How to Find Out If Your World-Changing Work Actually Changes Anything.
Matt Mahmood-Ogston ??
Social Impact Photographer & Storytelling Consultant Helping Brands, Charities & Funders Document & Share their Impact with Authenticity ?? ESG, CSR & Impact ?? Award-Winning Human Rights Campaigner & Charity CEO ?????
You think you're making an impact, don't you?
You're pushing out new content every day. You're crafting powerful words and narratives designed to shake the foundations of society.
But are you really?
Publishing thought-provoking pieces is the easy part.
Getting them to actually land and resonate - to genuinely spark introspection and spur audiences into action? That's where many creators and inexperienced changemakers fall short.
The uncomfortable truth is this:
If you aren't analysing your content's performance and optimising accordingly, you're just aimlessly urinating in the wind.
No growth strategy, no iteration, no understanding of what's working versus what's not working. Just a whole lot of time, hope, energy and world-changing ambition wasted.
Ouch.
That stings, doesn't it?
I'm not surprised - many dreamers, including myself, tend to be fairly allergic to cold, hard numbers. We'd much rather get lost in our technical or creative brilliance than get dirty with data and engagement metrics.
But here's the deal.
In the battle to positively impact society's narratives and shift cultural consciousness, analytics and intelligent data are your greatest weapon.
Master this, and you unlock the power to iteratively optimise your content until it cuts through the noise and permanently connects to hearts and minds.
Miss the mark, however, and you become just another creator in a crowded ocean of 200 million creators around the world - every one of them battling for attention.
And let's be real - isn't that the greatest fear for any self-respecting changemaker? To pour your soul into crafting content with real purpose and potential, only for it to fall flatter than pancake.
The good news?
You can easily avoid such an unfulfilling fate by fully embracing content analytics. I'm talking tools like Google Analytics, native social media analytics, social media listening tools, actively measuring andmonitoring social impact and even custom UTM tracking codes for tracking campaigns and projects - the full data-driven arsenal.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves…
Using Analytics to Guide Content Strategy
First, you must establish the 'North Star metrics' to gauge whether your content is genuinely hitting the mark.
Are you looking to amplify visibility through sky-high traffic and engagement? Or are you more concerned with actually changing behaviours by cultivating an uber-engaged core audience?
Drill down and get specific.
Because your goals will shape the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you obsess over and how you justify your investment in creating content.
Maybe it's a combo of donations/sales received, pageviews, dwell times / time on site, social shares, shares and comments. Or perhaps it's a hyper-focus on minimising bounce rates and fostering grassroots advocacy through impact measured on the ground, in person.
Here are some suggestions to track as you KPIs (key performance indicators):
There are no wrong answers here when you start tracking - just be intentional about what "successful" content looks like in the context of your unique motives as a purpose-driven creator.
Once you've nailed down those guiding KPIs, it's time to gather the data.
Your Content Analytics Utility Belt
Hopefully, you're already starting to move away from wanting to chase vanity metrics, such as follower counts and likes defining "great" content.
Those, on their own, are empty signals - entertaining at best.
You're going to need access to reliable data to measure this. Here are the essentials:
There are also heat maps, scroll tracking, screen recording and all sorts of other analytics services available. It's worth testing out the free heat maps and screen recording features in Microsoft Clarity. This is something I've recently started using on my coaching and personal branding photography site.
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I've listed more analytics tools on this page.
Separating Hits from Misses
With your analytics infrastructure in place, the fun (this is subjective!) truly begins.
You get to dig into the data and pinpoint your greatest creative hits and flops so far. Which topics, themes, formats and promotion channels yielded:
These are your hero content pieces - the campaigns that clearly hit the sweet spots within your audience. Soak them in, study their hooks, framings and positioning. What did you do that worked? Think about how you can borrow or repurpose those "hero" ingredients and replicate the magic for future launches.
You've got to review your misses too - the content that flopped and attracted nothing but silence from your audience.
Be honest as you pinpoint which topics were the last popular, which content fell flat, and which promotion channels wasted valuable attention and time. Invest less time on these moving forwards.
Seeing unimpressive results can sting in the moment, sure. But this is the rocket fuel you need to make adjustments, evolve and keep your creations fresh and purpose-driven.
After all, no one ever changed the world by playing it safe and stale.
Optimising for Maximum Impact
So you think you've found what worked and what didn't and updated your content roadmap accordingly?
What's next?
Time to test, experiment and validate your data-driven hypotheses!
Maybe that means A/B testing of headlines or hooks to see which words score the highest engagement. Perhaps you launch a brand new content format like video essays or original data studies based on what your audience indicates will connect most.
You might even redesign your website with search, user experience (UX) and findability in mind after realising that you've been encouraging Google to hide your most important content under a carpet.
At the end of the day, the key is to combine insights with experimentation and learning.
Because you didn't sign up to change the world and then be happy to settle for making no impact, did you?
Those are the stakes churning away in the background for purpose-driven creators, leaders and changemakers like you.
Making tangible progress towards your impact goals requires constantly, tirelessly optimising your content and campaigns for maximum impact.
Leave nothing un-analysed or un-improved upon in your pursuit of your goals.
So use the tools.
Test the tactics.
Rinse and repeat.
Be open to learning and accept that not all your content is good.
Embracing change is the only path forward.
With the world becoming increasingly polarised, your voice is needed now more than ever.
Make sure it's being heard loud and clear.
Don't let any of this hold you back.
Do you need a friendly voice to help you make a bigger impact?
If you don't know me already, I'm a multi-award-winning charity CEO and photographer, available for personal branding coaching, personal branding photography, and CSR photography.
Before starting my charity I spend twenty years of my career as a design, developer and UX (user experience) consultant working with agencies, banks, startups and small organisations.
I only have a few spots available in October for 1:1 coaching, consultancy and photography clients.
Drop me a DM, contact me via my website, if you're serious about making an impact.