If you are blogging just to "check the box," stop right there. Like any other marketing initiative, there needs to be a defined goal in place before executing the strategy. While the main goal of any marketing campaign should be lead generation, lead nurturing is also a crucial measure of success. Blogs are a great method for boosting engagement and lead nurturing initiatives since their purpose is to speak directly to a prospect's questions and concerns. To measure lead nurturing success, marketers should evaluate:
- Time on blog page
- Blog pageviews
- Returning visitors to blog content
- Social media shares of blog content
- Number of comments on the blog
Time spent on the blog page is an important lead nurturing metric because it tells marketers whether or not people are taking the time to read your blog posts. In addition, you can use this metric to determine which blog posts topics really engaged readers and made them want to stay on the blog longer and which topics caused readers to leave the site.
Blog pageviews are another important indicator of blog success. As blog posts begin to rank for long-tail keywords, the blog posts will become organic landing pages, thus increasing pageviews. Pageviews should also increase thanks to inter-site linking measures that take place on the blog. For example, allow visitors to choose from different topic categories on the sidebar, view the blog archive or view related posts. All of these measures will allow users to move easily throughout the blog and find all the information they need.
The percentage of returning visitors should increase as your blog strategy continues. Posting at a regular cadence will let your readers know when to expect a new post, causing them to return to the site repeatedly. It also puts your brand at top of mind, which can help to remind customers to return to your site when their need becomes more immediate. Returning visitors are more likely to convert than first-time visitors, making this one of the most important KPIs to track.
An increase in the number of social media shares of your blog content is a good indication of an increase in prospect engagement. People share content that they think is valuable with others, so if you are not seeing an increase in social shares, try to determine what else you could write about that would be considered worth of taking the effort to share. For example, what were the topics of your most engaging social media posts? Or what are some frequently asked questions that your company receives via social media? To find out what is valuable to your potential customers, ask them!
Last but not least, an increase in blog comments also indicates that your posts are sparking interest among prospects. If you are not seeing an increase in this metric, ask questions at the end of blog posts to start a discussion with your readers. The more you interact with them, the more likely they will be to interact with you.
Make sure to monitor these lead nurturing metrics closely throughout your blog campaign. If you have a customer-focused blog strategy, each of these metrics should improve. If not, re-evaluate your blogging strategy to make sure it is more focused on the customer. When marketers make lead nurturing a priority, they avoid losing the leads that they worked so hard to earn.
Want to learn more about what metrics are important to monitor during a content marketing campaign? Check out my white paper, "8 B2B Marketing Metrics You Should Care About" by clicking here: http://www.websitebiz.com/resources/white-papers/8-b2b-marketing-metrics-you-should-care-about/ or read additional WebsiteBiz blogs at: http://www.websitebiz.com/blog.
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