People turned up in their droves at AdWeek to hear the answer to the eternal question: just how do you measure the success of content marketing? They left satisfied but, sadly, without a definitive answer.
What delegates took away from the session was, on the whole, a rulebook of good sense and planning. Start with the bigger picture. Be clear of its purpose in the consumer journey and what value it adds in the wider communications plan. Then build a bespoke measurement plan based on those insights. You can’t judge performance without understanding the context.
It goes on. Don’t measure all the metrics – as there is a surplus to choose from. Find the right metrics and KPIs. Start at the start; basic measures such as CTR, shares, likes or scroll rates can quickly build a picture as to how the audience might be engaging with the content. For a much richer point of view, you can overlay this with digital attribution modelling.
However, content marketing is often much more than just a click, a share or an online sale. Its purpose could be much more human; to change perception or build trust. This doesn’t always translate into a digital footprint so a more traditional, box-ticking approach to evaluation won’t work. You need to build a more rounded picture of success – and that often comes with investment in brand research.
So it appears we are way off creating a universal metric for measuring content marketing but, with the right approach to measurement and evaluation, do we really need one?
