Content marketing has become an integral part of digital marketing, allowing entrepreneurs and business owners to better engage with their target audiences. But it can be difficult to determine which metrics are truly meaningful when gauging the effectiveness of your content outsourcing strategy. With so many different indicators available for tracking what works and what doesn’t, understanding exactly how successful your efforts have been (and fine tuning them where necessary) can be a tricky process. That’s why Digital Agency San Diego identified five particular content marketing metrics that everyone should pay close attention to in order to measure success accurately and adjust tactics accordingly. Read on to find out more!
Metric #1. Traffic
Traffic is the most basic and well-known of all content marketing metrics, but it’s also one of the most important. It can be measured in a number of ways; page views, visits, unique sessions, etc. All these measurements track how many people are coming to your website or blog via organic search or other means such as social media or email campaigns. Marketing Agency San Diego shares that by keeping an eye on this data you can assess which pieces of content have been the most successful in terms of bringing visitors to your site. This information should then shape your future action plan – if certain posts / pages have proven particularly effective at driving traffic then you can make sure that they are featured more prominently and that similar topics are covered going forward.
Metric #2. Social Shares
Social media has become an essential part of any content marketing strategy and tracking the number of times your posts are shared across platforms is a great way to gauge success. The more people that share your content, the wider reach it has – meaning it’s seen by many more potential customers and clients who may be interested in what you have to offer. Identifying which pieces of content were particularly successful and why can provide valuable insights for refining future efforts; some topics or formats may simply resonate better with audiences than others. You’ll also want to compare the number of social shares with other metrics such as traffic, so you can see how effective these shares actually were in terms of driving visitors to your site.
Metric #3. Engagement
Engagement is possibly the most important of all content marketing metrics, as it measures how interested potential customers are in what you have to say. This can include things such as comments and likes on social media posts, blog post views or time spent reading articles on your website – anything that indicates people are actively engaging with your content. Measuring engagement can provide valuable information about which topics are striking a chord with your audience, allowing you to focus more heavily on those areas in the future for maximum benefit. It also tells you how well adapted your content is to the platform(s) it’s being shared on; if people aren’t interacting with it then they’re probably not finding it relevant or interesting enough.
Metric #4. Conversion rates
Conversion rates refer to the percentage of people who took a desired action after reading your content, typically in the form of making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. SEO Agency San Diego added that a higher conversion rate is obviously desirable, but tracking it over time can help you determine which pieces of content were most successful at driving sales and/or sign ups. This data can also be used to assess how well adapted certain topics are in regards to capturing potential customers – if one area is consistently outperforming others then that should be given more precedence going forward.
Metric #5. ROI (Return on Investment)
ROI is the ultimate measure of success for any content marketing strategy, as it encompasses all the other metrics above. Thrive Digital Marketing Agency explains that it’s calculated by taking into account both your inbound and outbound investments – how much money you spent creating and sharing content versus how much revenue was generated from it. Tracking ROI over time gives you an indication of which tactics are most effective at driving leads and sales, allowing you to refine your overall approach accordingly.
Summing Up
Content marketing metrics can provide invaluable insights into any campaign, helping marketers identify areas that could be improved upon or focus on more heavily in order to drive better results. By paying close attention to these five key metrics marketers can ensure they’re getting maximum benefit from their efforts and make changes where necessary to maximize success. After all, the goal of any content marketing strategy is to engage customers and ultimately drive more sales – and these metrics can help you achieve just that.
Content marketing should always be focused on providing value and engaging potential leads, but tracking metrics is also essential for assessing how effective your efforts are in terms of driving traffic and generating revenue. By measuring things such as page views, social shares, engagement levels, conversion rates and return on investment marketers can gain invaluable insights into which pieces of content were most successful at drawing in customers, allowing them to refine their approach going forward. Focusing on these five key metrics will help optimize your content marketing campaigns for maximum benefit.