#ContentWritingChat Recap: Measuring Content Marketing Success
Express Writers

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Measuring Content Marketing Success With Amanda Webb

by | May 6, 2022 | ContentWritingChat

Content Writing Chat recap

You spend quite a bit of time, effort, and money when it comes to your content marketing efforts. So, don’t you want to make sure you’re seeing a return on your investment? Of course!

That’s why it’s crucial you take the time to measure your content marketing success so you can see what performs well and what doesn’t. This way, you’re able to focus on creating the content that’s going to generate the best results, allowing you to get more bang for your buck.

But how do you go about tracking this type of data? We’re breaking it all down for you in this month’s #ContentWritingChat. Let’s dive into the tips!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Measuring Content Marketing Success With Amanda Webb

Our guest host for this month was Amanda Webb. Amanda is a digital marketer who knows a thing or two about diving into your analytics to determine whether or not your content marketing efforts are paying off. After all, her mission is to help boost your ROI in business!

Q1: Why is it important to track the success of your content marketing efforts?

As Amanda pointed out, it takes time to create great content. And because our time is precious, it’s important that we’re being smart about where we’re directing our attention. You wouldn’t want to continue investing a bunch of time into something that isn’t working out, would you? By measuring your content marketing success, you’re able to spend your time more wisely.

When do a deep dive into your analytics to see how your content is performing, you’ll also gain a better understanding of what resonates with your target audience. This will allow you to create more of the content they want and enjoy.

Dana knows it’s all about providing value to your audience. But how will you know you’re providing value unless you actually review the data to see how people are responding to your content? You won’t! Tracking key metrics will allow you to create a more effective strategy moving forward.

Don’t risk publishing the wrong content! Do the research to figure out what your audience wants to see from you and you’ll drive more traffic, engagement, and conversions.

Q2: How do you know which metrics are important to track? Should you track the same things for every piece of content or does it change with each content marketing campaign?

Always make sure to set goals for every piece of content you create. Amanda shared some great examples of common goals you might work toward, including building brand awareness, growing your email list, and increasing sales.

The metrics you track will always be tied back to your marketing goals. And as Andrew pointed out, this can vary by campaign depending on what the purpose of the campaign is.

A few metrics that are always smart to track include: traffic, engagement, and conversions. Those are things we all want to see as creators.

For Carla, it’s all about tracking conversations and conversions. Both are crucial metrics to pay attention to when you’re a business owner or marketer.

Q3: What about vanity metrics? Are they worth tracking?

Amanda offered some great insights on vanity metrics. And as she said, audience growth is great to track, but you want to make sure you’re building an audience of the right people if you want to see long-term success.

Just make sure the vanity metrics aren’t distracting you from the main goals of the campaigns you’re running.

Q4: When do you measure content marketing success? Weekly, monthly, quarterly?

It’s clear that Amanda sees the benefit in regularly tracking key data for content marketing success. She suggests monitoring new content or campaigns on a daily basis. For more long-term strategies, she suggests monitoring data on a weekly or monthly basis. Doing this allows you to tweak your strategy as needed.

Andrew likes to do a weekly review to get a sense of how his content is performing. He also does monthly and quarterly reviews, which allow him to go deep into his analytics and gain a better understanding of how his content is performing.

Q5: What are your go-to tools for tracking the success of your content marketing efforts?

Amanda shared a few great tool suggestions, including Google Analytics, which is a staple for any content creator. She also recommends using a time tracker like Toggl. This allow you to see how much time you’re spending on marketing tasks.

Andrew’s favorites include Google Analytics and Hootsuite. If you use a third-party social media scheduling tool like Hootsuite, their analytics will be so helpful in measuring content marketing success.

For Carla, it’s all about Google Analytics, Later, and Facebook Business Suite. These are worth checking out if you haven’t already.

And don’t forget! There are built-in analytics for many of the platforms we use on a daily basis. For instance, Twitter has analytics that provide a wealth of information about your content and your account growth.

Q6: What do you do when you’re not seeing your desired results? What strategic actions can you take to drive more traffic, engagement, and sales?

Sometimes the content you worked so hard to create doesn’t perform as well as you’d hoped. It happens to the best of us and is no reason to be discouraged. Instead, follow Amanda’s advice. Figure out why your content is working by tweaking different elements to see if anything changes. You can swap your headline or test different CTAs to see what works best.

There’s no shame in abandoning a content format or strategy that isn’t working for you. Just make sure you’ve allowed ample time to measure your success to see if there are any benefits before moving onto something else.

Updating copy and adding new images can go a long way to refresh your content and drive more interest. And as Andrew said, something as simple as changing your posting schedule on social media can make a huge difference when it comes to driving impressions and engagement.

Q7: When is it worth putting advertising dollars behind a piece of content to generate more attention for it?

Amanda’s advice is to not put money behind a piece of content that isn’t performing well organically. She suggests making some tweaks to boost performance before putting a portion of your advertising budget behind it. She also said it’s smart to put money behind sales content so you can increase conversions.

Want to join the next #ContentWritingChat? It happens on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central. Just follow @ExpWriters to stay updated.

Tags: content marketing