The Right Way to Measure Content Marketing Results [INFOGRAPHIC]

Content marketing has become an extremely popular way for companies to connect with consumers over the past year. But there are certain ways in which it can be improved in terms of measuring metrics and analyzing engagement.

A new infographic from Pardot delves into the metrics behind content marketing. According to the company, since this past January, the popularity of the search term “content marketing” on Google has increased by 38 percent.

A whopping 90 percent of in-house marketers say that content is going to become more important, while only 38 percent report having a content marketing strategy.

The biggest reason for producing content is to engage audiences, followed by garnering traffic for the company’s website and spreading brand awareness. In terms of metrics, 88 percent of marketers measure unique visitors to the content, 76 percent measures pages viewed by the visitor, and social shares clock in at 59 percent.

The infographic reveals, however, that marketers are overlooking key metrics: “Marketers are focused on metrics directly related to how their audience is consuming and sharing the content. These metrics are a great way to measure how much your content interests your audience and how well it resonates with them. However, by also focusing on lead generation and sales metrics, marketers can keep content aligned with overall business goals.”

In terms of measuring metrics, Content Marketing Institute offers a handy list of tools for content marketers including Blog Pulse (searches blogs for keywords), Intense Debrate (tracks comments online), and Omgili (scans forums).

To measure sales metrics, which is “the holy grail” of metrics according to Jay Baer of Convince and Convert, he suggests using tools like Highrise or Sugar CRM.

“You’ll want to note in the prospect record that the potential customer consumed content pieces X, Y, and Z,” he says. “Then, when your crack sales team turns that prospect into a sale, determine the projected revenue and profit (lifetime value if you can) of that customer, and assign it to the content pieces.”

The key question that marketers need to ask when it comes to sales metrics is how often the content successfully turned consumers into customers. Baer stresses the same point as the infographic: “Content isn’t just about consumption, so don’t only track consumption. It’s also about sharing and leads and sales.”