• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, February 29, 2012

Many brands big and small are trying to crack the code on social video especially since consumer interest in watching branded video is skyrocketing. More than 500 branded video campaigns generated more than 1 million views last year, representing one in twelve campaigns crossing that view threshold, Visible Measures has said in its most recent research. 

But do views even matter?

Social video platform Unruly Media found that brand recall and purchase intent rose  when a branded video had been recommended to a viewer, i.e. shared. The Unruly Media study indicated brand recall and brand association rose 7% among those who had been recommended videos compared to those who discovered videos. In addition, there was a 14% rise in the number of people who said they enjoyed a video following a recommendation, and a 97% boost in the likelihood of buying the product featured in the video among those viewers who enjoyed watching the video. Unruly surveyed online video viewers 18 to 34 who had watched videos from brands such as Guinness, Coca-Cola, Unilever’s Cornetto and Energizer Batteries.

Shares are indeed the brass ring of social media. The online video resource site ReelSEO just released a free social video eBook detailing guidelines for brands eager to play in social video. “Shares have incredible long-term potential to germinate and grow more fans,” wrote Mark Robertson, author of the social video book and founder of ReelSEO. “I’ve seen videos sit on YouTube ignored for years, only to be shared spontaneously by an influencer or gatekeeper and then take off for the viral video record books. A click means we agreed to view or learn more about the ad. But a share represents a viewer who is standing up for the brand, evangelizing it.”

The long and short — not all views are created equally. A shared view is worth way more than a discovered view. Unless, of course, the discovered view is from some total hotshot influencer who then shares it with gobs and gobs of people.