How Do You Measure Content?

Ever-improving technology means we are better at tracking where our content goes, how they got there, who’s reading it, how long they spent looking at it, did they click any links? With all the data available, what should you be measuring? And once you have the data in front of you, what the heck do you do with it? 

Save yourself a lot of time with a content hub

Trust me, you don’t want to manage email from one platform, your website from another, social media on five different channels, and so on, when you have the option to manage them all from one system, or at least just a couple. Condense as much as possible to streamline both distribution and reporting.

Always start with content strategy

Have a plan and a goal for your content, before you start creating it. If you have a clear measure of success, like number of clicks on a CTA, you’ll know exactly what data to look at to see if the content succeeded.

You Don’t Need to Measure Everything

Just because the data is available, doesn’t mean it’s useful to you. The important data will depend on the goals you have for the content.

But You Do Need to Measure the Right Things

Again, the right thing will depend on what your goal is. Let’s say your goal is increase bookings for a new class. You decide to send out an email to advertise the class. In this case, success is measured by the number of new class bookings–rather than email open rate or number of clicks on the email CTA. It seems simple, but it’s easy to place importance on the wrong thing if you don’t have clear goals.

Listen to the Data

Using our earlier example, just because the open rate and number CTA clicks aren’t the final measures of success doesn’t mean they aren’t important. Let’s say you didn’t see the increase in class bookings you were looking for. Now the email data matters. A low open rate may mean a more enticing subject line is needed. If open rates were good but CTA clicks were low, it suggests the copy needs revision. The ultimate goal matters most, but understanding how you got there matters too so you can make improvements.