Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
Measuring content marketing campaigns
The two most important metrics associated with measuring content marketing campaigns are engagement metrics and conversion metrics.
Engagement metrics
Engagement metrics for a successful content marketing campaign include:
- Higher average time on site
- Reduced bounce rates
- Increase in the number of returning visitors
- More pages viewed per session
- Deeper scroll depth
- Growth in discovery through organic search or social visitors
- Increased number of people searching for your brand
- Higher channel engagement metrics (For example, social shares, email opens, brand mentions, and links to your content, which is good for long-term SEO.)
Conversion metrics
Conversion metrics for a successful content marketing campaign include:
- Higher number of goals achieved
- Higher conversion rate
- Shorter path to purchase
- Reduced cost per sale or lead
Make sure you choose the right set of metrics to measure your campaign based on its objective. If the objective was awareness, for example, using conversion metrics to evaluate success can misrepresent the value of the campaign activity. The objective should be stated in the content strategy document and agreed with all stakeholders before launch. Remember, it is important to manage the expectations for a campaign and to use the correct metrics to show how the activity impacted on the agreed objective.
A challenge can arise when there are different expectations. For example, the agreed objective might be to drive awareness, but the expectation from stakeholders might be that the campaign will drive direct conversions or sales. Then stakeholders may ask for direct conversion metrics, instead of the awareness metrics, for the campaign. To avoid such cases, explicitly outline the metrics for success in the strategy document before sign-off. And only report on conversion metrics as a secondary effect of the content campaign.
Likewise, in the case of a conversion objective, it might not be possible to report on increased awareness activity following a campaign. Either way, the principle is the same - always ensure you are using the right metrics to report on your campaign in relation to the agreed objective.
Back to TopWill Francis
Will Francis is a recognised authority in digital and social media, who has worked with some of the world’s most loved brands. He is the host and technical producer of the DMI podcast, Ahead of the Game and a lecturer and subject matter expert with the DMI. He appears in the media and at conferences whilst offering his own expert-led digital marketing courses where he shares his experience gained working within a social network, a global ad agency, and more recently his own digital agency.
Connect with him on Twitter (X) or LinkedIn.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- Identify the benefits of using personas in content marketing
- Critically analyse the relationship between buyer personas, target audience and content marketing
- Systematically analyse techniques for sharing and promoting content and for measuring content performance
