In the dizzying heights of content marketing, where online users are subjected to enough daily information to fill 764 newspapers, it’s easy to suffer from information overload. However, it’s not just readers who are struggling to process all of this data. A recent study by eConsultancy demonstrated that 91% of digital companies are producing more content than the year before. As competition for online space continues to grow, businesses are being put under increasing pressure to upload as much information as possible (whether through blogs, Tweets, or clever infographics). This then begs the question: How is this content being monitored and how can businesses measure its success?
A great content marketing strategy won’t just focus on producing engaging and sharable content. The truth of the matter is that data analytics are a vital component of any marketing strategy. Without assessing your social media ‘shares’, or even your monthly site visits, you’ll have no way to measure the success of your content. Analytical data incorporates much more than social media, of course, but it’s so obvious that it’s something often forgotten by businesses.
If you have the resources at your disposal, then there are several branches of a content marketing strategy which can greatly benefit from data analytics. Whilst one of the most obvious beneficiaries of data analytics is SEO, I want to focus on something different. It might not be initially obvious, but online content and social media are being revolutionised through savvy data assessment. There are various tools available, from Flesch-Kincaid to Facebook Insights, which help businesses measure how successful their content and social media strategy is.
If you want to be extra clever, you can even use this information to compare it with your competitor’s data. This has several advantages. You will be able to examine your own performance, identify areas of improvement, and refine your competitive marketing strategy. This is why data analytics are so important; they go hand-in-hand with producing great content.
Who said numbers had to be dull?
Content
In previous blog posts, we’ve stressed the value of writing relevant and informative content for your audience; but how do you know what your customers want? This is where data analytics become indispensable. There are plenty of online tools and data analytic courses available to businesses who want to assess their reader demographics and content data. Here are some of the most important tools available at your disposal:
Create a timetable
This is extremely simple, but an informative timetable is vital in helping you to assess how your content is received by online users. Think of it this way: if you have a team of 10 content writers, for example, then your table should be able to measure which authors are most popular. You’ll be able to see which day of the week is the most likely to generate the most shares (this will be Monday or Friday, by the way). If you’re super organised, then you should be able to examine which blog categories are especially successful. Once you’ve addressed these issues, you can then create and market your content in an entirely informed way.
Data analytics allow businesses to build a tactical marketing strategy. Here is an example of a good content timetable:
Image courtesy of www.contentmarketinginstitute.com
The table is compiled with a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) which help to determine the overall success of a published piece of content. If you want to measure things like site visits, then you can use Google Analytics to give you an accurate reading. You will be able to see how many have shared your content via social media through your own investigating. Altogether, tables like this help to give marketers complete control over their content publications.
However, if you only produce blogs once a month, then it might be more difficult to assess how successful your content is. You’re more likely to make sweeping generalisations and your data results will be less informed than your competitor’s. For those of you who are business-minded, then it makes sense to build your content marketing around your data analytics. Examine for yourself what works for your business; then you can produce articles, blogs, and press releases according to your results.
Utilise Flesch-Kincaid
Once you have a good idea about how successful your marketing strategy is, you might need to make some improvements. Before you go around rearranging your content team, it’s worthwhile experimenting with the Flesch-Kincaid readability test. The purpose of Flesch-Kincaid is to quantitatively measure how readable your content is. Using a series of basic algorithms, Flesch-Kincaid will analyse a written text to determine how accessible it is:
- A score of 0.0 – 30.0 means that your content is best understood by university graduates.
- A score of 60.0 – 70.0 means that your content can be easily understood by 13-15 year old students.
- A score of 90.0-100.0 means that your content can be understood by an 11-year old student.
You might wonder what this has to do with content marketing, but this test really is invaluable. It lets marketers see how easy their content is to read. It should go without saying that the higher the score, the better the content. By ensuring that your online materials are accessible and readable, you increase the likelihood of it being shared amongst various social media sites. In this respect, it really does pay to conduct your data analytics.
There are various other online tools which help businesses to measure how readable their content is. Try the Gunning Fog Index, for example, or the Readability Test Tool.
Experiment with Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A fantastic CRM programme will monitor all of the data and feedback a piece of content will receive once published. This will help you to determine which topics are trending and what particular content has been successful. Sometimes, after using a CRM programme, a business will be able to see which aspects of their marketing strategy require adjustment.
At Neil Walker Digital Group, we developed our own CRM programme so that we could develop a detailed picture of our clients’ content-consumer relationship. Lead Trigger was designed to help content marketers work out which topics and blogs were currently relevant. In doing so, we are able to tailor-make content which we know that people want to read.
Overall, data analytics can help businesses to target their content accordingly and maximise the impact of their work. It’s not simply enough to produce great content. You need to have an effective content marketing strategy in place that utilises all of the data analytics at your disposal.
Social Media
Social media sites like Twitter, Google+ and Facebook are bombarded with people competing for space and attention. Quite often, businesses lack the time to give themselves a substantial online presence by frequently engaging with clients/leads through social media. This is problematic two-fold. First of all, it’s vital that businesses use websites like LinkedIn to raise their public profile. Second, social media can present companies with a wealth of data to improve their marketing strategy.
For those of you who rely on Facebook, for example, you already have access to your own social analytical data. Facebook Insights will give users a complete breakdown on their posts; helping them to visualise who their consumers are and what they engaged with. You will also be able to see other variables like post reach and engagement rates.
This type of information really is invaluable. In fact, it can help to completely restructure a marketing strategy if the information is particularly impactful. In this respect, analytics allow businesses to plan their content accordingly for the future.
In addition to this, social media can help businesses to gain an understanding of who their online consumers are. This type of information can be characterised as ‘rich data’ because it’s more in-depth and valuable than basic demographic studies. Kred is an example of a good online tool which helps businesses to measure their social media status:
Kred
Kred Influence Measurement is a tool which helps to gather social media data and and produce a measurement regarding your business’ status as an influencer. It does this by looking at Twitter, for example, and calculating how often certain hashtags are used and retweeted.
Kred gives individuals a dual score; it first measures a company’s influence and it also assesses a company’s outreach. This means that Kred focusses on how many times your Tweets have been shared amongst other users. Although this data might seem somewhat abstract, it’s actually incredibly powerful. It helps businesses to understand their customer relationships and where they need to build their trust.
Users of Kred are given a full statement which describes, in detail, the various social media interactions encountered by that company. You will also be given a Kred ‘score’ which will quantitatively measure how successful your social media campaign is. Not bad, eh?
Altogether, data analytics help businesses to form more meaningful relationships with their customers. It’s all very well using social media to increase your brand awareness and promote your content. However, you should make websites like Facebook and Google+ work with your service. Using data analytics tools, like Optimal Social, then you can gain a greater understanding of your customer.
Once you know who your customer is, it’s much easier to create content that you know they’ll want to read and share.
What’s next?
Once you’ve gathered the data you need, then you can use the information from your content and social media analytics to compile a formal report. At Neil Walker Digital Group, for instance, we compile monthly reports about different sectors and their performance through social media. However, one of our largest recent reports was about the status of Liverpool as a city of business and commerce. To achieve this, we collected a mammoth amount of information regarding the cost of living and changes in property prices (amongst others) in the city.
This was something very specific to our business, but one of the purposes of data analytics should be to compile reports. In doing so, you have a tangible product which is the result of all your efforts. They are good way of informing your clients (or competitors) about your current status and recent updates. Additionally, reports are a fantastic product to share within departments so that every employee can see what needs further improvement. If you are doing well, moreover, then they can also be a much-needed pat on the back.
Overall, your data analytic results should help you to strengthen and guide your marketing strategy. In terms of content, specifically, it should help to refine the following issues:
- Who produces the best content?
- What days/times are the most profitable to publish content?
- Which sectors/businesses respond best to your content?
- What are the most popular platforms to publish your content?
- Could you benefit from using more content types (such as press releases or videos)?
With regards to social media, data analytics should prompt the following considerations:
- Which social media platforms are the most successful?
- How many shares/site visits do you receive per month?
- What do you know about your consumer demographics?
- Are you effectively marketing your content?
The beauty of data analytics can help businesses to resolve a variety of issues. Once you have addressed these issues, you will be able to develop a digital marketing strategy which is specific to you and your business.
Data analytics: a summary
In the online world of content and social media, competition is fierce. More businesses are producing content than ever before and 45% of companies now produce content solely to be published online. When you think about it, this really is staggering. It means that digital marketing strategies have to be especially effective; but how do you achieve this?
Data analytics are a vital component of any good marketing strategy. By doing your researching and collecting data, you will be able to refine your marketing plan according to the needs of your customers.
This isn’t just cold numbers. Data analytics help you to develop consumer relationships and create content that people actually want to share. It’s a labour of love.