You’ve spent hours (even days) creating that amazing new marketing guide.
Your buyer personas are going to love it. It’s going to cause a social media storm. You’re sure of it…at least…you think it will.
Then ‘that’ question pops up – ‘How is it performing?’
Do you know? If you do, you are part of a relatively small 28% who can successfully measure content performance. But if you don’t know what metrics to use, how are you supposed to know if you are succeeding (let alone improving) against your strategic goals?
Understanding how to benchmark success is the first essential step in creating data-driven content that sets you apart from the competition. Whether ‘success’ is new leads generated, increased brand awareness or increased engagement, if you don’t measure it in the first place, you won’t ever achieve it.
So how do you define the ‘right’ content marketing metrics to measure? We have scoured the web for the answers from the crème de la crème of content marketing. Take a leaf out of these experts’ books and redefine what it means to create content that converts…
Heidi Cohen, Riverside Marketing Strategies
“To effectively understand content marketing and its contribution to your business, select your metrics after you determine your business goals. Then incorporate appropriate calls-to-action and related landing pages.” Read the full interview with Heidi on Top Rank’s blog.
The takeaway: Don’t forget your strategic goals when you’re deep in the creative mind-set. You need to constantly question if what you are creating is going to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself and your business.
Mark Walker, Eventbrite
“Are your top-of-funnel results creating positive mid-funnel results? Do those mid-funnel results in turn mean you are hitting your strategic goals? By breaking it down this way, you can start to see whether there are specific strengths and weaknesses in your content marketing.” Read the full article from Mark here.
The takeaway: Don’t let top-of-the funnel metrics blind you. You need to track your content performance throughout the whole funnel to understand where the strengths and weaknesses lie.
Jay Baer, Convince and Convert
“Content cannot be measured with a single metric, because no one data point can successfully or satisfactorily tell you whether your program is working.” Read Jay’s full analysis of what you should and shouldn’t be measuring.
The takeaway: Even if you have just one strategic goal, you’ll need more than one metric to benchmark success. Use these four core buckets to build yourself a 360-degree view of success and ensure you’re hitting every data point needed.
Chris Lake, Econsultancy
“… most businesses will only invest in things that affect profits and sales. With that in mind, views and visits might not be best thing to focus on.” Check out Chris’ Smorgasbord of Content Marketing Metrics packed with delicious metrics to measure.
The takeaway: Your metrics need to be meaningful and show how valuable your content marketing is to your business. Find the best indicators of success for your individual strategic goals and shout about them regularly.
Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute Founder
“When it comes to your content marketing measurement and ROI, your CXO only cares about three things: Is the content driving sales? Is the content saving costs? Is the content making our customers happier, thus helping with retention?” Read Joe’s full blog post on reporting to the C-level.
The takeaway: Remember when reporting to senior management, you need to take a step into their shoes to look at the bigger picture. Think beyond the smaller metrics that matter day-to-day and look at the impact of your content marketing on the wider business.
Doug Kessler, Velocity Partners in a recent interview with Econsultancy
“…Well revenue is the mother of all metrics. Everything else is a vanity metric, an early indicator or both. Of those, I’m a big believer in shares. Shares by your target audience are the ultimate endorsement and are invariably a leading indicator that wonga is on its way.” Take a look at the full interview with Doug.
The takeaway: Revenue is ultimately what your metrics need to ladder up to. While everything else is an indicator of success, eventually, you’ll need to be able to tie content marketing success to cold, hard cash.
Measuring your content marketing is no easy feat. There are so many variables to consider and, well, tracking your content is never going to be easy…but who wants easy?
Defining the right metrics to benchmark success is ultimately down to you. But take these words of wisdom on board and you’ll be well on your way to creating content that converts (whatever that may look like for you).
Ready to get started with measurable content marketing?
We’ve built a ready-made editorial calendar and content reporting tool for you to get started – Download the Ultimate Content Planner 2.0 now.