We are all about engagement through content at Intentful, and this article is one of the topics that we consider to be very important – content KPIs.

But before we dive into it, there is one recommendation we’d like to share for 2023.

Content marketing is not new – it has been a part of the campaign mix for years, primarily as a way to build an emotional connection with consumers while promoting a brand, product, or service. But the attention span gets shorter and shorter, and the competition for attention has never been greater. With so many platforms and channels, and new pieces of content being launched every second, it can be hard to break through the noise and truly engage with the audience. Also, consumers are increasingly savvy, and they can spot a marketing message a mile away. 

People want something more than a traditional ad or a blog about product features – something more authentic and genuine – something that will really resonate with them.

As you plan activities for the new year, our little secret for 2023 is to focus on “content experiences” instead of “content marketing”. Experiences are more than just posts, messages, or articles – they're all about creating a journey for a reader that is engaging, informative, and enjoyable. You’ll see a huge difference in engagement. Content experiences are the key to getting noticed and really connecting with your customers. 

Now, let’s get back to the content KPIs.

Content KPIs in 2023 

At Intentful, we define three categories of content KPIs: creation (or production), engagement, and conversions. 

Content creation KPIs help you measure how effective and efficient your content production process is. The time to create content and the number of revision rounds are some of the metrics to track.

Content engagement KPIs show how well your content is performing once it's published. Examples include discoverability and time on page.

Conversion KPIs measure if the content achieves your goals, be it converting visitors into leads, or product sales, or newsletter signup, or something else. 

Tracking these metrics can give you valuable insights into your content's effectiveness.

Let's take a closer look at each one.

Content creation KPIs

Production KPIs help you understand how much time and money it takes to create content. These metrics are fundamental for calculating content marketing ROI and optimizing content strategy.

• Time to create content. How long does it take from brief to publishing a piece of content?
• The number of revision rounds. How many times does a piece of content go through the editing/revision process before it's published?
• Does the content match brief? Examples include if the work is on message, and if the specs, such as word count or image size, are correct.
• The number of pieces published. This is a good metric to track if you have a content calendar or publish on a regular basis. It helps you measure your production efficiency and output. Consider evaluating by the period of time, media channel, and audience segment.
• Frequency and consistency. Are you publishing according to your editorial calendar? If you don’t have one, do you publish occasionally or follow a set frequency? Most algorithms like regular content publishing.
• Cost to create content. How much does it cost to produce a piece of content, in terms of money and resources?

Content engagement KPIs

It is never easy to choose the right metrics to measure engagement, mostly because it just isn’t always straightforward. The topic of multitouch attribution remains one of the most discussed and debated. While there seems to be a lot of data available to marketers these days, it is misleading to believe that data contains answers to all questions. It doesn’t. And with more restrictions being introduced, understanding engagement will get even more difficult.

In our work with clients, we often see a lot of indirect signals and influence: a piece of content that might not have the best engagement metrics on its own helps improve the overall performance of an owned media channel. 

Engagement metrics vary by platform and type of content, but these are some of the most important ones.

• Discoverability. How often is your content found and shared? Does it rank well? Measure this by tracking social media mentions, inbound links, and organic traffic.
• Quality score in ad campaigns (when applicable).
• Time on page. How long are people interacting with your content? This metric can give you insights into how engaging and interesting your content is.
• Pages per session. If a user entered a website through your measured piece of content, how many other pages did she or he view afterwards?
• Bounce rate. It was common to believe that a high bounce rate indicates that your content is not relevant to your audience or that it's not well-written. We disagree. It can also mean that you provided the exact answer to what a person was searching for, and there was no point in visiting other pages.
• The number of social interactions. The number of shares and likes a piece of content receives.
• The number of backlinks. How many other websites link to your content?
• Comments. It's a good way to gauge engagement and start a conversation with your audience, but a lack of comments doesn’t always mean your content is boring or irrelevant.

Conversion KPIs

Conversion KPIs are all about measuring how the content adds to achieving marketing or sales results. These metrics greatly depend on the goals, and usually, it is up to the brand team to decide what exactly they see as a conversion and how to best measure it.

Our recommendation is to drill down on these KPIs. For example, if your goal is an online product sale, track not just the number of sales or revenue generated, but also the “add to cart” metric, and see what content pieces are the most effective in driving the desired steps. 

Some of the most common conversion KPIs include:

• Visits to customers. How many visitors to your website (or other channels) become buyers? 
• Path to purchase. How long does it take from initial interest to transaction?
• Sales conversion rate. What percentage of visitors to your website buy something?
• Unsubscribe rate. How many people unsubscribe from your newsletter after receiving your content?

While each of the content KPIs is an important metric on its own, the combined insights from all three categories are essential for understanding what works and what doesn't, and for making data-driven decisions about your content strategy. By tracking the right KPIs that align with the business goals, you can optimize your content production process, create more engaging content, and increase conversions.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Intentful.

About Intentful

Intentful is a content creation agency that leverages data and AI to produce high-quality text content in whole new ways, at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods, while keeping the brand voice consistent. We train our AI to know the brand, the industry, the brand's voice and style, as well as any other knowledge specific to the company. The end result is content at scale that is hyper-relevant to the brand's communication goals and to audience interests.