Content Marketing Performance

Content Marketing
Content Planning
October 19, 2023
38
4 minutes read

How to Measure Content Marketing Performance

Table of Contents

Content marketing performance matters—if you don’t track it, you may end up misspending your marketing budget and getting less than ideal results. But should you track traffic, views, or social shares? Or should you focus on some other metric?

Here’s a quick guide on how to measure content marketing performance the right way.

Step 1 – Get the Right Content Marketing Analytics

Most marketers start with Google Analytics, but there are many other content marketing analytics out there. The main advantage of using analytics is that it brings you all the information in one place, allowing you to check it at a glance. It also lets you set key performance indicators and track them. In the long run, using marketing analytics saves you time.

Step 2 – Look at Traffic

Traffic is a broad metric that doesn’t tell the whole story about your content marketing performance. But it is important. Traffic is the metric that makes all the other metrics relevant. If your website, blog, landing pages, and social pages all get good traffic, it’s a sign that your content is doing well.

Step 3 – Measure Your Search Engine Ranking

Use analytics or just search Google for your main keywords to see how well you rank in the search results. A good search engine ranking on Google and beyond is important because search engines are a steady source of traffic.

Most people online who want to find out something Google a key phrase or ask their smartphones a question. But bear in mind that climbing to the top of the search results takes time. Don’t expect content marketing to propel you to the first page of the search results overnight.

Step 4 – Check Dwell Time on Your Site

How much time are visitors spending on your website? If they are just dropping by and then leaving, it’s a sign that you need to work on your content to improve dwell time—or the time they spend on your site. Dwell time is relevant not only for your website but also for your blog and other social media pages.

Step 5 – Measure Social Engagement

Social media has become an integral part of content marketing today. A strong presence on social media will influence even your Google ranking. When measuring your social media engagement, look at shares, likes, mentions, and new followers.

Compare these numbers with those you had before you kickstarted your content marketing campaign. But if you don’t do social media content marketing at all, you can skip this step.

Step 6 – Measure Conversions

At the end of the day, conversions tell you whether content marketing is bringing you a return on your investment. Conversions here include not just clicks and purchases following a call to action, but also email signups, social follows, or lead conversions. Effective content marketing will steadily improve your conversions.