Managing Content Like a Boss

January 19, 2022

As we start to settle into 2022, it’s not a bad idea to revisit your website—and other brand marketing channels—to make sure your content is up to par with the New Year’s standards.

It’s true that your site’s ranking will depend on many different factors. But high-quality content remains the biggest [and best] measure of how well your site performs on search engines, on social media, and wherever else you decide to market your brand.

So, how do you know if you’re creating quality content? The first step is to conduct an audit on how your current content is performing among users. To help you get started, here are a few of our favorite strategies on how to check to see whether your content is engaging, or whether it’s only taking up space.

Digital Content Strategy [How to tell if it’s working]

Before we begin, remember that content isn’t solely limited to words on a blog page or website. It’s much broader than that. Content includes brand videos, podcasts, eBooks, infographics, illustrations, surveys, reviews, etc.

It’s how a brand communicates with the rest of the world and shares its unique story. Even more importantly than that, it’s how a brand connects with its audience and builds lasting relationships over time.

“Content marketing…answers your audience’s questions and helps you build trust, develop relationships, improve conversions, and generate leads. In today’s age, customers expect high-quality, consistent content from their favorite brands,” (Hubspot).

In a previous article on marketing trends and predictions, we briefly highlighted how content—whether a blog article or landing page—needs to connect with your target audience. That means if you’re not making connections, you’re not doing it right.

So, how do you know if you’re making connections?

Perform Regular Checks on Customer Engagement

Do you have access to Google Analytics, Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest? Maybe you have all these essential SEO tools at your disposal, but how often do you utilize them to check your site’s content performance?

If you’re not checking your work, you’re missing out on helpful insights that could help you improve campaigns and start generating greater user engagement across multiple marketing channels.

Let’s talk about Google Analytics for a moment, because (a) it’s free and pretty much everyone has it and (b) it’s super easy to use to monitor content performance.

If you have your GA set up on your site, be sure to perform a monthly check on how your blog pages are performing. A good way to do this is by navigating to Behavior > Site Content > Content Drilldown. After choosing the correct subfolder (more on this in a section), you’ll be able to dive deeper into how users are interacting with these content-specific pages.

Metrics to Keep an Eye On

At Brandography, we like to look at different metrics to help us understand how users are interacting with the type of content we create. Three important metrics we always keep an eye on, in terms of blogging, include: average time on page, entrances, and page views.

  • Average Time on Page is probably our favorite metric, because it helps us understand whether or not users are actually reading our blogs. Anything above one minute makes us happy. Anything over 3 minutes is music to our ears.
  • Entrances are equally important. If you’re using target keywords in blog articles to help answer search queries and drive traffic to your website, an entrance can help you figure out whether or not this strategy is working. 
    • Think of it this way: if users enter our site from a blog article and spend 1-3 minutes on that page, that means they were looking for an answer to a specific question, found our article, and read it to get an answer. That blog helped pull in relevant traffic to my site. 

The same applies to social media or other marketing channels you’re utilizing. Let’s say, for instance, users are landing on a new blog article from a recent Facebook post that includes a link to it. If your other marketing channels are sending traffic in the right direction (your website), it’s safe to say they’re working together to deliver the same result. 

  • Pageviews help you understand how many times users are visiting your blog posts within a specific time, and which blogs are generating the highest number of views.  

Another important metric is goal completions, as they help us understand if users are actually clicking on the anchor links we provide within the text to explore other areas of the website—or complete other conversions, such as schedule an appointment, contact us, or download this PDF. You’ll need to know how to set these up in GA and make sure you’re tracking them regularly! 

Quick Content Managing Tip

To make your life, and your reporting efforts, much…MUCH easier, consider creating a static URL structure for every blog post, such as /blog/.  Having this type of subfolder makes it easier to search and monitor your pages in GA, but it also improves organization both for the SERPs and for your own marketing efforts.

Utilize Other Platforms for Data, Too!

Finally, make sure you’re utilizing the tools available on other platforms! Let’s go back to the Facebook example. Facebook offers analytical tools for you to monitor how posts are performing on your business page—same with Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. 

Make sure you’re not just posting but that you’re actually monitoring whether or not users are clicking on your links, sharing articles, leaving comments, asking questions, and following you. These are all incredible examples of engagement and can lead to stronger connections with your brand.

Managing Content [Do’s & Don’ts]

Before we go, here are a few quick do’s and don’ts that might benefit your digital content strategy and ensure you’re making the most of every article, post, and deliverable!

  • “Do” be Intentional with “On-Page” or “Behind-the-Scenes” Content: make sure you’re paying careful attention to headers, alt titles, and metadata. This type of foundation content is equally important to the content typed on each page.
  • “Do” Perform Regular Keyword Research: this will help you capture and utilize a competitive selection of keyword variations and related terms.
  • “Do” Consider the User’s Perspective: before you create a piece of quality content, ask yourself the following: 
    • Does my audience know my industry’s terms and language? 
    • Am I showing how my products/services will benefit them?
    • Am I providing a solution to my customers’ pain points/challenges?
  • Don’t be Afraid to Change Your Content, as Needed: if you come to realize that your content isn’t offering value, engaging users, or building trust with your audience, don’t be afraid to change your strategy.
  • Don’t Duplicate Content: when you duplicate content it hurts your content’s quality, loses your users’ interest, and damages your business’s reputation.
  • Don’t Forget about the User: your customers are coming to you to help solve a challenge or to make their lives easier. Make sure your content is geared toward what your users need, not what you need. As we like to say at our company, “It’s not about you. It’s about them.” 

For more information on this content strategy, check out our blog on “writing for the web.

Need Help Managing Your Content?

Think your digital marketing strategy could use a refresh? At Brandography, we offer professional content creation and development services. This means we can help you improve your brand copy across multiple platforms so that it attracts, engages, and connects users now and in the future.

If you’d like to learn more about our marketing solutions, contact us today!

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