This was presented at the Content Strategy PDX Meetup on July 18, 2013.

2. …is a big idea
@LarsvonS

3. @LarsvonS

4. @LarsvonS

5. TONX!
…is awsm

6. AGENDA!
× How to discuss the subject with
stakeholders
× Aligning measurement with brand KPIs
× Multi-channel/cross-channel content
measurement vs. channel-specific
measurement
× The nuts and bolts of actually reporting on
content success
@LarsvonS

7. HOW TO DISCUSS THE SUBJECT
WITH STAKEHOLDERS
Issue #1:
@LarsvonS

8. Who are your stakeholders?
⌐ The sales force?
@LarsvonS

9. Who are your stakeholders?
⌐ Old-school marketers?
@LarsvonS

10. Who are your stakeholders?
⌐ Perfectly sensible, but busy
brand manager
@LarsvonS

11. 11
@LarsvonS

12. What are there concerns?
How can you help?
⌐ Sales guy:
⌐ He wants leads (duh).
⌐ He is scared of what competition is up to.
⌐ He may not really get why content is
important (though he really does).
⌐ How can you help and relate?
@LarsvonS

13. What are there concerns?
How can you help?
⌐ Old school guy:
⌐ He wants impressions, damnit.
⌐ He is scared of buying into what might be
trend or a fad (remember QR codes?)
⌐ He may not really get why “content” is
important, even though he has been using
it all his career.
⌐ How can you help and relate?
@LarsvonS

14. What are there concerns?
How can you help?
⌐ Sensible Brand Manager:
⌐ She is completely inundated by different
methods of communicating with customers.
⌐ She is overwhelmed by the stress of
answering to multiple other stakeholders.
⌐ She needs it to be obvious and defensible.
⌐ How can you help and relate?
@LarsvonS

15. What do they know about content?
⌐ How do you explain it?
⌐ What language do you use when talking about
content with stakeholders?
⌐ How do we explain its value?
⌐ How do we discuss the methods for
measuring content value?
@LarsvonS

16. @LarsvonS

17. @LarsvonS

18. ALIGNING MEASUREMENT WITH
BRAND KPIs
Issue #2:
@LarsvonS

19. @LarsvonS

20. KPI definition
⌐ A Key Performance Indicator is a measure of
how well a goal is being met.
⌐ They are rarely as simple as number of
impressions and pageviews…
⌐ “Modern” KPIs are often multi-layered and
involve a combination of metrics that equal a
“key” campaign or brand success.
@LarsvonS

21. KPI frameworking
⌐ As we have discussed already, different
people have different interests…and your
KPIs will likely need to reflect all or nearly all
of them.
⌐ One of the best ways to do this is creating a
KPI “framework” that will get input and buyoff
from all stakeholders.
@LarsvonS

22. Great, so what do we do?
⌐ To decide what KPIs should be tracked and
used to define success, one only needs to
look at how the organization defines success.
⌐ Easy, right?!
⌐ Truthfully, this is a tricky and iterative process
that should involve input from multiple parts of
an organization, where each will express how
they define success.
@LarsvonS

23. INTERNAL POLITICS
ALERT!
⌐ The subject of KPIs is something that likely
will cause a good deal of contention among
different stakeholders and departments.
⌐ As such, you should tread lightly and make
sure all parties are involved in the decisions of
what the final KPI framework should look like.
@LarsvonS

24. KPI framework examples –
Cloud services
xxx,xxx Engagers
x,xxx Users
30% Churn
X revenue
(?) 50% completing X
workflows
xx,xxx Complete
Demos, X Trialers
GoalsKPIs Measures
Adoption
Renewal
Engagement
Preference
# Engagers
New Subscribers
Churn Rate
Average revenue per subscriber
Product Usage
Subscribers
Interaction, Trial
xx,xxx ContactsLeads # Contacts
@LarsvonS

25. KPI framework examples –
Traditional funnel
Via Jonny Longden:
http://actionable-analytics.com/2009/07/how-to-build-a-digital-measurement-framework/
@LarsvonS

26. @LarsvonS

27. Content Influences on KPIs
⌐ Traffic patterns and site usage
⌐ Lead generation, conversion and retention
⌐ Brand engagement
⌐ Thought leadership
⌐ Sharing/Social
⌐ Anything else?
@LarsvonS

28. Traffic patterns and site usage
⌐ One of the values content can provide is
driving visitors to sites.
⌐ Once there, it can influence what visitors do
and how long they stay.
⌐ We will discuss how to measure the value of
content on sites using Google Analytics later..
@LarsvonS

29. Lead generation and conversion
⌐ Content‟s influence on lead generation is the
first thing many think about when they think
about content‟s value…
⌐ Tactics like content gating, syndication and
signups are typical examples of how content
can directly lead to..well, more leads.
⌐ Any other thoughts?
@LarsvonS

30. Brand engagement
⌐ While getting people to engage on your site is
great, it doesn‟t always translate to giving a
crap about your brand.
⌐ What do we want to see people do with
content to show they are engaged with our
brand?
⌐ Indexing!
@LarsvonS

31. Thought leadership
⌐ It‟s a hot topic..and often overused.
⌐ Do you really want your brand to be seen as a thought
leader in the whatever business? What does that even
mean?
⌐ The best way to gauge how your content contributes to
overall brand thought-leadership is to look at how it
ranks in search engines.
⌐ Content quality, usefulness and thought-leader-ish-ness
is the #1 way to rank in search engines, by the way..
@LarsvonS

32. Sharing/Social
⌐ Good content grows legs..
⌐ Good content can be the vessel through which
your social campaigns meet their goals.
⌐ Measuring how people are , and
how other people are consuming shared
content is a powerful way to gauge how “viral”
your content is.
@LarsvonS

33. Sharing/Social
@LarsvonS
⌐ Use This:

34. MULTI-CHANNEL/CROSS-CHANNEL
CONTENT MEASUREMENT
Issue #3:
@LarsvonS

35. 35
@LarsvonS

36. Channel-specific measurement
⌐ Once success are seen in one channel..it‟s
time, and your job is done…right?
⌐ It is easy to get distracted by how one
program, possibly a pet program, is
performing.
⌐ In the long run, specific program success is
likely not as important as overall campaign
success.
@LarsvonS

37. We all have our favorites…
⌐ A lot of love, money and attention can be
given to pet projects..
⌐ Myopic focus on a single program can lead to
ignorance of overall efficiency.
⌐ How do we fight this?
@LarsvonS

38. What about the whole picture?
⌐ And what about the ..?
⌐ By focusing on short term tactics, we miss
looking at trends in how content is helping to
move people through their journey.
⌐ How do you talk about the Buyer‟s Journey in
your organization?
@LarsvonS

39. THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF ACTUALLY
REPORTING ON CONTENT SUCCESS
Issue #4:
@LarsvonS

40. 40
@LarsvonS

41. 41
@LarsvonS

42. What can Google Analytics do?
1. Measure the engagement level with content
on a site you manage.
2. Track what goals are being completed and
what content is contributing to the
completions rates.
3. Track traffic coming into your sites via shared
or syndicated content.
4. Make coffee afterwards.
@LarsvonS

43. The Basics
• Assumption #1: At the most basic level, you want people
to “engage” with your content. What does this mean?
• Look at it
• Spend time with it
• Not leave the site after seeing it
• Push its buttons and otherwise poke it
• Share it
• Assumption #2: Content is typically contained on a web
“page” and a lot about the content can be learned by
stats pertaining to that page.
@LarsvonS

44. The Basics:
Look at it
• At the most basic
level, you want to
know how many
times your
content has been
seen.
• Content > All
Pages >
Pageviews
• But, never will
raw pageviews
be enough…
@LarsvonS

45. • What about
Average Time on
Page?
• Generally, this is a
very good leading
indicator on content
quality.
• The assumption is
that the more time
people are
spending on the
page, the better the
content.
@LarsvonS
The Basics:
Spend time

46. • How about the
ability of content to
keep people on a
site?
• Bounce rate is often
overlooked as a
great way to see
what content keeps
your site “sticky.”
@LarsvonS
The Basics:
Not leave

47. WARNING: ADVANCED
CONFIGURATION
REQUIRED!
• One of the purest forms
of engagement is
actually poking the
content.
• This is usually captured
through custom events,
like: downloads, video
plays, widget pushes,
etc.
• The more this is
happening, the cooler
the content is.
@LarsvonS
The Basics:
Poke things

48. • On a similar note, we
can see what pages
(content) are being
shared, again assuming
custom events are
installed on share
buttons.
• Events > Top events,
filter down to your
Sharing event,
• Add a “Page”
Secondary dimension.
• Filter to only look at
“share” events.
@LarsvonS
The Basics:
Share it

49. The Basics
Something to keep in mind:
• Looking at “content” pages
is very different then
looking at root and
subdirectory pages (unless
they contain content).
• It may be helpful to filter out
the root and subdirectory
URLs before looking at
content in this way.
@LarsvonS

50. ARE YOUR GOALS BEING MET?
DO YOU EVEN HAVE GOALS?!

51. Socratic Dialog about Goals…
• Socrates: “Whenever anyone spends any amount of time or money
creating something digital and putting it on a website, they should
have some sort of goal or outcome associated with it.”
• Plato: “Do you mean a „Goal‟ in Google Analytics?”
• Socrates: “Yes, but first they should establish what the business
„goal‟ of the content is. Do they just want people to visit their site, or
do something once they get there? What is that? Spend a certain
amount of time on the site? Fill out a form? Buy something? Share
content?”
• Plato: “Then, they want to make a goal in Google Analytics to reflect
these business goals?”
• Socrates: “Of course!”
• Plato: “Genius!”
@LarsvonS

52. What does that have to do with content?
• The theory is that good content leads to more
overall engagement with the site, and thus more
time on the site and higher chance for goal
conversion.
• This can often be seen by looking at what page
visitors are converting on, and where they were
before hitting that page.
@LarsvonS

53. Content and Goals
• First, take a look at the
Goals section of GA, under
the Conversation menu.
Click “Goal URLs.”
• You can see what pages
(URL) the goal selected are
completed on, and for
certain goals, this is a good
(but not perfect) indicator of
how successfully pages with
certain content are at
converting visitors.
• However, this may not be
very helpful, as some goals
always conclude on the
same page.
@LarsvonS

54. Content and Goals
• For a better (and easier) look, looking at “Funnel Visualization,” you can
start to get a picture of what URLs most often lead to a conversion.
@LarsvonS

55. Content and Goals
• If you have a more complicated path to conversion, looking at “Reverse
Goal Path,” will more completely show pathing.
• However, this is a somewhat messy view…
@LarsvonS

56. 56
@LarsvonS

57. What is Marketing Automation?
⌐ Marketing automation refers to software platforms designed to automate
repetitive tasks. Originally focused on email marketing automation,
marketing automation refers to a broad range of automation and analytic
tools for marketing.
⌐ Capabilities:
⌐ Demand generation
⌐ Lead management
⌐ Lead scoring
⌐ Lead nurturing
⌐ Lead generation
⌐ Campaign analysis
⌐ Lead qualification
⌐ Sales effectiveness
@LarsvonS

58. What about content?
@LarsvonS
⌐ MA platforms were made to
“automate” marketing functions
(duh).
⌐ Through this, they also collect a lot
of information about content is used
and how it intersects with lead
conversion.

59. It’s all about the leads..and content!
⌐ Every piece of content you own can be
tracked using MA platforms…and content
types can be compared.
@LarsvonS

60. It’s all about the leads..and content!
⌐ As a contact progresses through their ,
where they engage is captured…
@LarsvonS

61. It’s all about the leads..and content!
⌐ Things get interesting when you start to think of
content as a lead source…
⌐ The popularity of your content will draw interest in
you and your message.
⌐ If tagged correctly, you can track social content
sharing as a lead source in your MA platform.
@LarsvonS

62. 62
@LarsvonS

63. All kinds of metadata
⌐ The word “metadata” means different things based
on the context, even when just thinking about
content…
⌐ While you should be concerned about things like
..in the context of measurement we
want to know how content is driving and
.
⌐ First up, traffic source in Google Analytics.
@LarsvonS

64. Campaign Tagging and Tracking 101
@LarsvonS
• Google Analytics tracks four basic traffic sources:
• Direct
• Search
• Referral
• Campaign
• Campaign traffic is only tracked if the link bringing someone
to the site in questions contains specifically formatted
appends*.
* Append: Stuff added to the back of a URL with things like ?’s and &’s and
stuff=something. We’ve all seen them, and often have no idea what they do.

65. Campaign Tagging and Tracking 101
@LarsvonS
• The appends that Google Analytics uses have four elements
we are interested in:
1. Source (Ex: referrer: google, citysearch, newsletter4)
2. Medium (Ex: marketing medium: cpc, banner, email)
3. Content (use to differentiate ads)
4. Name (Ex: product, promo code, or slogan)
• They are joined using things like ?‟s and &‟s into a string that
is added to the back of URLs
• When someone clicks on a link with an append like this, the
traffic they generate is associated with a “Campaign” in GA.

66. Anatomy of a Campaign Tag
@LarsvonS
• For the purpose of this example, we will be applying the
following appends to a link of a video on www.mysite.com,
which will be shared on Twitter:
• Source = social
• Medium = twitter
• Content = video
• Name = how_to_be_awesome
• Plop everything into Google‟s URL builder*
• The resulting URL:
www.mysite.com/video_page/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=
video&utm_campaign=how_to_be_awesome
* http://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867

67. Anatomy of a Campaign Tag
@LarsvonS
• This URL is a little unwieldy, so it makes sense to shorten it
using a service like bit.ly:
www.mysite.com/video_page/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=video&ut
m_campaign=how_to_be_awesome
bit.ly/awsm
• Now, SHARE LIKE THE WIND!

68. Measuring the Effect
@LarsvonS
• Unlike previous methods of measuring content,
this is not looking at the content itself.
• Rather, we are looking at how well the content,
once shared, is at attracting the right people to
your site.

69. Measuring the Effect
@LarsvonS
• Assuming your campaign appends are working, the tagged traffic
should appear under Campaigns in the Traffic Sources view.

70. Measuring the Effect
@LarsvonS
• Looking in the “All
Traffic” view and
putting up a quick
filter to only see
“social” (or email in
the case, same
principle).
• Now you can see
what content links
drove the most
amount of traffic..

71. Measuring the Effect
@LarsvonS
• …and what
content is driving
higher quality
traffic who are
staying on the site
longer, looking at
more stuff, and not
bouncing.
• It‟s like magic, but
it actually happens!
And unicorns!

72. Marketing automation lead source
⌐ There are two essential ways a MA platform can
track content and lead source:
1. Gating form
2. Shared content tracking
@LarsvonS

73. Gating content with form
⌐ Everybody loves forms!
⌐ Everybody loves gating!
⌐ Ok, maybe not..but they are
a necessary evil of lead
generation.
@LarsvonS

74. Value of content via gating
⌐ It is a very simple idea:
The more people are filling out
forms to see content, the better
that content is at eliciting interest.
@LarsvonS

75. Tracking content sharing
⌐ Just as with GA, MA platforms can track visitors
and converted leads using tracking appends.
⌐ Marketo example: mkt_tok
@LarsvonS
www.mysite.com/video_page/?mkt_tok=oshadfas80dfha0sdhjksbdoasdba09sd
8gujsdf08sdfujkbzsd8fgasgidufg
bit.ly/awsmr

76. 76
@LarsvonS

77. SEO: Oh yes you did!
⌐ As mentioned previously…the single best driver of
SEO success is the quality of your content.
⌐ If people love your content, they will link to it.
⌐ People linking to your site is one of the best
influencers on search engine ranking.
⌐ Ergo, search engine ranking is a leading
indicator of content value!
@LarsvonS

78. SEO: Great, so what do we do?
⌐ Get Moz
⌐ Seriously,
just get it.
@LarsvonS

79. 79
@LarsvonS

80. Edict 1: Keep It Simple, Stupid
⌐ Focus on KPIs, keep metrics in your back pocket
(or an appendix).
@LarsvonS

81. Edict 2: Make it relevant
⌐ Focus on what can drive action, not just what‟s
interesting.
@LarsvonS

82. Edict 3: Sweat the details
⌐ Don‟t overlook opportunities to get access to and
integrate data.
@LarsvonS

83. THANKS!
Lars von Sneidern
lars@vonsneidern.net
@LarsvonS