We have had clients reach out to us, concerned about how a specific piece of content is performing based on some across-the-board metrics that they review. Because they were struggling with it, we thought that maybe you might be too. So, we wanted to share with you what we know about this particular subject.
ENTER YOUR INTENT
For anyone who has been tasked with measuring the performance metrics of their content, it can be a doozy to determine exactly what "good content" looks like.
What we know is that you simply can't look at the same metrics for everything across the board, because not everything can or should be measured the same.
This is why, when you are laying the groundwork for your digital marketing strategy, that you first determine the intent of your content.
In other words, what is the goal/aim that you are trying to achieve with your efforts.
WHY SHOULD YOU WORRY ABOUT "INTENT"?
Without knowing what your aim/goal is for each piece of content, it will be very difficult, not only to target the correct audience (which massively contributes to increased engagement with your content and thus content success), but also to determine what KPI’s to measure to determine success.
Related: How Can SWOT Analysis Give Your Company a Competitive Edge
TYPES OF CONTENT
In order to assist you in maximizing your efforts, we wanted to share with you four types of common content pieces for your inbound/digital marketing arsenal along with some details about them:
1. INTENT: Brand/Company Awareness
What it is: Content pieces that give insight into who you are as a brandExamples:
- Something that you feel passionately about (charities that you support, events that you attend, etc.)
- Gives insight to the consumer about who they are working with
- Management Style
- Gives insight to the consumer about how you run your business
- How To's
- Gives insight to the consumer about your processes
2. INTENT: Build Credibility
What is it: Testimonials/Case Studies/ Business Reviews/Company Reviews
Purpose: Helps to build trust about you and what you do for potential clients
Measuring its effectiveness: Again, it is really hard to determine a metric for seeing if these are effective, but they are a must for inbound/digital marketing.
3. INTENT: Lead Generation
What is it: Industry knowledge based pieces/product pieces/services piecesPurpose: Lead someone to contact you with interest in or purchase your products/service
You should first determine what part of the funnel that your targeted audience is in to make sure that your Call to Action(CTA) is relevant to them.
Measuring its effectiveness: A good Metric, here, would be leads. (online conversions/phone calls/emails, etc.)
4. INTENT: Engagement
What is it: Can be in the forms of questions, polls, surveys, etc.
Purpose: Garnering engagement from your clients/potential clients/audience
Sometimes relevant to business improvements/customer satisfaction
Sometimes just for relationship building purposes
Measuring its effectiveness: You should really just consider the feedback that you are getting and focus on responding to those individuals who are taking their time to engage with you. This can help to build customer/business loyalty
If it is just a relationship building item like a social engagement item, and it gets very low engagement, perhaps it is not something that is relevant to your audience. You can try something new the next time.
PARTING ADVICE
One last piece of parting advice that we would like to strongly communicate to you is that; you should always look at your performance metrics in context.
For example: A piece of Hurricane prep material shown in the dead of winter, will more than likely have much less clicks than one shown at the start of Hurricane season. And, for many social sites, posting something when your audience is most active will increase your chances of higher engagement.
We truly do hope that this information has been helpful to you, if you have any Marketing questions; please do not hesitate to reach out to us!
About Vested Marketing
As a certified Platinum Tiered HubSpot Partner Agency, we not only understand the benefits of using the inbound marketing platform to increase traffic and engagement, improve SEO, generate leads and boost sales, we know how to make it happen.
Our team of Engineers Turned Marketers can help get you noticed - for a more innovative and effective way to reach customers or provide a more seamless way for companies to find your services.