If you're a content strategist, you know how important it is to measure the impact of your content. But with so many metrics and tools available, it can be hard to know which ones to focus on and how to track them efficiently. In this article, you'll learn what's the easiest way to track your content's performance, based on your goals, audience, and content type.
Before you start tracking anything, you need to have a clear idea of what you want your content to achieve. Do you want to increase traffic, engagement, conversions, retention, or loyalty? Each goal requires different metrics and strategies to measure and optimize. For example, if your goal is to increase traffic, you might want to track metrics like page views, bounce rate, and organic keywords. If your goal is to increase conversions, you might want to track metrics like click-through rate, conversion rate, and revenue.
Know the Why behind the Content plan. To understand this, you need to have a clear idea of who you are writing for and what you want them to think/react/do after reading your content. Nice you’ve nailed the specifics of your audience and how you want them to engage, then you can set forth to tackle what specifically to measure and the relevance of specific performance, more importantly to set benchmarks around expectations so you know whether or not the content is performing well.
Once you have your content goals, you need to choose the metrics that best reflect them. Content metrics are usually divided into four categories: consumption, engagement, retention, and conversion. Consumption metrics measure how many people consume your content, such as page views, downloads, or video views. Engagement metrics measure how people interact with your content, such as comments, likes, shares, or time on page. Retention metrics measure how often people come back to your content, such as return visits, frequency, or recency. Conversion metrics measure how your content leads to desired actions, such as sign-ups, purchases, or referrals.
When thinking about what to measure, check your hosting and delivery platforms analytics capabilities to know what is available to track (and what is missing). Depending on where the content is hosted, metrics like page depth and scroll speed can give you insight into whether your content was read and if it was skimmed or swallowed slowly. Make sure to ask your agency what they track and how they measure significant performance so you know they are on the ball and not just doing the basics.
Now that you have your content metrics, you need to select the tools that will help you track them. There are many tools available for content measurement, ranging from free to paid, from simple to complex, from general to specific. Some of the most popular tools include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Moz, SEMrush, HubSpot, and Contently. Depending on your budget, needs, and preferences, you can choose one or more tools that suit your content strategy.
Don’t forget to consider content listening and tracking platforms like Brandscreen to track where and how your content is being engaged with. The SEO tools are great for measuring the technical structure of the article with respect to keywords and other SEO metrics but they don’t show you how and where people are consuming the content.
One of the easiest ways to track your content's performance is to set up a content dashboard that displays your key metrics in one place. A content dashboard can help you monitor your progress, identify trends, and spot issues. You can create your own content dashboard using tools like Google Data Studio, Tableau, or Excel. Alternatively, you can use a ready-made template or a tool that integrates with your content measurement tools.
Finally, the most important step is to analyze and optimize your content based on your data. A content dashboard can give you a snapshot of your performance, but you need to dig deeper to understand why and how your content is working or not working. You need to ask questions like: What are the best and worst performing pieces of content? What are the common characteristics of successful or unsuccessful content? What are the gaps and opportunities in your content strategy? How can you improve your content quality, relevance, and value? Based on your answers, you can make changes to your content plan, design, and distribution.
LookerStudio is our content performance tracking ace up our sleeve. It's not just a tool; it's our data-driven storyteller. With LookerStudio, we go beyond the surface metrics. It dives deep into the data ocean to uncover the stories our content tells. It's about analyzing user behavior, identifying trends, and making data-driven decisions. With LookerStudio, we're not just tracking performance; we're crafting narratives that resonate. This tool is our compass in the content world, helping us navigate toward success by understanding what truly engages our audience. ?????