When it comes to measuring the impact of content marketing, some may not have a clear understanding of what metrics are important. Truth be told, there isn’t a simple answer to this question. The metrics you decide to include in your strategy depend on your goals, the tactics you use and even the data accessible to you. So if you’re clueless on where to begin, consider the below types of content metrics to help get you started.

CHALLENGE #4: MEASURING YOUR CONTENT

Consumption Metrics – This is perhaps the most basic metric for a content plan as it looks at how content is consumed. So this metric is best aligned to the top of the sales funnel by measuring awareness and online traffic.

Questions to ask:

• How many people are consuming your content?
• What channels are they using?
• What channels are performing best?
• How frequently is the content being consumed?
• Is the consumption producing a desired action from the target audience?
• Is the target repeating consumption?

Social Metrics – The social metric is very public facing and is displayed in the form of social media likes, shares, tweets, etc. While this metric is valuable for certain pieces of content and at certain stages in the customer’s journey (awareness and engagement), it’s important to not place too much emphasis on this for your overall marketing efforts.

Questions to ask:

• Which content pieces are being shared?
• Is there a trend in the types of content being shared? Are there similarities in the content being shared most often?
• Who is sharing the content?
• How often and where are your pieces of content being shared?

Lead Metrics – This metric is appropriate for marketing activity that is further down the sales funnel and is tied directly to the generation of leads.

Questions to ask:

• What types of content generate a lead?
• How often does consumption of content result in a lead?
• How many times does a user consume content before they convert into a lead?

Sales Metrics – The sales metric can be difficult to track because of so many other points of influence, but it is the most critical to understanding the impact content has on your bottom line. This metric should be developed and measured through a partnership between your marketing and sales teams.

Questions to ask:

• How is your content influencing sales results?
• How is your content filling the sales pipeline?
• Is your content producing quality, sales-ready leads?
• How is your content driving revenue?

As I mentioned earlier, there is no one “magic bullet” when it comes to the right content metrics. So let the above questions be your guide to help you define what metrics are most appropriate for your situation. Best of luck and feel free to reach out if you have questions or would like to discuss further!