how to measure brand health with content marketing engagement metrics

How to Measure Brand Health with Content Marketing Engagement Metrics

If you’re like most

brands, you probably

promote yourself too much.

BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS

(and we tune you out)


David Beebe Vice President of Global Creative + Content Marketing, Marriott International

Content marketing is like a first date.

If all you do is talk about yourself, there

won’t be a second date.

”

“ BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS


LET PEOPLE GET TO… 1  KNOW YOUR BRAND



2  LIKE YOUR BRAND


2  LIKE YOUR BRAND

3  TRUST YOUR BRAND ENOUGH TO BUY FROM YOU


Brand health measures how your

digital audience feels about you.


The percentage of

visitors who enter your

site and then leave,

rather than continuing

to view other pages.


WHAT TO MEASURE : ENGAGEMENT

TIME ON SITE BOUNCE RATE

The amount of time visitors

spend on your site.

REPEAT VISITORS SOCIAL LIKES SUBSCRIPTIONS

The number of times

someone engages with

your brand.

Which content is resonating

most with your audience.

People giving your

brand exclusive access

to their inbox, opening

the opportunity for you

to market to them.

The percentage of

visitors who enter your

site and then leave,

rather than continuing

to view other pages.

WHAT TO MEASURE : ENGAGEMENT

TIME ON SITE BOUNCE RATE

The amount of time visitors

spend on your site.

REPEAT VISITORS SOCIAL LIKES SUBSCRIPTIONS

The number of times

someone engages with

your brand.

Which content is resonating

most with your audience.

People giving your

brand exclusive access

to their inbox, opening

the opportunity for you

to market to them.



HOW TO CALCULATE THE VALUE OF:

TIME ON SITE

NOT ALL TIME ON SITE IS EQUAL. TI

ME

ON

SIT

E

PAGE VIEWS


A HIGH TIME ON SITE,

LOW NUMBER OF PAGE VIEWS

B HIGH TIME ON SITE,

HIGH NUMBER OF PAGE VIEWS

C LOW TIME ON SITE,


D LOW TIME ON SITE,


A. HIGH TIME ON SITE, LOW NUMBER OF PAGE VIEWS BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS

THE GOOD THE BAD

GOOD INDICATOR FOR POOR INDICATOR FOR

May indicate a reading behavior pattern Lower number of page impressions may be negative for advertising related websites

Source: Panalysis, How to Interpret Time on Site, 2015

Sites that require a lot of time to read and understand the contents of the site.

(ie: A professional services company)

Sites that sell advertising


ME

ON

SIT

E

PAGE VIEWS






C LOW TIME ON SITE,


D LOW TIME ON SITE,


B. HIGH TIME ON SITE, HIGH NUMBER OF PAGE VIEWS BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS

THE GOOD THE BAD


May indicate high level of interest and involvement with your site

Could indicate user frustration difficulties navigating your site to find what they’re

looking for


Where a high level of involvement is a key performance indicator (ie: advertising based sites

selling banners based on page impressions)

Where a site is for supporting visitors who should be able to readily access information or perform a

task in a short period of time. (ie: Government and

self service websites such as online banking)


ME

ON

SIT

E

PAGE VIEWS






C LOW TIME ON SITE,


D LOW TIME ON SITE,


C. LOW TIME ON SITE, LOW NUMBER OF PAGE VIEWS BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS

THE GOOD THE BAD


For sites that only provide a simple response or quick answers

Generally implies disinterest in the site


Sites where visitors are seeking answers (ie: directories)

In this case, repeat visitor behavior is a

crucial contributing factor.

Most websites


ME

ON

SIT

E

PAGE VIEWS






C LOW TIME ON SITE,


D LOW TIME ON SITE,


D. LOW TIME ON SITE, HIGH NUMBER OF PAGE VIEWS BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS

THE GOOD THE BAD


May indicate success for sites that require visitors to complete tasks quickly

Could indicate that visitors are lost in the site


Sites that require high involvement in short bursts (ie: banking sites, online applications)

Complex websites, such as government agencies

When determining your time on site goals,

it’s important to keep in mind why someone

is going to your site.



HOW TO CALCUALTE THE VALUE OF:

REPEAT VISITORS

96% of people visiting your site

aren’t actually ready to purchase from you.

Source: Social Media Today, 2014


So you need to think of other ways to bring

prospects back to your site so that when they are

ready to purchase, they choose you.


Source: Inc, 2 Web Metrics You Should be Watching All the Time, 2014

If your ultimate goal is to sell a product or

service, you're much more likely to sell to visitors

who come back time after time.



Repeat Visitor Ratio (RVR) measures the percentage of visitors who return

to your site after an initial visit during some specific time period.

Let’s say you got 4,000 visitors this month and 800 were repeat visitors.

800/4,000 = 20%



RVR is great way to determine whether you are successfully engaging your

site visitors.

New visitors are fine, but repeat visitors are great since once you "have" a

new reader you don't have to spend time and money attracting that

reader--your content is sufficient. So the higher your RVR the better your

website must be at engaging the average new visitor.


To put a monetary value on RVR, we need to

look at the average amount you’re spending

in advertising to drive net new traffic.


For our example, let’s say you’re spending $5,000 per month on advertising to drive

new visitors.



new visitors. If 80%, or 3,200 visitors are net new, you’re spending an average of $1.56 per visitor. $5,000 / 3,200 = $1.56



new visitors. If 80%, or 3,200 visitors are net new, you’re spending an average of $1.56 per visitor. $5,000 / 3,200 = $1.56 Taking that finding, we can then calculate the value of our 800 repeat visitors.



new visitors. If 80%, or 3,200 visitors are net new, you’re spending an average of $1.56 per visitor. $5,000 / 3,200 = $1.56 Taking that finding, we can then calculate the value of our 800 repeat visitors. 800 * $1.56 = $1,250 Therefore, our repeat visitors are valued at $1,250 per month.


How do you improve your RVR?


1.  Better target your marketing 2.  Provide great content 3.  Ensure site navigation is streamlined and intuitive 4.  Constantly create new content to keep the site fresh and relevant.



How do you improve your RVR?

Don’t forget that while you want to increase the

percentage of repeat visitors, you also want to

increase the total number of visitors…


Don’t forget that while you want to increase the

percentage of repeat visitors, you also want to

increase the total number of visitors…

Otherwise you’ll be preaching to the same choir.




SOCIAL LIKES

Social “likes” are a light indicator

for whether or not your audience is

resonating with your content.


While many have tried, it is difficult to assess

real value in a like. However, it is important to track

social shares over time to ensure your content is

reaching baseline or increasing

level of engagement.




SUBSCRIPTIONS

Source: AMEX Open Forum, What’s Your Email List Worth (In Actual Dollars)?, 2013

Your email list is an asset,

and should be valued as such.


Source: MarketingProfs, The Art and Science of Growing Your Email List, 2014


FIRST THING’S FIRST:



POSITIVE RETURN

DIMINISHING POSTIIVE RETURN

MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE

COST

FIRST THING’S FIRST: You must know your maximum allowable

cost threshold for getting a new subscriber,

otherwise, you’re spending in the dark.

NEGATIVE RETURNS!


FIRST THING’S FIRST: You must know your maximum allowable

cost threshold for getting a new subscriber,

otherwise, you’re spending in the dark.

or, worse yet, to the point of negative returns.


POSITIVE RETURN

DIMINISHING POSTIIVE RETURN

MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE

COST

Knowing your cost to obtain a new list member is the only way to determine how much you can actually afford to invest in growing your list sign-up…



Knowing your cost to obtain a new list member is the only way to determine how much you can actually afford to invest in growing your list sign-up…

And what your maximum allowable cost to obtain a new subscriber should be.



As a rule of thumb, your list sign-up cost per acquisition (CPA) should be well under your average sale amount from a new

customer and within range of what you pay to obtain other valuable actions, such as webinar sign-ups, free content

downloads or even direct sales.




METHOD QUANTITY OF SUBSCRIBERS (QOS) COST PER ACQUISITION (CPA)

FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30

TWITTER 400 $1.00

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00

WEBINAR 100 $0.10

First, calculate what it actually costs you to get a new subscriber from each

list-building method.



Now we need to determine your maximum allowable CPA for acquiring a new list

member, and continue to invest in the methods that fall at or below your CPA.

First, calculate what it actually costs you to get a new subscriber from each

list-building method.




TWITTER 400 $1.00


WEBINAR 100 $0.10


Let’s say you’ve tested a few tactics and

decided that your maximum allowable CPA for a new email address is $1.50.

MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE

COST

$1.50




TWITTER 400 $1.00


WEBINAR 100 $0.10

Moving forward, you’ll want to continue pursuing all methods

costing $1.50 or less.


METHOD QUANTITY OF SUBSCRIBERS (QOS)

COST PER ACQUISITION (CPA)

UNSUBSCRIBE RATE (UR)

AVERAGE SALE VALUE (ASV)

FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30 30% $100

TWITTER 400 $1.00 5% $100

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00 15% $150

WEBINAR 100 $0.10 5% $200

Over time, we need to also measure the quality of the subscribers on your list

by monitoring things like average sale value and unsubscribe rate.






FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30 30% $100

TWITTER 400 $1.00 5% $100

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00 15% $150

WEBINAR 100 $0.10 5% $200

When you analyze the data, you’ll easily be able to spot the methods that produce the

best quality and quantity of subscribers within your allowable CPA.






FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30 30% $100

TWITTER 400 $1.00 5% $100

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00 15% $150

WEBINAR 100 $0.10 5% $200

When you analyze the data, you’ll easily be able to spot the methods that produce the

best quality and quantity of subscribers within your allowable CPA. The higher the quality of subscribers you attract, the more likely they are to convert to becoming not only customers but also your best customers-resulting in more

revenue from which to raise your CPA.






FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30 30% $100

TWITTER 400 $1.00 5% $100

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00 15% $150

WEBINAR 100 $0.10 5% $200

To calculate the value per subscriber, we need find the difference between the sale value and cost per acquisition for the subscribers. To do this, we use the formula below: VALUE PER SUBSCRIBER = ( QOS * ASV * ( 1 – UR ) – QOS * CPA ) / QOS

BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS BRAND AWARENESS BRAND HEALTH CONVERSIONS

METHOD QUANTITY OF SUBSCRIBERS

(QOS)

COST PER ACQUISITION

(CPA)


AVERAGE SALE VALUE

(ASV)

TOTAL VALUE

(TV)

VALUE PER SUBSCRIBER

(VPS)

FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30 30% $100 $13,540 $67.70

TWITTER 400 $1.00 5% $100 $37,600 $94

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00 15% $150 $37,650 $125.50

WEBINAR 100 $0.10 5% $200 $18,990 $189.90

We’ll use Facebook Ads as an example: VALUE PER SUBSCRIBER = ( QOS * ASV * ( 1 – UR ) – QOS * CPA ) / QOS VALUE PER SUBSCRIBER = ( 200 * 100 * ( 1 – 0.30 ) – 200 * 2.30 ) / 200 Therefore, the value of each Facebook subscription is $67.70



(QOS)


(CPA)


AVERAGE SALE VALUE

(ASV)

TOTAL VALUE

(TV)


(VPS)

FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30 30% $100 $13,540 $67.70

TWITTER 400 $1.00 5% $100 $37,600 $94

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00 15% $150 $37,650 $125.50

WEBINAR 100 $0.10 5% $200 $18,990 $189.90

Based on these calculations, we can see that paid search and webinar methods

return the most value per subscriber.


Based on these calculations, we can see that paid search and webinar methods

return the most value per subscriber.

However, since paid search’s CPA is more expensive than our maximum allowance of

$1.50, we should defer to webinar and Twitter tactics.


(QOS)


(CPA)


AVERAGE SALE VALUE

(ASV)

TOTAL VALUE

(TV)


(VPS)

FACEBOOK AD 200 $2.30 30% $100 $13,540 $67.70

TWITTER 400 $1.00 5% $100 $37,600 $94

PAID SEARCH 300 $2.00 15% $150 $37,650 $125.50

WEBINAR 100 $0.10 5% $200 $18,990 $189.90



BOUNCE RATE

Your site’s bounce rate is a metric that

indicates the percentage of people who land on

one of your web pages and then leave without

clicking anywhere else on your site.


Source: Hubspot, How to Decrease Your Website’s Bounce Rate, 2014


A high bounce rate is a reason for concern since it indicates that your website visitors

aren’t looking for more content on your site, clicking on calls-to-action, or converting

into contacts.

A high bounce rate is a reason for concern since it indicates that your website visitors

aren’t looking for more content on your site, clicking on calls-to-action, or converting

into contacts. Since attracting and converting visitors into qualified leads is the main objective for

content marketing, this is an important metric to measure and improve.



How should your site stack up? Here are some good bounce rate benchmarks:



CONTENT WEBSITES

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 %

LEAD GENERATION

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 %

BLOGS

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 %

RETAIL SITES

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 %

SERVICE SITES

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 %

LANDING PAGES

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 %

40% - 60%

30% - 50%

20% - 40%

10% - 30%

70% - 90%

70% - 98%

Why do visitors bounce? Two reasons:

1  They didn’t find what they were looking for 2  The page wasn’t user-friendly



So what can you do to

improve your site’s bounce rate?


Attract the right visitors

•  Choose the right keywords to match your content

-- not just to attract the most number of visitors

•  Maintain top rankings for branded terms

•  Write attractive, useful meta descriptions for search

engine users


ATTRACT THE RIGHT VISITORS

Choose the right keywords to match your content, not just attract any visitors

Create multiple landing pages with unique content and

keywords for different types of visitors

Write attractive, useful meta-descriptions for search engine users

Maintain top rankings for branded terms.

Improve targeting of online advertising campaigns.

Source: Small biz trends, 2014 + Hubspot, How to Decrease Your Website’s Bounce Rate, 2014


Enhance usability

•  Make your text readable through sensible organization

and the use of larger fonts, bulleted lists, white space,

good color contrast, and large headlines

•  Use well-organized, responsive layouts that allow for

quick and easy navigation on all platforms and browsers

ENHANCE USABILITY

1 6

3 4

2 5

GOOD COLOR CONTRAST

LARGE HEADLINES

SENSIBLE ORGANIZATION

BULLETED LISTS

LARGER FONTS WHITE SPACE MAKE TEXT READABLE




Use a good layout

•  Quick navigation

•  Easy to find search

•  Content in sections

•  Responsive layout for multiple platforms and browsers

USE GOOD LAYOUT

Responsive layout for multiple platforms and browsers 17.4% of views from mobile devices

EASY TO FIND SEARCH

QUICK NAVIGATION

CONTENT IN SECTIONS


Speed up page load

•  Use little or no self-loading multimedia content.

•  Set external links to open in new browser windows/tabs.

•  Don’t let ads distract from your content: Place static ads to

sides, and avoid pop-ups and self-loading multimedia ads

SPEED UP PAGELOAD

USE LITTLE OR NO SELF-LOADING MULTIMEDIA CONTENT.

SET EXTERNAL LINKS TO

OPEN IN NEW WINDOWS

DON’T LET ADS DISTRACT

Place static ads to sides

Avoid pop-ups

Avoid self-loading multimedia ads



Provide good content

•  Have an obvious main message

•  Use clear headers and subheads

•  Tailor content to intended visitors

•  Use stylish copy and images

•  Make your content error-free

•  Include a clear call-to-action and obvious links to next steps

PROVIDE GOOD CONTENT

1 Obvious main message

2 Clear heads and

subheads

6 Clear call to action

3 Tailored to

intended visitors

4 Stylish copy and

images

5 Few errors

7 Obvious links to next steps


WANT TO LEARN MORE?

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program management, to customized strategy sessions and workshops, we’ll set your brand up for success.

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Get in touch! [email protected]

how to measure brand health with content marketing engagement metrics

Marketing

brand health measures

brand exclusive access

time visitors

percentage of visitors

site bounce rate

engagement time

number of times

digital audience