or monthly). This is a great way to stay on top of performance without manually generating reports each time.

Step 5: Use Insights to Improve Your Strategy

Once your custom report is generated, use the insights to inform your content strategy:

1. Content Optimization:

   • If certain videos are outperforming others, analyze what made them successful (e.g., topic, keyword use, engagement strategy) and apply these findings to future content.

2. SEO Improvement:

   • Based on SEO scores and search rankings, refine your keyword strategy, optimize your tags, and update video descriptions to improve discoverability.

3. Audience Engagement:

   • If engagement is lower than expected, experiment with different types of calls to action (CTAs), improve thumbnail designs, or increase interaction in the comment section.

4. Competitor Benchmarking:

   • Compare your performance against competitors and identify where you can improve. If competitors are gaining subscribers faster, look at their content type, posting frequency, and engagement tactics for inspiration.

Conclusion

VidIQ’s custom reporting feature is a powerful tool for tracking your channel’s performance and making data-driven decisions. By selecting the right metrics, applying filters, and generating insightful reports, you can gain a clearer understanding of how your content is performing and what steps to take to optimize future videos.

Whether you’re a new YouTuber or an experienced creator, creating custom reports with VidIQ helps you stay on top of your analytics and continuously improve your strategy. With detailed insights into your video performance and the ability to benchmark against competitors, you can refine your approach and grow your channel more effectively.