Could engagement simply be a distraction in the world of content marketing?
The idea is unsettling. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that the common consensus for any brand looking to run an effective content marketing campaign in social was to focus on those page likes and all-important clicks as the central metrics.
Then the advent of various engagement rates made life more complicated. With a growing assortment of intricate formulas, it seemed that even the most stringent of analysts would be left scratching their heads.
But now, it appears we are turning back towards reach and frequency as evidence of success. More jaded readers might see this as just another ploy to squeeze more money out of brands and their need to remain relevant in an ever-evolving digital arena. But this evolution in measurement suggests the issue may be with the inherent struggle simmering beneath the surface of content marketing – the battle between creativity and data.
This ongoing debate about the importance of measurement versus creative purity is discussed in Paul Feldwick’s excellent The Anatomy of Humbug, which concludes that the formula is … well, there is no verdict as of yet. Let’s face it, if there existed a perfectly accurate, formulaic method of measuring campaign success and effectiveness, we’d be using it already. We’d already have melded data and creativity into a perfect partnership that delivered guaranteed results.
The reality is that people reach decisions in complex ways and it is virtually impossible to map out each individual’s thought process to reveal the exact performance measures on which to focus.
Which brings us back to the question: are factors such as engagement, followers, reach and the like actually offering any real value? Perhaps we can’t blame the metrics themselves, but look at the way they are utilised.
Metrics provide useful indicators about the effectiveness of our content, if used sensibly and with an awareness of their limitations. Monitoring reach and frequency for a new content marketing campaign can help gauge audience awareness while tracking viewer retention – and interactions can provide insight into the relevance of your content. Let’s not dismiss that, but let’s also move the focus to what else content marketers can do instead of simply relying on these factors to make a profit.
The solution may lie in bridging the gulf between the metrics currently in vogue and the metrics that clearly demonstrate real growth and business value, such as Facebook’s conversion lift studies and the IPA Effectiveness Awards among others.
The bottom line is that conversion attribution models, brand studies and research are not without their limitations, but the path to a better and more effective way of measuring content marketing lies within understanding that the clicks of engagement are not the be all and end all.
Steve Sponder is managing director of Headstream
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