If you read the word “metrics” and feel a little intimidated, know that it’s completely normal to do so. Anytime the word is mentioned, it’s an indicator of a departure from the content creation mode, something that many people are more comfortable with than the numbers-side of the strategy. It’s important to keep in mind that the numbers are the key to adapting the content marketing strategy to be more efficient, though, so it’s probably a good idea to get comfortable with metrics.
Analyzing metrics cannot be done without the key performance indicators (KPI) defined in the infancy of a content marketing strategy. There are several types of metrics that need to be analyzed to get a broader picture of the campaign’s reach.
Related: 4 Essential Pieces of an Awesome Content-Marketing Strategy
Consumption
The most basic of metrics, consumption metrics are used to look for data that can help determine how many times the content was consumed, and more importantly what path led the readers to the content. A few KPI metrics are total visits, unique visits, downloads, cost-per-visitor, bounce rate, and time-on-site. As Arnie Kuenn of The Content Marketing Institute pointed out, these metrics are, “…directly tied to the value of your investment.”
Here’s How to Really Measure the ROI of Your Content-Marketing Strategy
