“Key Performance Indicator” is what KPI stands for. These are not just general objectives that you pursue as a company. These are quantifiable goals that are targeted and defined. Effective KPIs are distinctly linked to measures that enable you to determine whether and when you meet them. A corporate objective is to “grow revenue by 6%.” A KPI might be “Increasing sales conversions by 6% by the end of the quarter.” KPIs can be utilized in any aspect of marketing, including content creation. However, what do KPIs for content marketing look like? Let’s dissect it.
What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for content marketing?
Businesses utilize KPIs to accomplish specific outcomes. In your content marketing plan, the main goal of each piece of content is to deliver value to the consumer. However, there are also additional ways in which quality content may benefit your company, including increasing authority, credibility, and visibility. Content marketing KPIs can take many forms when you go into the details (as required to build successful key performance indicators). Your content marketing goals could include:
- Increasing Organic Traffic
- Ranking higher on SERPs
- Generate leads.
- Identify, research, or enlarge your target audience.
- Moving a potential customer through the sales funnel
- Increasing conversion rates (like sales or email sign-ups)
- Customer Retention
To be effective, any KPIs must be fleshed out, correctly defined for your specific marketing activity, and tracked over time.
How Should You Write a KPI Statement?
If you want your content marketing KPIs to be effective, you should formally document them. You can construct successful KPI statements by considering each KPI before deciding on the precise target you want to attain.
Start the process by analyzing your content marketing strategy. This is your road map, considering your overall content goals and the techniques, resources, timetables, and other aspects that will help you achieve them. After you’ve evaluated your overarching goals, you should describe what it will take to make them a reality. This criterion is necessary if you want your KPIs to be effective. It’s helpful to remember the SMART acronym. What are the specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound specifics that can transform each overarching aim into a set of focused benchmarks?
You should also evaluate the data that you have available. What information do you already have, and what new can you gather? For example, if you want to increase email sign-ups, how many do you already have? How many new sign-ups did you receive last month? This historical data allows you to determine how many additional sign-ups you may aim for and reasonably hope to achieve as a future KPI. After considering this, pick which KPI(s) you want to measure. Write them down, with metrics to track and a time frame for achieving the goal.
How to Select Relevant Content Marketing KPIs for Your Campaigns
According to a 2020 Content Marketing Institute B2B research, the most closely monitored KPIs for content performance are email engagement, website traffic, and website engagement. While these metrics are crucial to track, they may be outside your campaign objectives. So, how can you identify the best ones for your campaigns? It would help to envision what you hope to achieve with your campaign. Once you’ve established precise content marketing goals, you can match them with the appropriate measurements and KPIs.
It would help to envision what you hope to achieve with your campaign. Once you’ve established precise content marketing goals, you can match them with the appropriate measurements and KPIs. Outline your goals and connect them to the KPIs that are relevant to them. To give you a better sense, let’s look at the KPIs for the four common campaign goals described earlier:
- Increase brand awareness
- Generate more leads
- Increase conversions
- Increase engagement
1. Content marketing KPIs to employ for growing brand recognition
Does your target audience know you exist? We’re not talking merely about the logo or the phrase. Do they know what your brand represents and what items or services you offer? That’s what brand recognition is all about. The more individuals who identify and trust your brand, the more inclined they will be to buy it.
So, how do you increase awareness using content marketing? Write engaging content that tells your target audience what your brand is about and what you stand for. Ensure your content is relevant to their needs and helps them solve difficulties.
For this purpose, the KPIs to track include:
- Content views: You may utilize tools like Google Analytics to examine the number of views your content receives. You can also obtain information regarding traffic sources, average session time, and bounce rate for each item.
- Social shares and engagement: You should track and measure social shares and engagement to understand how well your content performs. Your audience base will be more extensive with social media tools like BuzzSumo to rate the top-performing material on any topic based on their social shares and engagement.
- Audience engagement: True audience involvement, such as comments and interactions on your content, can help you learn how consumers feel about your business. Tracking audience engagement can also help you determine which types of material your target audience engages with the most.
- Inbound links: Do people like your content? Is your content being quoted on different websites? If so, this signifies that your material is making its mark. Getting more brand mentions and links means the industry perceives you as a reputable and authoritative source.
2. Content marketing KPIs to employ for generating more leads
For your content marketing approach to assist you in producing leads, you have to offer your audience excellent content for which they gladly trade their information.
It might be exclusive insights into a topic, a webinar, an e-book, a worksheet, a template, a checklist, or anything that delivers value. Follow the same method discussed earlier – discover common pain points and give a solution.
Once you understand this, develop attractive landing pages with valuable gated content. For this purpose, you should track the following KPIs:
- Click-through rate: To encourage users to click through to your material, you should provide a clear call to action (CTA) at the end of every post. Whether you want the reader to visit a specific web page, contact you, download your gated content, or take any other action, a clear and appealing CTA can help you drive leads.
- Cost per lead: you may determine cost per lead by dividing the cost of your campaign by the total number of leads it helped you create. Tracking your cost per lead for many types of content and multiple channels might help you determine what performs better.
3. Content marketing KPIs for boosting conversions
Want to increase your conversion rate? Before developing any content, consider your buyer’s path. Consider how they learned about your brand and items and what motivates them to buy.
Please take a look at the common issues they may be encountering. When developing material, make it a priority to address these concerns. It’s also a good idea to highlight your unique selling proposition. You can create product films, demos, tutorials, case studies, client testimonials, and more.
You want to turn leads into customers and earn revenue for your company, correct? If you’re going to track how many sales your campaign generates, you should measure the KPIs listed below:
To achieve this goal, you need to monitor the following KPIs:
- Conversion rate: Tracking conversion rates will help determine which content pieces generate the most conversions and revenue. You can track conversions by creating custom UTM links for each piece of content you write and post.
- Length of sales cycle: You should measure the length of your sales cycle to see how long it takes to convert leads. This will assist you in identifying outlets that allow you to produce leads that close faster and have a shorter sales cycle.
4. Content marketing KPIs for increasing engagement
Is your material engaging enough to encourage audience participation? Audience engagement measures how much your audience appreciates reading the material you create. It demonstrates that you provide good material they love discussing or sharing with their friends.
High interaction on your material has various benefits, including:
- Increased interest in social media
- Improved brand visibility
- Improved SEO ranking and brand recognition
- Enhanced brand authority Boosted leads and sales
Some of the content marketing KPIs to track for increasing engagement are:
- Average session duration
- Referral traffic includes social media likes, comments, and shares
- Social media followers rise with time
- Content click-through rates
- Average time-on-site
As you can see, quantifying the success of your content marketing effort necessitates a clear understanding of your objectives. Understanding your target audience, their problem spots, and how you might help them is also essential. So, whether you write blog posts, develop a demo, or write a product instructional, provide value so that your content marketing efforts compel readers to take action.
In addition to understanding the intricacies of content marketing KPIs, partnering with a dedicated team like Digi Tech Resource Group, LLC can further enhance your strategic approach. With our expertise, we not only help you identify the most relevant KPIs for your campaigns but also provide tailored solutions to optimize your content marketing efforts. From crafting compelling content to analyzing data and refining strategies, Digi Tech Resource Group, LLC is committed to driving your business forward in the digital landscape. Reach out to us today to elevate your content marketing game and achieve measurable success.