1

HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESSIN CONTENT MARKETINGAn approach to content engagement

2

White Paper CreditsWritten by: Stephen Zorio & Brennan Reid Contributors: Leah Betancourt, Aleya Chattopadhyay, Kim Fox, Reuben Tozman.

“Engagement is the reward you get when

you meet the needs of your customers with

pathological empathy for their perspective,

problems, points of view. You get an audience

who relies on you for information or who you

delight with ‘content gifts.’”

— Ann Handley

Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs

3

Content marketing is here to stay.

Ninety-five per cent of CMOs believe

content marketing is important to their

business. Thirty-three per cent said

it was “extremely important.” In fact,

only one person, out of 200, said that

it was not important at all.1

That leads to an essential question:

How do you know it’s working? We

intend to help you answer that question.

1 http://podcasts.socialmediatoday.com/Whitepapers/ The_Speed_of_Life-Fortune_500_CMOs_Share_Priori ties_and_Challenges_for_2014.pdf

01. Introduction

4

02. Background

“Content marketers need to ask themselves the

question, ‘How will we know if we are succeed-

ing?’ I can tell you it probably doesn’t relate to

how many ‘likes’ a post received.”

— Amanda Clark

source

A goal of communication, since the dawn of humankind,

has been to persuade. Content marketing is a contin-

uation of that idea, i.e. persuading people to trust your

brand. Content marketing, as a form recognizable to us

today, began in 1895 with the publication of The Furrow,

a customer magazine created by John Deere (still

published today).2 It started a new trend, with Michelin

releasing their famous travel/automotive guide in 1900 and

Jell-O releasing a recipe book in 1904.3

Jump ahead through the years and you can find examples

of brands taking advantage of content marketing in a variety

of different mediums across multiple platforms, and even

in real time. The importance of content marketing is an

accepted fact. Demonstrating that it’s successful — in mean-

ingful ways that matter to C suite executives — is where the

real challenge lies.

2 http://contently.com/strategist/2013/10/03/the-story-behind-the-furrow-2/

3 http://todaymade.com/blog/history-of-content-marketing/

5

The rise of social media like Facebook,

Twitter and Instagram birthed an equiva-

lent focus on (or obsession with) virality

and the clicks, likes, re-tweets and

shares that come with it. Getting a click,

like, or a retweet has some value, but the

question today’s content marketers need

to ask is not, “Did I get some interac-

tion?” but instead: “What is the value of

that interaction?”

“Likes” have an intrinsic value. It

is better to have more likes than

fewer, but tying a like to a busi-

ness goal is extremely difficult.

A 2012 BBC experiment found a non-ex-

istent business about virtual bagels

drew nearly 3,000 likes in four days.4

Facebook’s own algorithm changes are a

tacit admission that the presumed value

of a like had outpaced its real-world value.

You can extend that to favorites, re-tweets,

impressions, page views: Unless you know

the value of the metric you’re using, it’s

not doing you any good — and may

actually be hurting. Touting a metric

without knowing how it links to your

business goals means you’re wasting time

and resources.

Content marketing is about creating

connections in meaningful and lasting ways

that tie into your business goals. A like is

just one of the ways to express interest, but

it’s ultimately a fairly shallow measurement.

02.AThe Modern Challenge

4 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18819338

6

“I believe content marketers are getting smarter at what

they’re doing, and better tying content to buyer’s journey

and all that. But unless they can start measuring that

FDXVH�DQG�H̆HFW��LW�ZLOO�EH�LQFUHDVLQJO\�GL̇FXOW�WR�MXVWLI\�additional investments moving forward.”

— Matt Heinz

President at Heinz Marketing Inc.

source

It is useful to think about what metrics actually achieve. In one end of the pool are clicks, likes, favorites,

retweets, pageviews, loops, plays — anything that can be done almost without thought.

These metrics are useful in that they represent an interaction,

but they have questionable value because they only represent

an interaction. In other words, you can favorite something or

play a video or visit a site and do nothing further whatsoever.

Like floating on water, these are passive activities and do

almost nothing to drive people down the conversion funnel.

At the other end of the pool are active metrics. Page views repre-

sent an intentional decision to consume something beyond a single

interaction. Return visits are a sure sign that content strategy is

paying off, as are shares. Broadly, the more time people spend with

your content, aka the more engaged they are, the more likely they

are to interact with it and convert in meaningful, measurable ways.

7

“Search engines have killed content farms for a good reason; they ZHUH�SXPSLQJ�RXW�EDG�FRQWHQW�WKDW�ZDV�FUHDWHG�VSHFL¿FDOO\�WR�UDQN�on specific keywords that their business was interested in. That VWUDWHJ\�LV�QR�ORQJHU�H̆HFWLYH�DQG�GRHV�QRW�PDNH�VHQVH�DQ\PRUH�´

02.BTypes of Measurement

— Jason Miller

Senior Manager, Content Marketing

Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn

source

8

³7KHUH�DUH�GL̆HUHQW�ZD\V�WR�VRUW�RI�VOLFH�LW�LQ�WHUPV�RI�ZKDW�your priorities are. But at the end of the day, you’re looking for evidence that what you’re making is resonating.”

— Nathan Lump

Editor, Travel + Leisure at TIME Inc.

source

9

Content engagement aims to create a relationship between

an audience and the brand itself. Too many marketers look

at engagement with tunnel vision, focusing on social media

likes or retweets. ”How to Increase Your Social Media Click-

Through Rates,” reads a blog headline; it’s the fourth Google

result when “content engagement” is plugged into the search

bar. It misses the point of content engagement — it’s about

creating a relationship beyond social media, into real life.

Content engagement is broad. It’s social media shares, it’s

comments on a piece of content, it’s pageviews, it’s the

length of time on a page and it’s word of mouth. Given the

sheer scope of engagement and the alphabet soup of digital

metrics, how can you drill down to determine the benchmarks

that make your content successful?

02.CDefining Engagement

“Engagement has to be a means to an end. You have to be engaging for some greater purpose otherwise you’re just

wasting time and money.”

— Jay Baer

Speaker and Best-Selling Author

source

10

Engagement requires planning, creating, tracking, gathering,

analyzing and nurturing. We can show you which metrics are

important, and how to keep track of them, but it’s essential

that you first have a clear understanding of what it is you want

to achieve.

03. The Path To Success

“At the core of your content strategy, you should be

creating content to tell your brand’s story, answer

a customer’s question and alert them to solutions of

problems they may not even know they have.”

— Jason Miller

Senior Manager, Content Marketing

Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn

source

1111

Once you have buy-in from the necessary stakeholders on

your company goals, then the real challenge (and fun) begins.

³,W�DOO�FRPHV�GRZQ�WR�\RXU�VSHFL¿F�EXVLQHVV�JRDOV�²�DQG�WKHQ�you need to create the metrics from there. Your organization’s

team members need to be on the same page of what is important

and then track to those metrics.”

— Michele Linn

Content Development Director

Content Marketing Institute

source

03.ACreating the Right Kind of Content

First, you need an audience to engage with. This is challenging, but building up a readership or viewership through good, relevant content is the very first step.

You have to decide how frequently to publish and the

mediums you publish in, but again, creating content is the

very first step. (You can also curate content, and there are

some good reasons to do that too.) However, while static

content is an essential part of finding an audience, real time

content gives you more bang for your buck.

A study by researchers at City University of London showed

that people stay on dynamic content web pages for five times

the amount of time they spend on an average page.5 People

engage more when looking at real time content, with up to

25 per cent more audience contributions.6 This can only be a

good thing for brands. 7 But live content (or any content) that

isn’t measured against your goals is of no value. You need to

know whether it’s working.

5 http://www.scribblelive.com/new-research-shows-liveblogs-increase-user-engagement/

6 KWWS���ZZZ�VFULEEOHOLYH�FRP�KRZ�EUDQGV�FDQ�EHQH¿W�IURP�XVHU�SDUWLFLSDWLRQ�WRR�

7 http://www.dmnews.com/take-a-holistic-view-of-measuring-customer-engagement/arti cle/335417/

12

“An investment in content is also an investment in your clients and potential customers.

When done correctly, (i.e. creating resources that can help solve their pain points, not

resources that focus solely on selling your product), you become a valuable resource to

them. This helps build goodwill and trust in your brand.”

— Jenna Hannington

Marketing Content Specialist at Pardot

source

13

³1HWÀL[�XVHG�WR�EH�D�SODWIRUP�WR�ZDWFK�PRYLHV�RU�79�VKRZV�²�WKH�SUREOHP�KHUH�LV�WKDW�LQ�WKLV�FXUDWLRQ�PRGHO��WKDW¶V�H[DFWO\�ZKDW�WKH\�ZHUH�GRLQJ���WKHUH�ZHUH�RWKHU�FRPSDQLHV�WKDW�VSUXQJ�XS�WKDW�GLG�WKH�H[DFW�VDPH�WKLQJ��6R�ZKDW�1HWÀL[�GLG�ZDV�VWDUW�FUHDWLQJ�RULJLQDO�FRQWHQW�WKDW�was owned by them, i.e ‘House of Cards’, ‘Orange is the New Black’. This made people choose

1HWÀL[�RYHU�RWKHU�FXUDWLRQ�FRPSHWLWRUV��7KLV�LV�ZKDW�D�VXFFHVVIXO�FRQWHQW�PDUNHWLQJ�VWUDWHJ\�VKRXOG�GR�²�LQFUHDVH�OR\DOW\�EHFDXVH�SHRSOH�NQRZ�WKH\�KDYH�WR�FRPH�WR�<28�WR�¿QG�WKH�RULJLQDO��creative content or information they are searching for.”

— Amanda Clark

CEO of Grammar Chic Inc.

14

At ScribbleLive, we believe the most valuable metric of all is what we define as User Engagement Minutes, or UEMs.

UEMs represent the amount of time a person has spent

engaging with your content, and is the backbone of

content engagement. You are competing for attention in a

world filled with countless demands. The longer you can

keep someone engaged on your site, the better your odds

of achieving your goals, regardless of what they might be.

03.BTracking

15

³%HOPRQW�6WDNHV�'D\�ZDV�RXU�¿UVW�H[SHULHQFH�XVLQJ�WKH�6FULEEOH/LYH�SODWIRUP��DQG�ZH�FRXOG�QRW�KDYH�JRWWHQ�R̆�WR�D�EHWWHU�VWDUW��$XWRPDWLFDOO\�FXUDWLQJ�NH\�FRQWHQW�FUHDWHG�D�FRQYHQLHQW�³RQH�VWRS�VKRSSLQJ´�H[SHULHQFH�IRU�RXU�IDQV��ZKR�responded by staying on the site in record numbers for prolonged durations.”

Nicholas Aquilino

Creative Services Supervisor

New York Racing Association

Avg Time On Page

26 MINUTES

Total UEMs

11,402,825

16

17

Content engagement is holistic. UEMs are the lodestar, but there

are a number of things that can feed that overall metric, including

average time on page, shares, conversion rate and more. Those

measurements allow marketers to be far more effective and react

in real time to quantifiable data.

“An important thing to keep in mind is that each piece

of content you create is an investment.”

— Jenna Hannington

Marketing Content Specialist at Pardot

However, you also need to gather those metrics in such a way

that they are immediately available and allow you to draw conclu-

sions, in both real time and historical fashion. It’s not enough to

simply know the stats, you need to know how they compare to the

past day, week, month and year. You need to know which metrics

are flat, which are spiking and which are falling in order to shape

strategy accordingly.

03.CGathering

17

Compiling the metrics that matter to you in a single place is

essential to content marketing success. You must be able

to (quickly) assess what’s working, what’s not and what your

audience is hungry for when it comes to content. You can use

that data to ask smarter questions and get answers that allow

you to not just react, but to predict need. You can be certain that

the investment you make in content is paying off in ways that are

important to both your business goals and your clients’ needs,

short-term and long-term.

³7KHUH�DUH�GL̆HUHQW�ZD\V�WR�VRUW�RI�VOLFH�LW�LQ�WHUPV�RI�ZKDW�your priorities are. But at the end of the day, you’re look-

ing for evidence that what you’re making is resonating.”

— Nathan Lump

Editor, Travel + Leisure at TIME Inc.

18

When you have an overall view of your metrics, you

can begin to break down how your content is doing

engagement-wise. You’ll have to carefully weigh the

successes of each piece of content depending on your

individual marketing strategy.

“[What] we as marketers should be striving for, is

to create the optimal conditions across every part

of the engagement opportunity or funnel. Basi-

cally, everywhere a customer is going to have an

HQJDJLQJ�H[SHULHQFH�ZLWK�XV�RU�FUHDWH�WKH�RSWLPDO�environment for that to happen.”

— Robert Rose

Chief Strategist at the Content Marketing Institute

source

03.DAnalyzing & Nurturing

Buyers complete 70% of their journey before ever contacting sales.

— Oracle Eloqua, The Grande Guide to sales Enablement

19

Creating content without a clear sense of

what that content is meant to achieve is a

wasted investment. To that end, ScribbleLive

allows you to set “content goals” for every-

thing you publish. Are

you hoping to gather

more email addresses

or names or phone

numbers or job titles?

Or is it more important to get them to click on

a specific link? Using “content goals” lets you

know precisely which types of content are best

suited to realizing those goals.

Individual audience profiles are when things

get interesting and useful. By gathering a

single user’s metrics into one place, you can

analyze their level of engagement and deter-

mine a path analysis that translates to the

sales process. The more engaged a prospec-

tive client is, the further down the sales

process they are likely to go.

You can determine which pieces of content

they’ve interacted with — whether they’re

more inclined to take a poll or leave a

comment or share a Tweet — and then use

that information to tailor their experience in a

way that, again and again, works to anticipate

their needs.

The more engaged a prospective client is, the further down the sales process they are likely to go.

20

This can help you identify leads and continue to

nurture a relationship with a prospect. What content

does a high-value prospect seem to enjoy? Sending

along preferred content can help foster a growing

relationship, which could potentially lead to sales.

The more directly you can link the content you

create to prospects and sales, the easier it is to

demonstrate the real-world value of the work you do.

“Measurement is an evolving process…

FRPSDQLHV�DUH�DOZD\V�UH¿QLQJ�KRZ�WKH\�DUH�measuring and reporting ROI.”

— Michele Linn

Content Development Director

Content Marketing Institute

source

21

At ScribbleLive, we take the same approach that’s outlined here. We give you the tools to

create real time content that engages audiences better and for longer. We help you track

the content metrics that are specific to your needs, as well as audience profile metrics

that follow clients from one interaction to the next. We empower brands and marketers to

create and refine data-driven, smart and effective strategies that target specific goals in

efficient, measurable and repeatable ways.

04. ScribbleLive’s Approach

³7KH�FRQWHQW�HQJDJHPHQW�VWUDWHJ\�LV�D�ZD\�WR�GL̆HUHQWLDWH�EH\RQG�WKH�IHDWXUHV�RI�\RXU�SURGXFW�WKURXJK�FUHDWLQJ�LQWHUHVWLQJ�FRQWHQW�WKDW�PD\�LQGLUHFWO\�KDYH�VRPHWKLQJ�WR�GR�ZLWK�\RXU�FRPSDQ\�²�LW�PD\�LQGLUHFWO\�KDYH�VRPH-

WKLQJ�WR�GR�ZLWK�\RXU�SURGXFWV�²�EXW�GH¿QLWHO\�KDV�D�ORW�WR�GR�ZLWK�WKH�DXGLHQFH�\RX¶UH�WU\LQJ�WR�WDUJHW�DQG�ZKDW¶V�RI�LQWHUHVW�WR�WKHP��7KURXJK�FUHDWLQJ�WKDW�VWUDWHJ\��\RX�VWDUW�WR�GL̆HUHQWLDWH�\RXU�EUDQG�´�

— Vincent Mifsud

CEO of ScribbleLive

22