Browse our range of digital marketing courses which are designed and validated by the digital industry. View Courses
Full Screen

Campaign Metrics

More Free Lessons in

Content Marketing View All →

Get cutting-edge digital marketing skills, know-how and strategy

This micro lesson is from one of our globally recognized digital marketing courses.

Start a FREE Course Preview Start a FREE Course Preview
Global Authority

The Global Authority

12 years delivering excellence

Members

245,000+ Members

Join a global community

Certification

Associate Certification

Globally recognised

Membership

Membership Included

Toolkits, content & more

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

Measuring content marketing campaigns

The two most important metrics associated with measuring content marketing campaigns are engagement metrics and conversion metrics.

Engagement metrics

Engagement metrics for a successful content marketing campaign include:

  • Higher average time on site
  • Reduced bounce rates
  • Increase in the number of returning visitors
  • More pages viewed per session
  • Deeper scroll depth
  • Growth in discovery through organic search or social visitors
  • Increased number of people searching for your brand
  • Higher channel engagement metrics (For example, social shares, email opens, brand mentions, and links to your content, which is good for long-term SEO.)

Conversion metrics

Conversion metrics for a successful content marketing campaign include:

  • Higher number of goals achieved
  • Higher conversion rate
  • Shorter path to purchase
  • Reduced cost per sale or lead

Make sure you choose the right set of metrics to measure your campaign based on its objective. If the objective was awareness, for example, using conversion metrics to evaluate success can misrepresent the value of the campaign activity. The objective should be stated in the content strategy document and agreed with all stakeholders before launch. Remember, it is important to manage the expectations for a campaign and to use the correct metrics to show how the activity impacted on the agreed objective.

A challenge can arise when there are different expectations. For example, the agreed objective might be to drive awareness, but the expectation from stakeholders might be that the campaign will drive direct conversions or sales. Then stakeholders may ask for direct conversion metrics, instead of the awareness metrics, for the campaign. To avoid such cases, explicitly outline the metrics for success in the strategy document before sign-off. And only report on conversion metrics as a secondary effect of the content campaign.

Likewise, in the case of a conversion objective, it might not be possible to report on increased awareness activity following a campaign. Either way, the principle is the same - always ensure you are using the right metrics to report on your campaign in relation to the agreed objective.

Back to Top
Will Francis

Will Francis is a recognised authority in digital and social media, who has worked with some of the world’s most loved brands. He is the host and technical producer of the DMI podcast, Ahead of the Game and a lecturer and subject matter expert with the DMI. He appears in the media and at conferences whilst offering his own expert-led digital marketing courses where he shares his experience gained working within a social network, a global ad agency, and more recently his own digital agency.

Connect with him on Twitter (X) or LinkedIn.

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

  • Identify the benefits of using personas in content marketing 
  • Critically analyse the relationship between buyer personas, target audience and content marketing 
  • Systematically analyse techniques for sharing and promoting content and for measuring content performance
     

    ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE

    Content Marketing
    Will Francis
    Skills Expert

    This short course covers the principles of content marketing and demonstrates techniques and useful tools that you can use to develop and refine your content marketing strategy.

    You will learn how to:

    • Apply best practices for developing and enhancing content throughout a content marketing campaign
    • Create buyer personas for use in content development
    • Develop a content brief
    • Conduct keyword research to inform a content strategy
    • Curate, personalize, and repurpose content
    • Craft a brand story
    • Schedule content development and publication
    • Promote content
    • Measure and analyze content performance

    Approximate learning time: 3 hours