Savvy marketers understand that content engagement is often more valuable than impressions, but do you measure this engagement and how can a piece of content be optimized to drive more engagement?
In this #ContentChat, we are joined by Shane Shaps (@ShaneShaps), president, founder, and community manager of 520 East Brands, to share best practices to define and measure content marketing engagement. Read the full chat recap below, where we explore the KPIs you use to measure content engagement, how to drive engagement on social media, what makes for an effective call to action, and more.
Q1: How do you define content engagement, and has your definition shifted over time?
Content engagement includes likes, shares, comments, retweets/reshares, DMs, and more. Essentially, engagement is anything where your audience is interacting with your content in some way.
A1a For the companies we represent, we look at engagement metrics – likes, shares, comments, retweets, regrams, etc. What’s resonating with your audience? #ContentChat https://t.co/7qUj4a8kVS
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
A1: Beyond the basic metrics, I like to see shares, comments, and discussion. #ContentChat
— John Cloonan (@johncloonan) September 21, 2020
A1 How/when/who in our audience interacts with our content – likes/responses/DMs/sharing/retweeting/etc.
It hasn’t really shifted (yet) but we’ve only been doing this since Feb this year, so we’ll see how we look at it this time next year #ContentChat https://t.co/hgR2hvvdfy— Charlie Appel Agency (@ColfaxInsurance) September 21, 2020
A1. When a user takes action to your piece of content is content engagement! It hasn’t changed significantly I must say, the channels where they engage has though! #ContentChat
— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) September 21, 2020
The definition of engagement has shifted as new platforms and content types have emerged.
A1b It shifts often in that we must continue to look at pieces of content and types – is video still the thing for this client, or are blogposts now the thing? It must continually evolve. #ContentChat
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
A1 My definition of content engagement has definitely shifted because it can happen at multiple levels – social media, on page, reviews, third party… Stay on your toes or you’ll miss something #ContentChat
— Dan Goldberg (@Jonas419) September 21, 2020
A1: I think the definition of engagement varies depending on the platform and KPIs. Are you trying to get people to share a post on social, watch a video in its entirety, read a blog, fill out a form, etc. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) September 21, 2020
As Derek notes, the way you measure content engagement will depend on your goals. For many marketers, “likes” are considered a low-quality engagement metric because they rarely translate to a direct business benefit.
A1: I think content engagement can be measured many different ways, but it’s definition DEPENDS (my favorite word) on what you’re trying to achieve. Vanity metrics might be enough for one campaign but actual interaction may be necessary for another. #ContentChat
— Derek Pillie (@derekpillie) September 21, 2020
A1b: I used to classify Twitter accounts into eight different groups based on three different metrics with a goal toward building relationships with users who actually engage with content. Sometimes it’s not about measuring your content but assessing your audience. #ContentChat
— Derek Pillie (@derekpillie) September 21, 2020
A1. Not really a definition, but I used to think any interaction signifies valuable engagement. Now, I believe likes or other types of “shallow” engagement aren’t all that valuable. Things like social shares & comments are. #ContentChat
— Dina 🌿 (@dinasostarec) September 21, 2020
A1b: I also like to think of engagement as the highest value interaction we can get from a reader/subscriber/user/client. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) September 21, 2020
Q2: What drives a reader to engage with a piece of content?
Readers engage with content when it provides value to them in some way. This means that content should always be written with a target reader in mind.
A2: A consumer engages with a piece of content that meets a need for them. It may be education, entertainment, or simply prompting discussion.#ContentChat
— John Cloonan (@johncloonan) September 21, 2020
A2.
If content is of value & sparks a moment of thought I will definitely engage. #ContentChat
— lynette muthoni (@lyn_muthoni) September 21, 2020
A reader will engage when the content;
👉Adds value
👉Is interesting
👉Solves a problem
👉is entertaining #ContentChat— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) September 21, 2020
A2. Finding the content useful or particularly interesting. Knowing your target audience to a T definitely helps. #ContentChat
— Dina 🌿 (@dinasostarec) September 21, 2020
A2. when it resonates with them. Personal, and emotional reaction to the #contentchat. #Learning something new, networking, #trending 4 professional or personal reasons.
— Kathy Van Duzer, M.A. (@katwife) September 21, 2020
Taking it one step further, content should be written to offer solutions to address the audience’s pain points.
A2: I engage with content when it teaches me something, makes me happy, or I think it would be useful to others I know. #ContentChat https://t.co/fdkqoAQDGw
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
A2. Information that is actionable, accurate and addresses the customer’s pain points #contentchat
— Mahima Kini (@Mahi2weets) September 21, 2020
A2: Valuable content that solves a pain point, sparks a discussion or answers a question. Ideally, something that keeps them thinking even after they’ve moved on to another channel or piece of content. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) September 21, 2020
A2: Their motivations, effective use of media, previous interactions/conversations, relationship to the brand, trust, empathy, language, design, addresses their needs… #contentchat
— Helen Hill – UnlikelyGenius (@unlikelygenius) September 21, 2020
A2
✅ It cover the customers need
✅ the customers find it interesting
✅ the content reaches the customers at the right time. #contentchat— Wilfrido Ortega (@worktega) September 21, 2020
Engagement will vary between your social channels and audiences, and the goal is to optimize each channel so that readers stop to read and engage with your posts.
A2 As usual with us social media people, it depends. You might find your audience really reacts well to your videos, but you also might find they enjoy reading your LinkedIn articles. Basically, if it stops the scroll, that’s what we’re going for. #ContentChat https://t.co/4BLNHiVuwT
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
Sometimes position matters. A video at the top of the page might feel like marketing and go unwatched. A little further down in context, it gets watched. It’s why we test. #contentchat
— Dan Goldberg (@Jonas419) September 21, 2020
A call-to-action will also drive engagement, and we discuss best practices for those in Q6.
A2
Did the content leave them asking for more info (that can be found in the CTA)? Did it answer a question?
Were they asked to respond with their thoughts/questions they had?
Was it relevant/relatable?#ContentChat https://t.co/PPd9Ndapjn— Charlie Appel Agency (@ColfaxInsurance) September 21, 2020
If you’re looking to challenge your beliefs on why someone engages with content, Derek recommends the book Alchemy.
A2a: There are lots of answers to what drives someone to engage with content. Some are good and some are bad (in spite of the old there are no wrong answers axiom). If you’re trying to take a shortcut to drive engagement, make sure it’s aligned with your brand. #ContentChat
— Derek Pillie (@derekpillie) September 21, 2020
A2b: My views on how to answer “What causes someone to engage with content” were turned upside down after reading Alchemy by @rorysutherland. If this topic interests you it’s well worth the read. #ContentChat
— Derek Pillie (@derekpillie) September 21, 2020
Q3: Marketers have debated whether “engagement” is still meaningful to track. What are some factors that could lead companies to become disillusioned by the term?
Part of the disconnect is an issue of definition. Some marketers consider impressions as engagement, but impressions do not guarantee that your reader is engaging with the content. Additionally, “likes” have diminished in value over time, so a marketer that is focusing too heavily on likes instead of comments and link clicks may eventually conclude that “engagement” is useless.
A3 I think sometimes the definition seems subjective. Some may think of impressions as engagement and then learn impressions don’t mean much… so they assume engagement doesn’t mean much. But I don’t consider impressions engagement. Different strokes. #ContentChat https://t.co/eluCJ3TVZS
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
A3: In the early days of social marketing there was a lot of focus on likes and impressions and it turned out that those don’t mean much from a lead standpoint. That drove a lot of people to question engagement metrics when it can actually mean much more than that. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) September 21, 2020
A3: Too often, people have said they wanted to track engagement but what they really looked at were vanity metrics such as post likes. And not everyone has their data/systems connected to actually track true engagement, i.e. taking action. #ContentChat https://t.co/CsioX4dhhj
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
A3: The old “no such thing as bad press” rule doesn’t really fit with engagement when being a disruptive influence has lost any social consequence for consumers (or is often rewarded). It can be difficult separating useful engagement from less useful forms. #ContentChat
— Derek Pillie (@derekpillie) September 21, 2020
A3. People often engaging with the content for the sake of it. E.g. liking a photo on Insta doesn’t mean a darn thing. Heck, even I like photos/articles/X for no reason at all when I’m bored 💁
What you should track are comments, shares, opt-ins. #ContentChat
— Dina 🌿 (@dinasostarec) September 21, 2020
A3. not really #tracking #metrics and making assumptions on likes, follows. Most content management is geared toward web traffic. If they don’t see the traffic, plus #sales for some, then that’s disappointing. #contentchat
— Kathy Van Duzer, M.A. (@katwife) September 21, 2020
A3. “Engagement” could also mean generic actions like clicks just to see a photo better, that the term loses value. Engagement as a blanket metric doesn’t describe how many users end up “purchasing” – it only gets you halfway. It’s what you do next that matters! #ContentChat
— ★Jeff Fryer (@JeffFryer) September 21, 2020
Marketers should first determine the goals of their content and then identify the engagement metrics that best support that goal.
A3 I fear that often companies are too driven by mertics alone and could become disillusioned on the way. An engagement could be the good’ol word of mouth and bring in yours sales! It’s important to know;
– Your goals
– Your key objectives
– What your audience wants #ContentChat— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) September 21, 2020
Agreed. We often see marketers try to adapt the easiest to track metrics to their goals and it simply doesn’t work that way. You have to adapt your systems to track the metrics that bubble up TO your goals! #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
A3. 1.) It’s important to define engagement specific to your brand and campaign – does it equal a like? A comment? A follower? A query?
— Mahima Kini (@Mahi2weets) September 21, 2020
A3. 2.) lack of specific measurement attributes can quickly turn engagement into a vanity score that has no real value or returns. #contentchat
— Mahima Kini (@Mahi2weets) September 21, 2020
A3: As with everything else you have to define what that means to you and your company – it can be a very wide term that encompasses so much. Without defining the terms, it becomes too much of a catch-all #contentchat
— Helen Hill – UnlikelyGenius (@unlikelygenius) September 21, 2020
Q4: What KPIs do you use to measure your content engagement, and where do you source the data to track them?
Generally, content engagement can include shares, comments, and link clicks.
A4; Engagement: Shares, comments, link clicks #ContentChat
— John Cloonan (@johncloonan) September 21, 2020
Your exact KPIs will depend on your content goals and the channel you are on.
A4: It’s based on the channel and goals. We’re often looking at GA to measure time on page, pages per visit, form fills etc. But for other content we may look at comments or clicks. Email could be CTOR. It all depends. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) September 21, 2020
Google Analytics is an incredibly valuable tool for gathering your data, and your team can also set up goals in GA.
A4 Different for each client/brand/voice. If web traffic is the objective, we work with the web team and analyze google analytics. But it must go deeper than just that. Specifics are key by client. #ContentChat https://t.co/3sbF9J6Woe
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
Do you also work with clients to setup Goals in GA? I am always surprised by how many folks have been intimidated by the idea of setting up goals even though they are so helpful with understanding content’s contributions + ROI. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
Absolutely. If you don’t have a goal, what are you doing this for? And GA will tell you the answers. Mostly we partner with another agency who specializes in Google, but we work together defining those goals and objectives. #ContentChat
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
A4. I often use #GoogleAnalytics to track how my content is doing especially with;
👉Amount of time/ traffic on web pages
👉Sign ups/downloads/Registrations
👉Participation in surveys/polls
👉 Email metrics
👉Social shares #ContentChat— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) September 21, 2020
A4.
I use Google Analytics to track engagement on my blog. For social media I use the inbuilt analytics features.I check;
🔹Impressions- for Twitter
🔹Device- for blog
🔹Audience-for blog #ContentChat— lynette muthoni (@lyn_muthoni) September 21, 2020
A4. Ditto to what everyone else said! Google Analytics and built-in data. For me, the most important metric for content on my website is organic traffic—if my SEO is working, then I should always be seeing that metric increase. #ContentChat
— Jessica Thiefels | Mindset + Marketing (@JThiefels) September 21, 2020
And ensure you are communicating the progress toward your goals. Slack wrote a blog on how to automate your data gathering if you’re looking for more details.
A4 Whatever the metrics are for the goal you are trying to achieve, be sure to track and communicate them. @Slack shared this piece on how to automate some key metrics so you can focus on talking about the results rather than gathering them. https://t.co/H9u6hpi6fr #ContentChat
— Derek Pillie (@derekpillie) September 21, 2020
Q5: When creating a piece of content, how can you optimize it for engagement?
There are plenty of ways to optimize your content for engagement. Include videos and images to break up text, and format your content with headers, subheads, bullets, and bold to make it easy to digest.
A5. Just seeing this chat now—but had to jump in on this question!
⚡Include videos and GIFs
⚡Format it to make it easy to digest (headers, bullets, etc.)
⚡Add fun sharing options, like Click to Tweet
⚡ Ask for their thoughts in the comments!#ContentChat— Jessica Thiefels | Mindset + Marketing (@JThiefels) September 21, 2020
Ask questions in your content, and respond to any comments you receive.
A5: Start by actually posing questions to your audience in your content. I like to have a CTA that asks for a response specifically, and often do the same on social as well. But most importantly, when they DO engage, you have to respond! It’s not a gimmick. #ContentChat https://t.co/rjTceTkP3p
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
A5: I like asking questions, whether in a blog post or social post. And once they comment, keep the conversation going by asking more questions (if appropriate). I’m also a big fan of including video whenever possible. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) September 21, 2020
A5. One can optimise content for engagement by;
👉interacting more = create dialogue
👉Ask questions
👉Surprise them
👉Reward your audience
👉Tag readers prompting them to respond #ContentChat— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) September 21, 2020
Get to know your audience as people and invest in those relationships.
A5 I’ll add – know your audience. Get to know them as PEOPLE and allow them to get to know YOU. Then you’ll know what will work best – and when. #ContentChat
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
Use a call-to-action to directly invite engagement.
A5.
⚡ Ask questions
⚡ Include a CTA
⚡ Create shareable content#ContentChat— Dina 🌿 (@dinasostarec) September 21, 2020
And review the performance of your past content to find ways to optimize your future content.
A5.
I believe in data-driven maketing.
I would use data of my previous content to create new pieces. #contentchat
— Wilfrido Ortega (@worktega) September 21, 2020
Q6: What makes for an effective call to action when your goal is engagement? Any good or bad examples?
Your call-to-action should encourage your reader to further engage with your content and, ideally, move them further along the customer journey.
A6: Anything that can help someone take the next step on the customer journey you have designed for them is a great CTA. #ContentChat
— Derek Pillie (@derekpillie) September 21, 2020
Yes! In the blog post templates I create for clients, I always include a section on making sure you have a next step and some resources for the reader to make sure that happens. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
Examples of good calls-to-action? Ask readers to comment with their tips or additions, ask them to share their results, or invite them to make content similar to yours and for them to tag you.
A6: If we publish a post with tips, ask the reader for theirs! If you share a video, ask viewers what they think you left out that you should have included, or to make a similar video of their own and to tag you. Or, if it’s a how-to, ask them to share the results! #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
Crowdsource solutions by asking questions that address a pain point or common struggle.
A6: CTAs/questions that hit a pain point for the reader, or a common struggle your audience faces. I love seeing social posts that end up crowdsourcing a solution in the comments! #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) September 21, 2020
Offer low-effort engagement with “React with [option] if…”, and encourage readers to elaborate.
A6. On Instagram I ALWAYS say “Drop [insert emoji] if….” because I’ve found that the easier it is for them to engage the more likely they are to do it. And that still gets so many people talking beyond just sharing an emoji too. #ContentChat
— Jessica Thiefels | Mindset + Marketing (@JThiefels) September 21, 2020
And continue showing your reader how you can provide value to them.
A6
Keeps the customer hooked to my content.
Examples
✅ find out how “GIJoe🤣” can help your business
❌ see more#contentChat— Wilfrido Ortega (@worktega) September 21, 2020
A6. A good call to action is one that makes prospects take action;
👉Time specific offers creating urgency
👉Suggesting a clear solution for a problem
👉Free stuff that will bring value #ContentChat— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) September 21, 2020
Example of a poor call-to-action? “Share this” or “tag a friend” may boost your reach, but these contests may be against the terms of service for certain channels, and users engaging with those posts may not actually be your target audience.
Love this question. Biggest pet peeve – those who break TOS and do the “share this” or “tag a friend” to win on FB. Those people are NEVER eligible to win b/c of their privacy settings. It’s an unfair setup and I’ve been known to call out a company or 300. #ContentChat https://t.co/h67B8sqJhX
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
Or the ones that want you to “vote” by picking a specific reaction. Ugh. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) September 21, 2020
Q7: What additional tips do you have for driving engagement on social media? #ContentChat
Boost your engagement on social media by constantly providing value and focusing on benefits for your reader (instead of selling your product or services)…
A7 Remember to always be the solution. The reason you are engaging with them? To be helpful. To them. IE: don’t talk about yourself so much. Listen. Provide resources. #ContentChat
— Shane Shaps (@520eastbrands) September 21, 2020
Engage with your audience daily to get to know them and build 1:1 connections…
A7. Engage every single day! I sometimes just set a timer for 15 minutes and sit and make the time—that way it doesn’t eat up the time in my day and I can still genuinely interact! #ContentChat
— Jessica Thiefels | Mindset + Marketing (@JThiefels) September 21, 2020
A7. You can drive engagement by;
👉Being consistent
👉Being helpful
👉Listening more and responding to needs
👉Being relevant
👉Being interesting #ContentChat— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) September 21, 2020
And approach your audience in ways that they prefer. Track your performance and assess how changes to your messaging, channel, or timing could impact your success.
A7
⚡️ Check your content performance regularly
⚡️ Take risk
⚡️ Always try to connect with your cutomers
⚡️ Location it is not all, today timing matters#ContentChat— Wilfrido Ortega (@worktega) September 21, 2020
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