Welcome to the seventh installment in our “Collective Wisdom” series of content marketing strategy and tactics articles.
Previously we’ve covered planning ahead for content marketing success, the art of crafting powerful content, and an array of strong promotion tactics.
So, what’s up next? Measurement and analytics. Measuring and analyzing your content’s performance is critical so you can uncover new opportunities, make improvements, and determine whether you’re meeting your goals.
Here we share some tidbits of analytics wisdom and insights from some famous figures inside and outside the digital marketing realm.
Having the Right Data is Crucial for Measuring Success
How do you gauge success in content marketing?
At the most basic level, you want to learn how much online traffic is coming to see your content. But what should you count and what can be ignored?
Albert Einstein offered insight that I think applies to marketing analytics, and on a greater scale to life itself.
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” — Albert Einstein Click To Tweet
Measuring this traffic has always been rather tricky, and nearly as long as the Web has been around there have been tools dedicated to helping track and understand just how successful a piece of content is.
Even as we’ve seen the growth of big data, extracting the right information is still a challenge, as Tamara McCleary, CEO at Thulium.co, points out.
“Everyone likes to talk about Big Data. The truth is, what we really need is Smart Data.” @TamaraMcCleary Click To Tweet
Regardless of your industry, there’s no sure-fire substitute for common sense, as digital transformation speaker and Forbes contributor Daniel Newman has noted.
“While I do love big data, I know there is no substitute for good old-fashioned common sense. If the data really doesn’t fit, question it. Ask deeper questions.” — Daniel Newman @danielnewmanUV Click To Tweet
Besides server-based software, hundreds of companies also offer specialized Web analytics tools that operate using remote access to your content, the most popular of these being Google Analytics.
Here’s an image of Google Analytics from “How to Prove the Value of Content Marketing to Your CMO in 3 Easy Steps,” by our own Content Strategist Anne Leuman.
No matter which software, online tool, or service you use, the pursuit is by its very nature a complex one. It requires a good deal of dedication and learning to deeply understand which bits of data you really care about, so you can find the best ways to accurately gather and analyze them.
Choosing The Right Analytics KPIs
No matter which tools you choose, a primary decision you’ll have to make is what to measure to gauge success of failure, and these will be your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) — those signals that matter the most to you and your business.
KPIs vary widely, so it’s important to find the ones that will provide you with the data that’s the most relevant to your own content measurement situation.
Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals — those that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based — are especially pertinent in the realm of data analytics, as Danica Benson, Global Product Marketing Manager SMB at SAP Concur and former Marketing Communications Manager at Rival IQ, has pointed out.
“Digital marketing analytics software can aggregate and report on a wide array of metrics, many of which are fun to know, but without context don’t tell you much about how to move forward.” — Danica Benson Click To Tweet
The dangers of relying too heavily on statistics, however, have been espoused for over 100 years, including the famous quote popularized by Mark Twain in 1906, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Knowing how to wisely interpret statistical data — especially what information to set aside — is a bit of a combination of art and science that takes dedication and research.
Jay Acunzo, founder, host and writer at Unthinkable Media, explores two methods of finding this data measurement wisdom in “There Are 2 Ways to Approach Data. Which Helps vs. Hurts Creativity?,” offering both an Aristotelian and a Galilean take on the art and science.
“When we’re data informed, we isolate variables, test, and learn. We insert our own sense of taste and our intuition into the process.” @jayacunzo Click To Tweet
Taking the time to learn and choose the right KPIs for extracting actionable insight from your analytics data is well worth the effort, as Kyle Harper, Marketing Analyst at Harvard University points out in his recent “Comprehensive Guide to Connecting Content Marketing KPIs to Business Goals.”
“Well-chosen content marketing KPIs are more essential than ever. Knowing the right KPIs to track can help sort out the most important performance information from the noise.” — Kyle Harper @TheyWereFlying Click To Tweet
Analytics Can’t Simply Be an Afterthought
Deciding how to measure success is critical to any content marketing strategy, so measurement and analytics need to be included from the very beginning of your planning process.
Large numbers of technical professionals worldwide make a career from trying to gauge the success of online content. And while it isn’t our intent to teach you the detailed and ever-changing intricacies of analytics, we would like to share some fundamental truths with you.
Longtime technology consultant Joel Snyder, Ph.D. points out in a recent article that analytics is far from new, and that even the smallest firms now gather heaps of statistical data.
“Data analytics isn’t some new magic bullet. It’s a way of leveraging the data that most every business has been quietly accumulating for years to deliver insights that lead to better decisions.” — Joel Snyder, Ph.D. @joelsnyder Click To Tweet
In some ways, some aspects of analytics have gotten easier. With the massive growth of the internet at-large, social media, and other platforms, methods for tracking that have become nearly universal—such as the ubiquitous Facebook “like” or Twitter “heart.”
Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned pro, a considerable challenge is wading through the vast number of analytics tools and finding the ones that mesh well with your needs, including how you prefer to visually see your analytics data.
Some tools offer only simple text-based lists, while most make a point to present analytics information in ways that are visually easier to understand.
Using just one analytics utility was commonplace in the Web’s early year. But today, it’s not unusual for savvy digital marketers to use five, 10, or even more tools, all from different firms — some free, some commercial, and others custom-made.
Accurate and relevant measurement can also help with influencer marketing campaigns, as our CEO Lee Odden looks at in “B2B Marketers: Is Your Influencer Marketing Mechanical or Meaningful?”
“Platforms like Traackr, Onalytica, GroupHigh and BuzzSumo (to name a few) can be instrumental for the most effective (vs. subjective) influencer identification, engagement, measurement and program management.” @LeeOdden Click To Tweet
Analytics Tools Can Be Your Best Friend
The scope and complexity of analytics tools varies greatly, but where can you start when looking to begin a new campaign, or when you just want to keep up on the new players that are entering the market in greater numbers than ever?
To help you learn more about some of the analytics tools available, we’ve put together a list of 11 helpful resources exploring several of the more popular analytics tools and services.
Four Takes On Google Analytics
SEMrush
Trust Insights
Ahrefs
Quintly
BuzzSumo
There are hundreds of other excellent data analytics tools and services available, including those from Sprout Social, RivalIQ, Traackr. Internet Marketing Ninjas, Screaming Frog, SpyFu, Moz, and so many more.
Additional Resources to Put You on the Path to Informed Measurement
As a final parting bonus list, here’s a collection of recent helpful additional resources to boost your analytics knowledge.
7 Recent Data Analytics Trends
“Only 30% of B2B marketers use data to inform decision-making. That’s because harnessing data is hard. Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every day.” — Alexis Hall @Alexis5484 Click To Tweet
Next Up: More Measurement Tactics For Your Campaigns
By learning the fundamentals of data analytics, choosing the tools that best fit your own particular needs, and keeping up on the latest industry news, your content marketing will be set to have measurable advantages over those who skip or only pay lip service to the art of metrics.
Next up in our “Collective Wisdom” series we’ll take a look at additional measurement and analytics tools and how to use the data you gather.
If you haven’t yet caught our previous episodes in this series, hop back and study up:
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