Many organizations are still trying to figure out how to accurately measure success when using content marketing, which is a tactic employed in various industries to generate awareness and educate audiences.
Based on the Content Marketing Institute’s 2020 research, it is found that 80% of respondents utilize metrics for performance measurement. However, the percentage decreases to 65% when questioned about their possession of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for performance measurement, and even further to 43% when asked about measuring the return on investment (ROI) for content marketing.
The time and resources needed for content marketing to be successful are substantial, according to any marketer. It is not just about production; one must also take into account the expenses involved in devising the strategy, distributing and promoting the end result, and the software associated with it.
To create high-quality content that effectively drives results, marketing teams must be able to justify the resources used. Therefore, having the ability to measure against established key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential. Once you have a clear understanding of the purpose behind your content marketing efforts, you can closely monitor the following metrics that every competent content marketer should track.
1. Traffic
If your website doesn’t attract any visitors, no matter how incredible your blog posts may be, they will remain unread and won’t be beneficial to you.
If you want to simplify it, measuring traffic is a necessary metric. It can be seen as a gauge of your brand’s strength, but with practical value rather than being abstract like the concept of “brand.”
In Google Analytics, you can categorize this traffic into different categories. The metrics that you should focus on are:
The total count of distinct visitors to your page is referred to as users.
Pageviews refer to the cumulative count of how many times a webpage on your website has been seen.
When calculating the unique pageviews metric, multiple visits to a page by a single user are consolidated into a single pageview.
By thinking in a systematic manner, you can rephrase the provided text without changing its meaning, and without adding or removing any information. You can utilize the unprocessed data from these metrics to obtain a general understanding of the volume of traffic directed to specific pages on your website. Additionally, you can analyze the data to determine the geographical origin of your traffic, their means of discovering your site online, and the type of device they employed to access your site.
Having this information can be beneficial for your future content strategy. For instance, if your main focus is on U.S. customers, but you are receiving a considerable amount of traffic from the U.K., you can customize your future content to cater to your U.K. visitors. Alternatively, if a significant portion of your traffic originates from a specific social media platform, you can tailor your content according to the data of your social media followers.
2. Conversions
After people visit your site and read your blog, it is important to consider their subsequent actions. Are they engaging with your links and reading additional content? Are they showing interest in subscribing to your newsletter or making a purchase through e-commerce?
B2B brands aim for leads or direct sales as the ultimate conversion. It is unlikely that buyers will go from being unaware of your brand to making a direct purchase based solely on a great article. Therefore, B2B brands need to monitor the entire buyer journey which includes lighter conversions such as subscriptions or click-throughs, as well as deeper conversions like offer registrations.
You have the freedom to define what qualifies as a conversion. Depending on your objectives, your content might aim to generate direct sales or simply enhance brand recognition and influence. In the latter scenario, it may be beneficial to prioritize metrics related to social media shares and engagement.
If your blog is mainly used for sales, it is important to track the number of sales it generates. To do this, you can enable ecommerce in Google Analytics and view the page value of all your content in the behavior section.
By following this process, you will be able to determine the average revenue generated per page when users directly make a purchase or achieve any other goal you have defined.
3. Engagement
In some cases, the quantity of traffic your content receives is determined more by your ability to entice people to click on your links, rather than the quality of your content. To truly determine if people are actively engaging with your content, you must track the duration of their visits to your site and the number of pages they explore per session.
The objective is to retain visitors on your website for an extended period to facilitate them in reading more of the content, unless your intention is to swiftly direct them towards a sales page.
The information that allows you to view your total number of sessions, visitors, average number of pages per session, average session duration, and bounce rate can be found under Audience Overview in Google Analytics.
When considering content that is meant to be read, it is preferable to have a high page per session count, a lengthy average session duration (taking into consideration the content length), and a low bounce rate. Another successful method of evaluating content engagement is to assess its performance on social media platforms.
There are different metrics to track, but the most crucial one is the number of times your content has been shared across multiple social networks. A share indicates that other people consider your content valuable.
If you have social share buttons on each piece of content, they will provide you with information on how many times that content has been shared on each platform. However, this information is not accessible in Google Analytics.
You have the ability to track the amount of traffic you are receiving from social platforms. This is a useful method for determining engagement. If you receive more clicks from social media, it indicates that a greater number of individuals are sharing and engaging with your content. To access this data in Google Analytics, navigate to Acquisition > Social > Network Referrals.
4. User Behavior
User behavior metrics, when analyzed in isolation, do not provide significant information. However, when combined with other metrics such as traffic performance, they can offer marketers valuable insights into reader engagement and content performance in a particular direction.
Make sure to monitor the following metrics in Google Analytics:
- Time on Page
- Bounce Rate
- Pages/Session
- New/Returning Visitors
While these metrics may not be the definitive measure, they can serve as supplementary factors to communicate the performance of your content. For instance, you can assess the relevance of a blog post to searchers’ intentions by observing its ability to attract organic traffic and engage readers for a substantial duration.
- Tools to Use: Google Analytics // Other Analytics Platforms
- How to Find It: Behavior > Overview and/or Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages
5. Impressions and CTR
In addition to monitoring traffic and user behavior, it is important to keep track of impressions and click-through-rate in Google Search Console. By doing so, you can gain valuable insights into whether the keywords your content ranks for are effectively generating impressions and clicks in organic search.
Although it may not provide a comprehensive overview, it can indicate whether your content is performing well (high impressions and CTR) or if adjustments are necessary (low impressions, low CTR, or both). To thoroughly analyze the performance of an asset, navigate to Google Search Console, apply a filter for a specific landing page, and examine the associated queries.
- Tools to Use: Google Search Console
- How to Find It: Performance > Search Results > Queries
6. Content Shares and Backlinks
The primary objective of every content asset is to offer worth to readers. While it is not possible to use a single metric to demonstrate this, social shares and backlinks provide insight into whether individuals are willing to share your content with their own audiences.
Content metrics such as having a blog post shared over 100 times on social media or an infographic being picked up by notable industry publications are significant, particularly when aiming for increased awareness.
7. Keyword Rankings
To maintain the same meaning, the text can be rephrased as follows: It is important to conduct keyword research to determine priority keywords for your website. Once established, these keywords should be tracked using tools like SEMRush on a monthly basis to monitor their rankings. While SEMRush is suitable for our client programs, there are various other tools available for this purpose.
Ranking improvements can effectively communicate the performance of your content program, particularly when targeting competitive, valuable keywords. Demonstrating progress over time can generate enthusiasm among stakeholders and encourage continued advancement.
- Tools to Use: SEMrush, Google Search Console
- How to Find It:(SEMrush) Search by URL & (GSC) Performance > Search Results > Queries
8. Lead Generation
Finally, it is extremely important for content marketers to assess the number of leads generated by their content. This is a crucial aspect for several marketers as it determines the allocation of finances, as it is necessary to prove that content contributes to acquiring and fostering leads.
- Tools to Use: Google Analytics
- How to Find It: Conversions > Goals > Overview
To begin the measurement process, the first step is to establish goals within Analytics. Common examples of conversions include requesting demos, submitting contact forms, and downloading assets. Afterward, teams can utilize Analytics segments to ascertain the number of conversions originating from the blog or a resource hub.
By integrating CRM, marketers can assess the quality of leads in addition to determining the number of conversions and leads generated through content assets. Naturally, the achievement of a specific quantity of sales or marketing qualified leads will be given more importance in evaluating success.
