Content is king, a popular saying in the web world as far as the web promotion is concerned. Content marketing has always been an integral component for small to mid-scaled businesses whether it is about attracting the prospects or retaining them. John Wanamaker, an American merchant of 19^th century, who was the marketing pioneer, realized that half of the advertising effect was wasted, but he could not tell clearly which one.

It is 2015 and technology has enabled us to track data most effectively and determine which areas are weak in advertising and need improvement for maximum productivity. Web marketers can use tools and techniques to measure the success of promotions and strategies followed. As long as content marketing and its influence for web promotion is concerned, some steps could help the marketers in determining its success. Few are mentioned below!

Set Business Goals

Before deciding about the success of any marketing strategy, better to set goals. Decide what you want to accomplish from content marketing. The goals should be SMART, means measurable and achievable. Break the goals into segments so as to achieve them easily.

For example, if the business goal is to increase website sales 10% in one year, the smaller goal could be 5% increase in website traffic per year. While deciding about content marketing strategy, better to decide about the business goals. Content could be tailored for the specific business goals, ensuring success.

Start A Blog!

If your website does not have a blog, start it right now. It does not require any complicated work, a simple extension, like Magento blog extension (for Magento-based websites) can help the purpose. Updating content on regular basis and keeping the target audience aware means a lot when it is about using content marketing for promotion and increasing sales. Be cautious while updating the content; make it fresh, unique, and informative for the target audience or the prospects. Share news of the industry and become a knowledgeable industry expert. People will start relying over what you share and will come again and again to see what is new. You can also ask for subscriptions to let the visitors know about any updates in the blog through email.

Use Recommended Tracking Metrics

There are many content marketing tracking metrics published by top-notch marketing firms. Few useful content metrics along with main features are given below!

Consumption metrics gives page views for content published as blog post.

Sharing metrics tells about an article’s tweets and shares on Facebook.

Lead generation metrics tells about the whitepaper downloads or subscriptions for newsletter.

Sales metrics tells about how a customer moves from content to the final sale.

Reach tells about website traffic, subscriptions, etc.

Engagement metrics tells about page views, bounce rate, time spent on site, repeat visits, referrals, and social sharing.

Conversions metrics tells about lead generation, sales, and brand awareness.

Not a single metrics can tell whether content marketing is working successfully or not. Consider business goals and then use multiple KPIs to monitor success.

What To Consider While Picking Useful KPIs?

While picking the standard KPIs, better to think whether those are meaningful and have relevance with the key business goals. Consider the example given earlier. If the goal is to increase sales by 10% in one year, the smaller goal could be 5% increase in website traffic per month. Other smaller goals could be like increasing conversion rate by 1/2% and adding 150 more loyal customers per month.

To make content marketing successful, the selected metrics should include the categories like

• Views and shares
• Conversions
• Retention

The KPIs included in these categories could be used to measure the success of content marketing. The strategies could differ based on business requirements, but the processes would be similar.

It is not just about measuring the content marketing strategy and proving which tactic is working and which one is not, but to work for improving them. Content marketing could not prove to be fruitful over the night. It takes time, efforts, and continuous improvements. Consistency in the content marketing plan can help increasing the website traffic, business sales, and ultimate profit. Regular measuring and improving the strategies is integral to success.

Content is king and will rule the web kingdom! Use it to make your business popular and productive.