We know most of you are using content marketing. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 86% of B2B marketers, and 76% of B2C marketers, both use content marketing. That’s the good news. The bad news is this: just because a majority of marketers are doing content marketing, it does not mean they’re winning at content marketing. In fact, both groups indicated they feel their organization is only 38% effective at implementing their content marketing strategies.
If you identify with that last statistic, don’t worry, you’re not alone! But let’s talk about how we can improve. After all, if you’re putting in the work, you should be seeing the results.
First things first, are you committed to content marketing for your business? Have you defined a content marketing strategy, and put that strategy into writing? Do you have business goals that are supported by your content marketing efforts? Are you publishing and promoting your content? Do you know which metrics and KPIs to monitor to accurately judge your results? Do you have any idea if you’re seeing a ROI from your efforts?
If you have committed to content marketing, we’ll let you in on a little secret: the answers can always be found in your results. By tracking, measuring and analyzing your data, specifically what content people are interacting with, you can determine how your content is performing and what content is getting the best results.
So what should you measure?
It’s important to mention that different pieces of content will have different goals. Some of your content is designed to build awareness early on during the buyer’s journey, while other content is created to move prospects towards a purchasing decision. So, before you analyze your content’s results, first look at the goal your content is trying to achieve. Once you have done that, you can effectively measure your results in the following ways:
How much traffic is it generating?
- Organic Traffic: hands down, organic traffic is the ultimate goal. This is where you need to look at your SEO. Can search engines easily find your blog? Is your content optimized? Are you linking to other sources? Are you attempting to answer the questions your customers are frequently asking?
- Social Traffic: how often are you sharing your posts on social media? Remember: social media followers are not like RSS subscribers. Not all of your followers will see all of your posts, so consider creating a sharing schedule where you repost repeatedly some of your best blog content.
How well is the Traffic converting into Contacts?
- Blog Subscriber Rate: when it comes to growing your blog, increasing your subscribers is critical. This is a great post for getting more engaged subscribers: 7 fresh ideas to get new subscribers for your blog; check it out!
- CTA and Click Through Rates: wouldn’t it be awesome if you could pick the perfect CTA for every blog post that you create? HubSpot has some really great tips on how to do this, click here for the inside scoop. For your click through rates, take another look at those analytics to see which CTA’s earned you the most clicks.
- Conversion Rates: How well does this content convert visitors into a known contact. There is always room for improvement. Strive to be at about 10% for your content.
How is the Engagement with the Content?
- Time Spent on your Site: how long are your visitors sticking around? Are people commenting, liking or sharing your post?
- Bounce Rate: have you checked your analytics to determine if you are retaining visitors? Consider this example: if you have a 60% average bounce rate, this means that 60% of the people who visit your website leave after only viewing the page they landed on. Your goal is to improve that bounce rate. Are you providing valuable content? Do you link to other internal pages throughout your posts? Do you include related posts that direct visitors to other content?
- Engagement on Social Media: are you seeing a significant amount of shares and mentions on your social media channels? It’s now super easy to keep tabs on who’s sharing your content with a tool like SumoMe.
We know we’ve given you a lot to think about, which is why we would now love to hear from you! Do you feel like your content marketing strategy is effective? Have you tried any of these tactics and found successful, measurable results? Anything else that you would add? Leave us a comment below, and let’s discuss!
