Your content is being regularly produced according to your editorial calendar. You are beginning to grow your audience, but you are not quite sure what is producing the best results nor how to improve the situation. Because there is always room for improvement, right?
Don’t let data analytics take over the precious time you have for creating and marketing content. And yet, without at least a minimal idea of what is happening to your content and what is popular, you will struggle to produce the right type of content for your audience.
Judging the volume
Take a quick look at the viewing figures for the last ten pieces of content you published. If you have a blog using a tool such as WordPress, these figures are readily available; ditto within your traffic stats.
You will know what marketing you did yourself for each piece – did you include links to all this content on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc., include links to your email list, promote the articles elsewhere, online or offline?
Look to see what results this marketing had – referrals to your site, RTs, mentions, links, and so on. You may already, even with this simple task, be seeing areas where you could increase your marketing activity to get more views, mentions and shares.
Reach a little further
If you already carry out this analysis, then you can go further by measuring your reach more thoroughly. This is now made much easier by using the functionality provided by tools such as Bit.ly, Buffer, HootSuite, Facebook Insights, and other such tools that are available within most good social networks and social media.
Your content will have a lifecycle – more attention at the beginning of its life, usually tailing off over time. This long tail is the place where great content can really win. By extending the life span of content, you will continue to reach a wide audience into the future. Articles and content that are only of interest during the news 'hotspot' will inevitably have a very short long tail, (and are likely to have heavy competition while news is breaking). On the other hand, How Tos, discussion of strategies (on whatever subject you care to choose), checklists, etc. typically have a longer life.
Levels of Engagement
You need people to get involved in your content - comments, discussion, even arguments among themselves are good. Likes and ReTweets (and other shares) may operate as social signals, but you also need to encourage your audience to interact with you.
Pose questions, be controversial, ask for opinions, respond to any comments about your content. Keep records of when the response rate is highest and replicate the techniques again in future content.
Who is influencing your readers?
See who is talking about your content and who counts as an 'influencer'. This may not necessarily relate to the size of the following of the influencer in global terms as there are many niche markets out there; but if a recognized expert in your field mentions you, this can have an impact on your brand.
You can use tools such as Klout and Kred to see which people show as influencers in your field. In addition, you may also find evangelists for your brand in other places, so seek them out.
Competition works!
Watch what your competition is doing. Which subjects create the most buzz, get most ReTweets, have high interactivity, get people engaged?
Evaluate what share of the market you have in social media compared to those companies, and work hard to increase your share. Not necessarily by imitation but by assessing what is working and what isn't, and then producing your own content following those strategies.
By keeping an eye on the metrics that are of most value to you and acting upon the successful techniques you identify, your content marketing will begin to show the uplift that will then be reflected in your key objectives, such as banking more money!
For more advice on content marketing and how to evaluate its impact on your business, call MintCopy at 888-646-8003 or send us an email.