Why your brand’s metric system isn’t working – and what to do about it
It’s not enough to just measure how content is performing. Corporates, and their agency partners, need to get better at acting on their insights before the next piece goes live.
You likely invest a lot of resources in creating and collating a whole suite of content analytics – most of which no one in your organisation even looks at, let alone acts on. Sound familiar? In the world of corporate content, you can bet you’re not alone.
It’s a problem that riddles marketing as an industry. According to findings from research and advisory company Gartner, the majority of organisations rank themselves at an intermediate level or below in its 'Data-Driven Marketing Maturity Model’ – and it reports that demonstrating the value of analytics is a key obstacle to success for nearly 40% of marketing teams.
Wading your way through the unending lists of measures – from ‘referring domains’ to ‘daily unique visitors’ – can make Google Analytics feel like something of a labyrinth. Without a system in place to help you transform traffic data into a plan of action, it’s all too easy to get lost in statistic soup.
So how can you make your metrics count? It starts by being crystal clear on your objectives. If you invest time to make sure of your aims before the content creation begins, you will stand a chance of setting meaningful targets.
Most companies use analytics tools and dashboards to measure the effectiveness of their content. But these won’t help your strategy if they are read – and then left abandoned on your desk.
Solving the problem is as simple as putting together a list of recommended actions from each month’s metrics report, ticking them off your to do list, then tracking the impact of each action on how your content performs.
Taking time to celebrate the successes you see as a result – even in just the smallest of ways – will help you see how the system you’ve put in place is boosting figures and making a tangible difference to your content’s ROI.
If you’re doing all this, then you’re probably completing the circle of creation, measurement and learning. But much of the time, we suspect content teams are not.
To take the challenge of creating brand-enhancing content seriously, you need to make sure that the insights you gain are being fed back into your process.
Measurement should lead to growth – and by building a culture of continuous improvement, you can make sure your content strategy continues to move in the right direction.
Want to find out how to implement a best-in-class editorial strategy that connects your organisation to your always-on audience?
Contact Gabrielle Bridle from our client services team at gabriellebridle@speakmedia.co.uk or on LinkedIn.