4 Surefire Ways To Improve Engagement In Content Marketing

Measuring the results of your content marketing is vital to understanding its success. But how exactly do you do that, and what should you be measuring?

Truth be told, there is no clear-cut way. Ask ten content marketing professionals how they measure success, and you’ll most likely end up with ten different answers.

The answer to this question ultimately depends on your goals and objectives. For example, content publications or bloggers may want to focus on content consumption and sharing metrics, while an ecommerce site should prioritize lead generation or conversions.

But there is one KPI that should be on almost every content marketer’s measurement list: engagement.

Engagement metrics are quite possibly the most reliable measurement of how well received your content is to readers. Knowing your engagement metrics allow you to do a swath of useful things: shape future content, learn who your audience is and target what they find most interesting.

Here are the most common engagement metrics, all readily found in Google Analytics:

Pages Per Session

What is it: Google defines Pages per Session as the average number of pages viewed during a session (also known as a visit). Each session measures the actions that a user takes on your site.

In the example above, Pages per Session is two, since only two pages (Screen View 1 and Screen View 2) were visited during the entire session. You can read more about defining sessions here.

What it means: A higher Pages per Session value typically indicates that users are engaged with your site and actively seeking out additional content. This makes Pages per Session a great indicator of how well-targeted your content is, and where you should place your editorial efforts.

How to improve it: Showcase related content through links or a content module.

Limitations: Obviously this metric doesn’t quantify all of the many actions a user can take on your site. For example, the above user only visited two pages, but they also shared one of the pages and possibly purchased a product. That makes them more engaged than a user who visits seven pages but doesn’t spend much time on each one.

This brings me to the next important limitation, albeit a rare one: a high Pages per Session value could indicate that users simply can’t find what they’re looking for on your site.

New Vs. Returning

What is it: This metric allows you to see the percentage of traffic that is “new” vs “returning.” The results are gathered from a cookie given to the user upon their first visit.

What it means: A high percentage of returning visitors lets you know how successful your content is at bringing users back to your site. It’s also a good indication of whether your content marketing is providing a great user experience. Finally, you can analyze differences in the behavior of a new vs. a returning user. For example, returning users may be more inclined to make a purchase.

How to improve it: Target the content that most new users are visiting, and then create more of it. This may convert those new visitors to returning ones.

Limitations: Users can block cookies or clear them out, so returning visitor percentage is often slightly underreported.

Frequency And Recency

What is it: Frequency breaks down your return visitors and places them into buckets based on the number of times they have returned. Recency tells you how many days passed between each of those return visits.

What it means: Your main content marketing objective should be creating content that develops loyal readers who not only return, but return often. Frequency and Recency show you this sort of granular information.

How to improve it: Compare these metrics over specific time periods to discover your trending content.

Limitations: When looking at Recency, be aware that the “0” bucket also contains visitors that did not return (new visitors, in other words). Don’t use these in your metric comparisons.

Bounce Rate

What is it: Bounce rate represents your percentage of single page sessions. Single page sessions occur when a visitor reaches your site but leaves before visiting any other pages.

What it means: A low bounce rate usually represents a better user experience and high engagement.

How to improve it: I could write an entire eBook on lowering bounce rate. It’s a nebulous metric that can be affected by many things and nothing all at once. Your bounce rate can be determined by factors such as category of your business, amount of content, competitive landscape, you name it. As long as you’re tackling the above metrics, an improved bounce rate should follow suit.

Limitations: In addition to the broad nature of bounce rate, a high bounce rate signal could indicate that users found exactly what they needed and then left. Not a bad thing, right? Alternatively, if an ecommerce site has a low bounce rate but a similarly low conversion rate, users may not be finding what they need.

We’ll cover event tracking, advanced segments and establishing goals in future posts, which are even more advanced than the Google Analytics metrics above. But for now, just remember this: Measuring engagement requires a long-term content marketing mindset and a willingness to experiment.

4 Surefire Ways To Improve Engagement In Content Marketing