4 Content KPIs You Should Know About in Marketing

KPIs, or key performance indicators, is a term that’s regularly thrown around businesses, regardless of the industry you work in. But while there are more generic KPIs associated with the marketing industry, there are some that are more bespoke to content marketing specifically. In this article, we’ll be going through what content marketing KPIs are, why we should bother with them and four content KPIs that you should be keeping track of. Let’s take a closer look at content marketing KPIs.

What are content marketing KPIs?

Content marketing KPIs, or key performance indicators, are metrics that are used to measure the impact of content marketing efforts. They enable a business, or a content marketer, to determine how successfully their content marketing strategies attract attention, engage audiences and generate conversions or sales. 

They guide marketers towards the right activities and tactics needed to make sure that the content you’re producing ranks successfully. This is why it’s essential that you choose the right KPIs for you and your business. But why are we bothering with content marketing KPIs? Let’s take a closer look:

Why bother with content marketing KPIs?

One of the main benefits of tracking content marketing KPIs is that it gives you an idea of whether or not your content is providing you with the desired results. In addition, it also helps you to know whether or not your target audience sees your content, engages with it and/or resonates with it. 

Essentially, it helps you to gauge how valuable that content is. The more valuable you think the content is, the higher it’s likely to rank in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Content marketing KPIs are perfect for analysing which tactics are working and which ones aren’t, enabling you to learn and then apply those findings to your future content marketing ventures.

4 content marketing KPIs to keep track of

Finding the right content marketing KPIs to keep track of is half of the problem, and it can pose a challenge to those who aren’t sure which KPIs they should be looking for. But fear not, because we’re on hand to help you discover the content marketing KPIs to keep track of for continued success:

1. Engagement metrics

Engagement metrics can cover a wealth of factors when it comes to content marketing. Engagement metrics can include taking a closer look at the time spent on a page or article, pages per session and bounce rate, to name just a few things. You might think that finding out what those numbers and analytics are would be challenging, but you can use some free, simple tools that are easy to use and that provide you with data that is easy to interpret. 

Those tools can include the likes of Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Engagement is something you want to see when it comes to content marketing, because it demonstrates that the content you’re putting out there is making a difference. It can also boost your ranking in the SERPs as the Google algorithm will see it as being trustworthy and authoritative. So why not make it one of your KPIs moving forward?

2. Performance metrics

Engagement and performance are two separate entities in the world of marketing. Engagement is when an audience actually does something with your content, whereas performance refers to how well the content performs in the SERPs. If a piece of content is performing well, then it’s likely ranking highly, more so than your competitors’ content. Performance metrics will include looking into the following things:

• Traffic – organic traffic measures website traffic that comes from a search engine directly, such as Google or Bing. It will exclude any traffic coming from paid advertising. The higher the organic traffic number is, the better your content is performing
• Keyword rankings – this tracks the number of individual keywords that a single website page ranks for, organically, in the search engines. Typically, only content ranking in the first ten positions in the SERPs is considered to generate organic traffic
• Backlinks – these are inbound links from one website to another. They act as trust signals that help SEO performance, therefore boosting website traffic. They also allow a website visitor to hop from one site to another, or from one web page to another within the same website, conveniently

3. Conversion metrics

When we talk about conversion metrics, we’re referring, specifically, to conversion rates, lead generation metrics and newsletter sign-ups. These are all indicators that your content is persuasive and informative. 

It means that your audience is acting on your ‘calls to action’ (CTAs), therefore boosting performance and engagement, as well as conversions, in the process. Conversion rates measure the percentage of users who visit a website and then trigger a particular conversion action. Newsletter sign-ups, essentially, do what it says on the tin. 

It will tell you how many people have signed up for a newsletter that you have available. It shows that your audience is interested and engaged in the content you’re producing. Lead generation metrics, on the other hand, are conversions that relate specifically to, well, lead generation, as the name would suggest.

4. Content reach metrics

Reach is important because without that, your content isn’t being exposed enough to generate any of the above things: engagement, performance or conversions. Content needs to be shared throughout the World Wide Web in order to generate traffic and interest. Some indicators that show that your content is reaching the right people include: the number of social shares it gets, the comments and other interactions it receives and the audience or follower growth rate.

Kumo has over two decades of experience in the digital marketing industry. With a dedicated team of SEO specialists, PPC professionals, expert content writers and dedicated website designers at the helm of everything we do, you can rest assured that we’ll propel your business into the spotlight and set you apart from your competitors. If you would like further information about how we can help you today, get in touch with a member of our friendly, knowledgeable team – we’re always pleased to hear from you.