There is no silver bullet that can guarantee the success of your content marketing strategy. A successful campaign is the product of strategic planning, evaluation, and alterations.
To know if your strategy is on track, you need to make sure that you are tracking the right KPIs.
Here are some of the most important content marketing KPIs that you should track and measure:
1. Article Views
Online tools like Google Analytics can help you pull out key insights about your article. In addition to the number of views on your articles, you should also look at where the traffic is coming from and how much time readers are spending with your article.
This KPI can not only tell you if your articles are of high-quality but also if they are reaching the right audience.
Your goal should be to create share-worthy content.
Publicity done by the audience themselves is the best kind of publicity. Having a high number of shares on your content indicates that viewers genuinely like your content and want to share it with the world.
While social shares may not directly impact your bottom line, it will open up your business to new audiences.
3. Number of Followers and Subscribers
This one is the easiest to measure, yet one of the most important KPIs out there.
You should track the number of followers or subscribers that you have gained over a period of time.
A good idea is to set benchmarks or targets in this regard. For instance, you can aim at increasing your Instagram follower base by 10% over a period of one month. At the end of the month, compute your growth rate.
You can also look at the types of content that particularly accelerate your follower growth and the platforms that are exhibiting a faster growth trajectory.
4. Audience Engagement
Taking a look at the comments and interactions on your content will tell you if it is engaging enough. If your audience is going the extra mile to stop, think, and leave a comment on your post, it clearly means you’re doing something right.
You should identify the types of content that are generating more comments. Generally, content that is relatable, humorous, and informative works well in this regard.
5. Inbound Links
Inbound links can help you gain referral traffic. Moreover, high-quality backlinks tell Google that your content is valuable and that it deserves to rank better.
In this light, you should keep a tab on how many people are linking back to you and who those people are.
If websites with high authority link back to you, you will be able to climb up the SERPs faster.
6. Click-Through Rate
You should always end your content pieces with relevant calls-to-action (CTAs) so that users can take the desired actions. It could be as simple as writing share your experience in the comments below or check out this amazing product.
The right CTAs can help you generate leads.
To find out the effectiveness of your CTAs, you should take a look at the click-through rate of those links. You can compare how different CTAs perform and experiment with the look, copy, and placement of your CTAs for better results.
7. Cost Per Lead
Increasing traffic and engagement is great!
However, you need to ask yourself – is this traffic converting into leads or sales?
If it is, what is the cost of generating each lead?
Your cost per lead generation should decrease over a period of time.
This KPI can also help you determine the platform that provides the most value and then invest more on those platforms.
8. Conversion Rate
Most marketers track conversion rates because, in the end, it all boils down to the amount of money you earn.
If your content is driving decent engagement but poor conversions, it’s possible that you’re targeting the wrong audience or your website is not optimized for conversions.
9. Length of the Sales Cycle
If your content is helping you boost revenue, you’ve won half the battle.
Your next goal should be to shorten the length of your sales cycle.
How many days does it take for your lead to convert into a customer?
Is there a particular channel that closes leads faster than the rest?
In case you’re struggling to create content that connects and converts, try leveraging the best content marketing platforms.
Wondering where to look for the right platforms?
Read this post on my blog, ShaneBarker.com.
Also, check out the infographic below to learn more about content marketing KPIs.
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