Nathan Yerian
Across the board, business leaders are driven by data. When implementing marketing campaigns or pursuing new ventures, a company's top three letters are R, O, and I. No matter their goals, company leaders rely on numbers to guide next steps by revealing new directions and highlighting potential weaknesses.
A business that is new to blogging or content marketing may find that data-driven assessments are less than straightforward, especially since results require time, dedication, and consistency. In the meantime; however, leaders can leverage key data points to quickly assess a strategy's strengths and weaknesses.
The following metrics help quantify three key goals of any content marketing campaign: customer engagement, reputation-building, and follower growth.
1. Pageviews & Unique Pageviews
Technically speaking, analytics platforms determine pageviews by the number of times that a person loads a webpage. In other words, a site's pageview count will increase when someone clicks the "refresh" button.
It's possible to streamline this data by filtering to unique pageview counts that combine visits from the same user. Pageviews and unique pageviews on a per-post basis can reveal whether certain topics are more popular than others, which is important for building a long-term blogging strategy. Content managers can also examine pageview count over days, weeks, and months to track a blog's growth over time.
2. Return Traffic
Otherwise known as retention traffic, this metric counts the number of repeat visits to a blog. An analysis of return traffic can help content marketers understand whether they are engaging readers and developing a strong follower base. It is beneficial to examine this metric over time to gauge a content strategy's long-term performance.
3. Referral Traffic
In the world of blogging and content strategy, incoming links (also known as backlinks) are invaluable. From an SEO standpoint, backlinks will give a site authority and credibility. From a user experience perspective, links help bloggers network and establish authority as industry leaders. These metrics can help leaders understand their company's reputation.
4. Average Time on Site
Are people reading a blog's content? When they do, will they read beyond the first paragraph? By tracking readers' average pageview times, content managers can track whether blog posts are hits or misses. Compare a blog's average pageview time with individual posts to see what users find most captivating. Determine which themes have the most momentum, and leverage popular topics to brainstorm new content channels.
5. Geo-referenced Data
Regardless of whether a business has a physical storefront, it's important to know where a website's users are based. An audience's geographic profile will help marketers write relevant content and brainstorm additional directions for advertising. If feasible, an examination of visitor data by city or zip code will build a strong rapport with established clients and new prospects.
6. Social Media Feedback
Facebook shares, Tweets, and blog comments quantify whether readers perceive an article as valuable. Peer-to-peer shares help businesses expand their reach while growing a dedicated community. Word-of-mouth networking is powerful for establishing a follower base, especially for businesses that rely on costly advertising to sell products and services.
A consistent tracking system is achievable through free resources like Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools. By leveraging these numbers from multiple dimensions, businesses can set content strategy benchmarks, project growth, and build invaluable connections with established clients and prospects.
