There are many indicators that can be tracked and reported to identify the results of a brand's content marketing actions. However, since there are many specific data and information, they must be filtered and interpreted appropriately, taking into account the objectives set and in a language accessible to the person to whom these results will be presented.
As a business owner, you are definitely interested in lead generation and, implicitly, gaining new customers, as well as the return on investment of content marketing activity. However, it should be understood that in addition to measuring the indicators of this stage, it is also necessary to monitor and optimize the indicators related to the other stages of the acquisition and customer loyalty process, namely:
1. The initial stage, when the brand focuses its efforts to increase visibility in the online environment and by default, attract visitors to the site/blog/social media pages.
At this stage, the aim is to get traffic to the site from organic, social networks, sharing sites and other sites. In the case of organic traffic, it is identified whether the articles/posts have been properly optimized according to the established SEO goals and how this aspect can be maintained/improved in the future. It also tracks blog traffic, video accesses, images, etc. — from various online sources — organically, directly and recommendations/referrals. Another indicator that shows that content marketing activities successfully meet the goal of increasing brand visibility in the online environment is the number of links obtained, through the distribution of content on other sites, blogs, by those who considered it relevant and valuable.
2. Discovery and evaluation/comparison stage — a middle stage, which aims to transform visitors, who learn about the brand, interact with the brand and what it offers, evaluate, compare - into leads.
Increasing the time spent on the site on certain content pages, increasing the number of pages viewed per visit — indicators that show whether the content marketing strategy has been well established for this stage. Subscribing to the newsletter, accessing the Contact page in articles, downloading a whitepaper, an ebook — other relevant indicators for this step.
3. The stage of transformation of leads into customers — when a part of the potential customers become customers following the pleasant experience that the brand offers, in all important interaction points in the online environment.
Some of the leads in the previous stage decide at some point to act, buying the products or services offered by the brand. Attention, this stage can occur either on the same day or months after the first interaction with the brand, depending on the product/service, whether it is B2B or B2C, its value, use, etc. In general, the higher the value of the product, the longer the purchase process takes.
Some of the leads in the previous stage decide at some point to act, buying the products or services offered by the brand. Attention, this stage can occur either on the same day or months after the first interaction with the brand, depending on the product/service, whether it is B2B or B2C, its value, use, etc. In general, the higher the value of the product, the longer the purchase process takes.
Another aspect that content marketing is a powerful tool when it comes to lead generation in the online environment is that Through content you attract attention and gain the trust of your online audienceand this is a decisive step in making the purchase decision.
4th. The stage of customer relationship maintenance, engagement and loyalty — when after actual experiences with the brand/products/services, as well as interactions in the online environment, customers attach to the brand and come back.
At this stage, we are talking about a series of indicators that show you whether the content marketing strategy manages to bring customers closer to the brand: returning visitors to the site, content sharing in social networks, different subscribers/downloads, access to offers, repeated purchases, increased lifetime value, etc.
Conclusions
Measuring these indicators first, then regular analysis and testing are essential for improving your content strategy to optimize every step of the customer acquisition and retention process.
The indicators specified above, in order to be understood by each department or to be relevant to specific business objectives, can also be divided into indicators at the brand level— those that show the evolution in terms of visibility, sentiment, mentions/branded keywords; indicators that show the relevance of the content to the audiencei.e. if the articles/posts are viewed, accessed, shared, interacted with; indicators at the business level, which shows the profitability of content marketing at a given time, by analyzing conversion/purchase paths and points of contact with the customer/potential customer before, during and after making a conversion.