Measuring content marketing and corporate media projects represents a key area of interest for communications decision-makers in companies. This was also the case at the Corporate Publishing Strategy Summit staged by Forum Corporate Publishing and Project Networks (in early February) where the definition and analysis of objectives formed the central issue at many workshops and panel discussions.
For years, as a digital agency, we have been dealing with a variety of evaluation and analysis processes specific to user and customer data. We have established four key metrics as a result of our experiences developing digital corporate media:
Consumption metrics
Share metrics
Lead metrics
Sales metrics
Consumption metrics
Coverage indicators such as unique users, video views, page views, post views, but also key figures from online PR, seeding and downloads are summarised here. The indicators may relate to specific content, such as individual articles, but can also be applied to all projects and campaigns.
Share metrics
These indicators involve capturing the frequency and effectiveness of content that is shared, forwarded or recommended by users in the form of "Tweets", "Diggs" and "Likes". Social reporting tools which collect related data in an optimal manner and make them comparable help here.
Lead metrics
Leads are an important factor for success, especially in B-to-B. Lead metrics measure the number of users reached, who, after using the content, show a continuing interest in the product or company. These leads may include: Product enquiries, product samples, newsletter registration, but also speculative job applications and media enquiries.
Sales metrics
Sales metrics are particularly important for companies with e-commerce offerings of great relevance. This involves the analysis of users who make a purchase and who actually become real customers for your offering as a result. A variety of sales analyses and processes can be automated using a CRM system like Salesforce. This provides you with rapid insight into the level of success with which content converts for previously defined sales processes. Cookies can be used to analyse users over a period of several weeks, even if they have consumed a variety of different types of content specific to your offering.
What remains in the end is the crucial question of correct interpretation, besides all the measurements for a multitude of KPIs. This can only take place based on defined corporate goals for the implementation of content marketing, or based on a content marketing strategy. The analysis of qualitative statements remains a key challenge for many marketers.
In joint workshops with our clients, and based on specifically defined corporate goals, Uhura Creative Media develops scorecards for content marketing and social media that serve as a management tool for continuous evaluation. The SMART formula for defining the measured values remains key here:
Specific: The objectives must be defined as precisely as possible.
Measurable: The achievement of these objectives must be verifiable using measurement methods.
Acceptable: The objectives must be accepted by the addressee.
Realistic: It must be possible to realises these objectives.
Terminable: The goals must be achieved in a given period.
Uhura Creative Media develops content marketing strategies and projects for clients in various industries within different task areas. One of our most successful projects to-date involved promoting Civil Engineering as a degree in a moving image campaign, which won the 2012 German Award for Online Communication. In 2011, Uhura took over responsibility for managing social media at TOTAL Germany and has achieved double-digit growth in coverage and commitment parameters each year since.
Does your business need support in developing content, optimising content strategies or for a specific project? Then call Uhura today, or write to: philipp.paul@uhura.de.
