When it comes to content marketing, it can sometimes feel like metrics are everywhere. To help you out, we’ve put together a guide on the content marketing metrics that you actually need to be focusing on and explained what to look for as well as how you can use the information that they give you. From keeping an eye on your traffic sources to analysing the pages that are linking to your content to keeping a close eye on your CRT and bounce rates, there are several marketing metrics that give you essential insight as a marketer to help you not only measure performance but tailor future content and strategies so that you are able to provide the most effective marketing campaigns possible.
Web traffic sources
Web traffic sources offer marketers the opportunity to see exactly where their audiences are coming from. Whether you’re getting most of your site hits from social media campaigns, your affiliate partners, your email strategies or somewhere else, it is important that you are aware of where everything is coming from. This information can help you to work out where you should be prioritising your marketing efforts as well as give you an insight into places that are not worth the expense and effort of marketing to them.
Social shares and backlinks
Keeping an eye on your shares and backlinks is extremely important. Take note of not just who is sharing your content, but which content is being shared most, where it is being shared and how much it is being shared. Taking a look at your content and social media shares is a great way to gauge how your business is performing in terms of brand awareness and consumer engagement. If you see that your content is being shared consistently and to a wide range of people and places then it is a good indication that you are creating content that your target audience is finding relevant and informative. If you are not receiving shares, then you might need to do some research into the kind of content that your target market is usually engaging with and focus more on this. In terms of backlinks, you should be trying to maximise the amount that other brands and pages are linking back to your content, ideally from reputable sources, as backlinking is a great way to improve your brand’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) rankings.
Referring domains
In terms of backlinks, another marketing metric you should be paying close attention to is the quality of the domains that are linking to your content. Take a look at how many links are being placed in each post that includes a link to you, and the pages’ SEO rankings as well as the quality of content that they are producing. Ideally, your content will be linked to high-quality sites with just a few links on each page. This is because links to your site will be more prominent and carry more weight. Lots of reputable referring domains will increase the authority of your website which will, in turn, boost your SEO ranking.
Conversion rate
While of course monitoring your actual sales is extremely important, taking a look at all of the different conversion rates happening in your business is very important. As well as sales, take a look at what content is pushing email marketing opt-ins, which content is guiding traffic to your website and which is making the most sales. Investigate the most successful types of content including graphics, wording and format to see where you should be focusing more marketing efforts.
Time on page
If you’re looking at your content marketing metrics to find ways to improve your content and increase engagement, then start by looking at how people are engaging with your content now. Are they spending a lot of time on your pages or are they skim reading them? Look at which types of content are engaging users for the longest and take note of the length, type and subjects that your audiences are finding most engaging. This will help you to replicate this in future and create more content that is going to engage and inspire your audiences, as well as hopefully push conversions.
Click-through-rate (CRT) and bounce rate
The click through rate or CRT is a marketing metric which shows the marketer which content is bringing people to your page but not engaging them long enough to click anything else. This is known as ‘bouncing’. Looking at both your CRT and bounce rate will allow you to see clearly which pieces of content are best drawing people in and which are keeping people around afterwards. You ideally want your content to not only be drawing people in but inspiring them to explore more of your page, click on links, and ultimately stick around.
