Understanding the intricate metrics that help you measure the performance of your content marketing strategy is no easy cup of tea.
Yet, it’s important to take the time to do so.
The success of your content marketing campaign depends on the right efforts put in the right direction.
Thus, content strategists the world over take time to measure and monitor those campaigns.
As per a Demand Gen report from 2017, 89 percent of marketers ranked improving the ability to measure and analyze marketing impact as a top priority.
Part of that means having the right metrics to measure and monitor your content marketing performance.
In this post, we explore eight basic metrics for content marketing performance. By monitoring these, you can keep your content performance under check and make sure that what you’re doing is working.
Note: When putting your measurement program in place, start by deciding how frequently you’ll collect, measure, and monitor your data. Monthly intervals would be an ideal start for effectiveness. Then, monitor your metrics weekly to make sure monthly goals stay on track.
8 metrics to measure for content marketing performance:
1. Site traffic
The traffic to your website is a primary indicator of how your content is performing. Heaps of traffic is good news as long as the bounce rate on your website isn’t very dramatic.
For people new to the term, your site’s bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. A rising bounce rate is a sign that your homepage is boring or off-putting and that your content isn’t good enough to hold onto visitors.
Popular tools for site traffic include Google Analytics, Matomo, Open Web Analytics, and Clicky.
2. On-site time
It isn’t a complete circle if the website visitors are just dropping by on your website and then abandoning it.
On-site time (or dwell time) measures the average time spent on your site by a visitor.
This is an indicator that the content on your website has failed to impress visitors and that they are not spending time on it.
This could also be happening if your site pages take too much time to load. For that, you should look into your web hosting options.
3. Materialization of your SEO efforts
Another very clear measurement of the performance of your content strategy is the return on the SEO efforts that you are making.
If the rank of your website has significantly improved, that may likely be due to the efforts that you have been putting into optimizing your site’s content. Investing in content optimization helps your site start showing up organically in search engine result pages (SERPs) and driving organic engagement.
4. Ease of customer journey
The effectiveness of your content is also proven by how easily it is perceived by your audience.
Your content is an enabler of the customer’s journey. It helps your audience make a decision and hence, convert as a lead.
If your content is able to help your audience cruise through their customer journey easily, it is performing well. You should also weigh the performance of your content marketing based on the user experience offered by your content. Engagement on this content is also a huge factor of determination.
5. Returning visitors
Repeating visitors are the backbone of your website. A higher rate of returning visitors (RRV) shows that your website is providing content valuable to your visitors.
However, the pursuit of retaining your website visitors is often underestimated by content marketers as a content marketing performance measurement metrics.
According to a sample campaign by Harvard Business Review, content marketers who focused their efforts on retaining existing customers witnessed an ROI growth of more than 15 times. ROI from standard campaigns targeted at acquiring new customers, on the other hand, stayed put at just 4 to 6 times.
6. Brand awareness / reputation
Measuring brand awareness quotient around your brand is an effective measure of the performance of your content marketing.
Putting out content which is interesting, relevant, and value-adding for your audience is going to boost your brand image and as a result, the awareness around will grow.
If your audience or their circle begin to recognize your brand and perceive it as an authority in your relevant industry, you can be sure that the content marketing ROI is working. This will eventually help your business or brand with an increase in business referrals, leads, and sales.
7. Social shares of your content
People often share the link to your content on their social media if they find it valuable.
When the content you pushed out through your website starts gaining engagement on social media, it enhances your reputation, drives traffic, and brings in leads.
Since your potential customers are hanging out on social channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, tracking your content’s social media engagement is a great way to measure and monitor your content marketing performance. So, make sure that you keep maintaining the buzz around your brand’s content.
8. Percentage of conversion/sales
It is very important to track conversions for elements like email subscriptions, CTAs, conversion of qualified leads etc.
It also involves measuring the sign-ups of your email list (blogs, businesses), sign-ups for a free trial (SAAS – online tools, memberships, etc) and monitoring the percentage of users who fill out your contact forms.
In a similar manner, a hike in sales will determine how well your content is performing.
Conclusion
The impact of your content on your marketing strategies will eventually show up and it is a true determinant of how well your audience or leads are going to weigh your business.
Hence, it is never too late to implement content measurement techniques to know what works for your brand and its content marketing.
The metrics mentioned above will help you put these techniques into motion. Which means you’ll be able to measure and analyze just about everything in your content marketing pursuit, and attribute every dollar earned to a specific effort.