@MortenCopenhagen
Thank you for taking the time to delve into my post. I will try and address the questions or concerns that you raised.
MC:
To South Cape Wine And Spirits you did not upload any still photos for this test (Then Star photo views should be N/A and not 0, right?). You uploaded 3 videos. One of them is currently the cover pix/vid. It has 705 views and three videos have 1462 views together.
Rn74: Yes, the star views should show N/A. I simply did not take the time to create a formula to do so.
Your interpretation of the numbers is correct, however they now total 4,051 with a star view of 2,331. The question about cover pix/vid is interesting. When I open the South Cape Wine And Spirits on my Chromebook it defaults to an aerial view of the store, but the view is not shown in the gallery. In both the main gallery and the video tab, the star photo is at #2, behind another of my videos.
MC:
Column Av View/ video for each P.O.I is not providing any additional info as it is 1362 divided by 3, right?
Rn74: Well,it does show the average which is not shown elsewhere. I do agree that given the small number of items being averaged, it isn’t providing very useful information.
MC:
For The Black Dog Heights Cafe the 14,793 mentioned under Photo @#1? is not needed, right?You uploaded 7 pics, one became the cover photos. It got 14,793 views while the 7 photos together got 16,223 views.
Rn74: The star photo is not always the photo with the most views. I wanted to emphasize that the star photo (a bar shot not a storefront) had a disproportionate amount of views. Perhaps the emphasis was unnecessary.
MC:
Why don’t you include the total number of photos (and maybe reviews) under each pin? I think this is relevant when considering how well your photos and videos are doing. But if your focus is the relative performance of pics vs. videos, I rest my case on this.
Rn74: Some of these POI (perhaps most) have large photo galleries, but almost none had large video galleries. I felt my summary table was already getting unwieldy, but if someone provides the data for each POI, I would be glad to add it. It would be historical, as I plan on doing a follow up table, which would require new numbers and I plan on dropping some of the POI’s.
MC:
Please help me understand why you included the average views for both stills and videos. It is just to compare the relative performance? If so, I think the same numbers calculated for all your videos and pics (across all 24 POIs) will be enough/better. Ideally, you should have uploaded the same number of pics and vids to each pin.
Rn74: Yes, I wanted to emphasize the difference (or similarity) in performance between the two types of posts. Probably for reasons similar to AdamGT creating separate star albums. I am not concerned about the overall performance of my posts (combined video/photo) but since you asked the total combined posts is 140 the combined views is 115,447 and the av combined views is 825. Perhaps a matching number of videos & photos would have been of value, if applying a scientific method, however, I was applying a real world approach; so I only took and posted photos that I believed would add value to the POI. For LL Bean for example my storefront photo was buried down around #100 in the gallery with several almost identical shots; therefore I deleted it and only left the videos. I felt LL Bean’s colorful displays lent themselves to the type of videos I am currently testing.
MC*:*
In the last column, Star video views, I’m unsure if you mean your best-performing video or if this video is actually the cover pix/vid for the pin.
Rn74: In the table both Star photo and star video refer only to my posts. This why I included the column regarding occupying the #1 position. Since it is so rare for a video I did not include this column for videos, but just added a note to #1 place column.
MC:
Under Fox + Kit Children’s Boutique I wonder if the relative better performance of videos is because your single photo is bad, or because there are a ton of pics already uploaded to the pin.
Rn74: My storefront photo is #21 in their gallery. Of the top 20, all but #2 (one of my videos) is by the business owner. These 20 include several storefront photos that are either outdated or of another of their stores (those photos have yellow clapboard siding with white trim on the windows).
In the interest of improving my work, would you please suggest how I could have improved my storefront photo? (The lighting was such that I could not get a straight on shot due to my reflection in the window).
MC:
But it is interesting that your 2 videos get 20 times more views than your still photo. Could it be because there are not a lot of videos already uploaded to the pin or are your videos of a quality preferred by the AI? Or is it simply a consequence of the new focus on videos on Google Maps in general?
Rn74: Ah, so there’s the rub! These are the real questions that need to be answered. Although I don’t study every site I post to, I have yet to see one with what I would call a lot of videos. This site (Fox & Kit) had none. A lot being?? (10, 20, 50, more??). I have not tracked it, but it often seems that my videos are the first ones posted or double or triple the number of existing videos. As @mikeinthefalls has pointed out, it is pretty clear that the AI is plastering videos into the #2 spot in many POI’s galleries, if the location has some recent ones. Of course, I’d like to believe that what I am doing is “checking the right AI boxes”, in addition to me creating well framed, color corrected, and stabilized videos that focus on some detail of the POI in a way that naturally invites the viewer to click on the thumbnail. As we both know, we can improve our odds, but the AI’s nuances will be forever hidden.
MC:
Are there any interesting lessons we can learn by looking at the 4 videos you uploaded to Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters? One got a lot more views than the other 3.
Rn74: Hard to say. My current video star is now at 10,474 views, #1 in the gallery, #2 on the video tab, A very similar video with 2,226 views (the ending featuring Lemon Lavender Scones vs #1 which ends featuring Black Bean Empanadas) is #7 in the gallery, but #1 on the video tab. Since the featured baked goods are at the end of the videos, I don’t think it’s a gastronomic based difference. My guess would be its position in the main gallery. But on the other hand, my 2nd place video with 6,413 views (pour over coffee making) is not listed in the top 50 of the main gallery, but is #4 under videos (falling below one of a latte making video (by me) with 108 views); and #3 under the “latest” tab falling between the two baked goods videos. Perhaps after more time things will be clearer, but I doubt it.
MC:
I watched your cover video uploaded to Mashpee Thrift Shop. Some of the video is based on still images, and it has some loud music.
Rn74: The default maps video player is with audio off, so users will only hear audio by choice. At mid volume settings on my phone or Chromebook the music is not loud to me. There is no need (and probably no value) in adding a music track to a montage or video that is shot in a mode that does not capture audio. For Maps videos I am shooting almost exclusively in my Pixel 7 pro cinematic pan mode which does not record audio. I just have a personal thing about publishing videos with no audio. I’ve found Capcut easy to use for all parts of editing; trimming, re-framing (both static and dynamic), zooming in on a still image (the Ken Burns effect), adding stabilization, sharpening; and exposure, contrast and color correction. Once I’ve decided on a free track to use, it takes me less than a minute to add, trim, and fade it.
MC: Conclusion:
I think it will be difficult to draw conclusions from your test when you are changing so many parameters in one test.
Rn74: Conclusion:
As to too many parameters, you are probably right. I agree the question of montage vs video needs to be explored, as does landscape vs portrait. My star video is a landscape montage (no audio). At some POI I have been creating very similar landscape and portrait montages and watching to see if there are any predictable results. As time consuming as it is producing videos (traditional or montage), at this time I’m not prepared to submit duplicate videos on a frequent basis.
A more scientific approach would most likely provide better data more quickly. @AZ_2021 has done some on the issue of landscape vs portrait (Testing AI Video Preferences in an Arizona Park). If no one else is (or is considering) producing montages, then the testing is only significant to me.
When I plan in advance to shoot a POI these days, I look at the current #1 photo, evaluate the quality of the primary storefront photo, look to see if the owner is posting a lot of their own photos, and what the situation is for videos. For me the specific location and conditions determine my choice regarding landscape vs portrait and still vs video vs montage. In the course of experimenting I am not willing to spend the time or energy producing images that I don’t think (or at least hope) will be helpful to Map users. As I see the results and successes of other video focused guides, I will expand the things that I try and see how they work for me.
MortenCopehagen, thank you again for your interest in my work and such thoughtful questions.
Best Regards,
