You need to know why you're publishing content -- how it meets your users' needs and satisfies your business goals. Once you know this, you can determine how well the content is achieving its objectives, and identify how to improve it.

1. Measuring Your Return on
Content
How to make your content more successful
Hilary Marsh, Chief Strategist & President
Content Company, Inc.
J. Boye conference, May 2016
1

2. Organizations publish
a LOT of content

3. 3
h%ps://preservingdtharchives2011.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/

4. What don’t we publish??
• Product data
• Reports
• Press releases
• News stories
• Customer success stories
• Executive bios
• Event information
• Course details
• Policies
• FAQs
• Mission statement
• Job listings

5. Content is the way our work is
manifested in the world
5

7. 7

8. Just because…..
8

9. Because the boss said so
Because the committee asked us to
Because the committee told us to
Because we have this program
Because we do this thing
Because we created the information
Because we have no way to say “no” to the request
Because we think we have to
Because everyone else is
Because
Because

10. If you don’t know what you’re
going for, how will you know
whether you’re succeeding?

11. 11
/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding

12. Return
on
Content

13. pieces of information
1. Goal
2. KPI
3. Measuring & learning
13

14. Identifying the Goal
Why are we publishing this?
14

15. fective content has a goal
• It’s published
• Lots of people look at it
1

16. hat is a true goal?
• Meets a business goal
• Satisfies a user need
• Ideally, both
16

17. 17
Users meet
their needs
Organization
meets its goals
17
ancing
als &
eds

18. 18
Audience
focus
ganization
cus
18

19. Audience
focus
Organization
focus
19

20. http://www.bluefroglondon.com/queerideas/the-fundraising-paradox/

21. http://xkcd.com/773/

22. emember the content landscap
• Product data
• Reports
• Press releases
• News stories
• Customer success stories
• Executive bios
• Event information
• Course details
• Policies
• FAQs
• Mission statement
• Job listings

23. ontent goals
Each piece of content needs a clear, explicit reason to exist
Examples:
• Bring in non-dues revenue
• Encourage joining or renewing membership
• Raise awareness and perception of endocrinology
• Help general practitioners care for patients
• Inspire more people to register for the event
• Reassure people about the organization’s stability
• Raise the quality of job applicants
23

24. 24
5 Whys
h%ps://www.pinterest.com/pin/86483255319117458/

25. eep asking “why”
Why are you publishing this content?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
25

26. 26
ling.com/2008/05/01/cash-­‐and-­‐treasures-­‐the-­‐anGque-­‐bo%le-­‐dig/
e real goal is in there somewher

30. xamples to discuss
http://www.realtor.org/reports/member-profile
http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2016/04/29/12-
markets-where-investor-activity-high
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-smn9oKpsiI
http://www.blogs.marriott.com/marriott-on-the-move/2016/04/
give-me-a-break.html
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/membership/recruit-
member/physican-outreach-recruitment-program.page
30

31. xercise #1
• Write down 3 pieces of content
your organization recently published
• Working in pairs, use the “5 whys” technique to
identify the goals for the other person’s content
31

32. iscuss
• Were those goals articulated
when the content was
created and published?
• Why or why not?
32

33. Making the goal measurable

34. ow will you know it’s successful?
Reached the audience in the channel that matched their
expectations
The audience took the action you wanted them to take
Users took the next step you wanted them to make
They were more satisfied with your organization
They called customer service less
They bought more stuff from you
They talked you up to their friends/family/colleagues
34

35. case study
Site redesign required a news article for each update
on the home page
Volume of news articles they published overwhelmed
the staff
Viewership to each article was relatively low
Would fewer articles mean fewer views?
3

36. 36

37. 37

38. urning goals into KPIs
1. Benchmark where you are now
• Content performance
• Pain points
• Tie back to business
2. What will constitute success?
• Envision the desired goal
• Make it measurable!
38

39. ome considerations
Make sure your KPIs cover both organizational goals and user
needs
Think about them from multiple perspectives
39

40. xercise #2
For the 3 pieces of content you documented earlier, what would
constitute success?
40

41. 4

42. 4

43. 43
me for a
eak!

44. oing the
easuring

45. easure, tweak, repeat
Who needs to know?
How do they need to know it?
How to tweak it?
45

46. ow to start tomorrow
Who needs to know?
How do they need to know it?
How to tweak it?
46

47. xercise #3
Identify how you think your example content items should be
measured
How should the information be communicated, and to whom?
How different is that from what you do today?
47

48. iscuss
Were those goals articulated when the content was created and
published?
Why or why not?
48

49. A plan
Measuring the goal, and using the
information about what we find
49

50. ext steps
1. Learn what works
2. Use that information to develop goals
3. Create an editorial calendar and templates for review time,
roles, and processes
4. Share all with staff
5. Track/measure and evolve
50

51. Thank you!
Hilary Marsh
President & Chief Strategist
Content Company, Inc.
hilary@contentcompany.biz
@hilarymarsh