How can you measure content marketing? A new eBook entitled, “A Field Guide to the Four Types of Content Marketing Metrics” is now available from the Content Marketing Institute and Convince&Convert. It is all too common that content marketers believe they can’t accurately measure results, or a tactic isn’t measurable, or they don’t feel comfortable measuring content. Below you will find the four types of content marketing metrics, including consumption, sharing, lead generation, and sales, that enable you to measure their impact on your business. You can view the entire content marketing report here.
Consumption Metrics
The simplest of content marketing metrics, consumption metrics answer the question, “How many people viewed, downloaded, or listened to this piece of content?” They measure brand awareness and website traffic. Some consumption metrics include:
- Page Views – can be easily tracked with Google Analytics
- Video views – YouTube Insights can assist here
- Document views – document sharing tools, like slideshare, keep track of these numbers
- Downloads
- Social Chatter– use services like Mention.net, Radian6, or Sysomos
Consumption metrics provide basic information, but also raise a number of questions. Therefore, it is important to measure the social impact of content.
Sharing Metrics
Sharing metrics answer the question, “How resonant is this content, and how often is it shared with others?” They assist in determining brand awareness and engagement. Some sharing metrics include:
- Shares, tweets, likes, +1s, and pins – sharing tools, like AddThis, and Google Analytics can track these
- Forwards – email forwards can be tracked
- Inbound Links – the amount of links to your piece of content
The Content Marketing Institute makes a great point regarding social metrics. Because they are measured publicly, they may be overvalued. Don’t get caught up in the competition!
How can you increase sharing? Make it easy! Place easy-to-use share buttons on every piece of content. Make infographics easy to embed. And most importantly, make your content worth sharing!
Lead Generation Metrics
Lead generation metrics answer the question, “How often does content consumption result in a lead?” Some key metrics include:
- Form completions and downloads
- Email subscriptions
- Blog subscriptions
- Blog comments
- Conversion rate – how often do visitors who consume content become leads?
Note, content doesn’t necessarily produce leads directly. However, it may contribute to lead generation behavior.
Sales Metrics
The goal of content marketing is to grow your business. So, measuring sales can help you determine if content marketing has impacted your sales goals. Sales metrics answer the question, “Did we actually make any money because of this content?” Some key sales metrics include:
- Online sales – measured through your ecommerce system
- Offline sales – track through your CRM
- Manual reporting and anecdotes
If you are going to track leads and sales, you have to do something trackable!
You can view the entire content marketing report below:
Check Out The Other Blogs In Our Content Marketing Series:
Content Marketing Definitions, Tips, and Strategies
Content Marketing – Survey Results!
