The Importance of Data Tracking

One of the most important aspects of an effective marketing strategy is data analysis. Tracking the results of your marketing efforts allows you to refine your marketing strategy by seeing what’s working and what isn’t. Google Analytics allows you to view a number of metrics in one convenient tool. If you are putting money into your PPC, social media, or SEO marketing efforts, this tool allows you to clearly track your ROI.

Top Google Analytics Data to Track

1.      Traffic Sources

Found Under: Acquisition > Overview

Traffic sources refers to the sources that drive traffic to your website. Your top five sources will usually be organic search, direct, social, and referral. Keeping track of these sources will give you a clear idea of where your marketing efforts are paying off. For instance, a high organic search percentage means that a large percentage of your traffic is due to an effective SEO strategy.

2.      Bounce Rate

Found Under: Acquisition > Channels

If a site visitor leaves your website after only viewing one page, that visitor’s session is considered a “bounce.” A high bounce rate often indicates that visitors left quickly, often because they simply couldn’t find what they were looking for. High bounce rates are usually an indicator of poor SEO strategy, or possible issues with the site itself.

If you experience a sudden spike in bounce rate, test your pages to see if you encounter any problems with load times, or other potential issues that could drive visitors away.

Ecommerce sites should also pay attention to cart abandonment rate, which refers to the percentage of customers who abandon their shopping carts before completing checkout.

3.      Conversion Rate

Found Under: Conversions

A ‘conversion’ can refer to almost anything, depending on your business. A conversion is a final action performed by a lead. That action could be making a purchase, signing up for an email list, donating to a charity, or downloading a whitepaper. To determine your brand’s ‘conversion,’ think about the ultimate goal you have set for your site visitors.

Tracking your conversion rates allows you to determine which ‘paths’ on your website are most effective. If more people are converting from a social media post than an email blast, it’s time to either rework your email strategy, or place more effort into your social media activities.

4.      User demographics

Found Under: Audience > Demographics

This data allows you to see who your site visitors are based on certain criteria such as location, age, gender, and even interests. Tracking this data allows you to gain a better understanding of who your customers are, which is vital to an effective marketing strategy, as well as improving and expanding your products and services.

5.      Average Session Duration

Found Under: Audience > Overview

Session duration refers to the amount of time people spend on your website before leaving. In general, the longer a person spends on your website, the more likely they are to convert and take that final desired action, whether that’s making a purchase or offering their contact information. Tracking the duration spent on specific pages can help you determine which pages are the most effective, and which might need to be reworked.

6.      Landing pages

Found Under: Behavior > Site Content

A landing page is the first page a visitor “lands” on when they are introduced to your website. That might be a blog post, a product page, or even an SEO-focused landing page designed specifically to drive visitors to a specific action, such as a free download. Tracking the frequency of these pages has a few advantages.

• Assign specific URLs to different paid advertisements, social media posts, etc. to see which has the highest click-through rate (CTR).
• Track which keywords are most effective in driving organic traffic to your website.
• Determine the landing pages/paths that convert the most visitors.

7.      Pages per Session

Found Under: Audience > Overview

This metric refers to the average number of pages a person views before leaving your website. Much like Session Duration, Pages Per Session allows you to determine whether your SEO is effective in driving the right people to your website. A higher pages/sessions rate can mean that visitors are engaged with your content, and therefore are more likely to convert.

8.      New vs. Returning Visitors

Found Under: Audience > Overview

If a visitor is returning to your website, that’s usually good news! That means your audience is engaged and will be more likely to convert. Even if someone did not make a conversion when they were a new visitor, your brand has made enough of an impression to encourage them to return.

Consider why your return visitors left in the first place, and why they might have come back. Some brands have offered exclusive coupons for return visitors, or send surveys to gather additional data that will allow them to nurture return visitors and convert them into more valuable leads in the future.

9.      Cost Per Conversion

Found Under: Conversions > Ecommerce

If your marketing strategy includes paid advertisements such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc., it’s crucial to track the cost per conversion for every paid ad. If you paid $10 for someone to make a $5 purchase, your cost per conversion is way too high, and your marketing efforts need to be reworked in order to be profitable.

10. Exit Pages

Found Under: Behavior > Site Content

Which web pages are serving as your website’s exit doors? Exit pages allows you to see where your traffic drops off. If that exit page is a checkout page or subscription confirmation, great! That means your visitor successfully converted before moving on to something else. If your landing pages are also your most popular exit pages, it’s time to reexamine those pages.

Google Analytics offers far more tracking metrics than those described here, but these top ten basics are key to almost any business. Taking the time to truly understand each metric and how it impacts your brand is essential to developing and improving your marketing strategy.

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The Continued Rise of Influencers

Influencer marketing has been a growing trend over the previous years, starting with celebrity endorsements and evolving into social media personalities and bloggers who have done what many companies struggle to achieve with their marketing campaigns: engage with and develop a level of trust and influence with their audiences.

For 2018, the focus will shift toward turning loyal customers into millions of independent influencers who will advocate your brand for you. The how-to this strategy will be key, but all solutions will be rooted in the same themes: recognizing and acknowledging your customers’ needs, and connecting with them to provide solutions.

More Personalized, Customer-Centric Content

With so much content available to the average user on a daily basis, it’s more important than ever for marketers to reach their audience on a more personalized level in order to develop a connection with potential customers. Dynamic, interactive websites, original content, and more highly-targeted ad campaigns on websites and social media are becoming more and more standard in content marketing.

Also Read: SEO is What WE Think That GOOGLE Thinks That the End Customer Wants

Greater Transparency in Marketing

With popular tactics such as native advertising and brand-sponsored influencer content, consumers are becoming increasingly wary of branded content. Rather than working to disguise this branded content, companies are seeing greater success in remaining transparent and open when it comes to their marketing strategies.

Companies who disclose their strategies but also work to ensure their audience that their message is sincere are more likely to win over their audiences and build more lasting trust. If you’re working with influencers, encourage them to be transparent about any sponsored content they provide.

“Smart” Content for AI-Generated Experiences

Interaction with Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a daily reality for many consumers, with virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa, and interactive voice-activated smartphones and other “smart” devices becoming the norm. Marketers are scrambling to find new, innovative ways to apply “smart” technology to their marketing campaigns to create personalized, interactive experiences for consumers.

Companies such as Google have already experimented with this tactic using location-based interactions and recommendations.

Content Strategy is Essential

Very few companies actually have a documented content marketing strategy, despite multiple research studies showing that companies who develop and regularly review their content marketing strategies are likelier to achieve success.

Related: Before You Do Any Influencer Marketing, Check These Templates

Most companies still choose to focus on talking about their products, rather than turning to targeting content marketing and leading nurturing programs that drive greater value to products and services than direct marketing alone.

The continued rise of new, more sophisticated digital technologies will dominate the growing content marketing trends as we move into 2018. Keeping an eye on these emerging trends, looking ahead to new and anticipated technologies, and developing and regularly revising your content marketing strategy are all necessary to achieve success and give you an edge against your competitors.

The post The Top 5 Content Marketing Trends Expected for 2018 appeared first on Relevance.

However, in recent times, one marketing strategy has remained on the right side of the trending chart for a pretty long time. It is a strategy that can hardly be ignored by any business in today’s times. And that is content marketing!

The primary goal of content marketing is to apprise clients and prospects and keep them engaged. It is a way of displaying your expertise and knowledge of the business and the industry to the people who matter to your business. It is an effective way of persuading the prospects to test and buy your products and services.

The ability to reuse content, and recycle it for your alternative marketing efforts, make content marketing a truly powerful marketing asset for any organization. For instance, your blog post or any other piece of content created for the brand or organization and posted on your website can be shared on social media channels to engage with a new set of potential customers.

You can also recycle old content in push notifications, emails, to create a whitepaper, or in presentations. Multiple marketing efforts can be initiated with a single piece of content. That’s how powerful content marketing is!

These three case studies show how three different companies utilized different content marketing strategies to achieve success and growth in under a year.

Case Study #1: How HotPads increased their blog traffic by 4,000% using original content

The Challenge: With fewer than 400 views on their blog per month, HotPads needed to curate traffic that would convert visitors into an engaged, returning audience. HotPads decided to turn to original content and forego the use of any paid content or promotions in order to achieve their goals for growth.

The Strategy: HotPads turned to content creators to create and publish original story-based content to their website. They focused on hiring quality, vetted journalists and content writers to produce the content.

The Results:

• >4,000% traffic increase in 7 months
• 270 original articles produced in under a year

Takeaway:

Never underestimate the power of original content. HotPads used storytelling to get their message to the right people and created an engaged audience that helped them grow into the popular rental site we know today.

This content marketing case study shows why companies must shift their focus from paid content and go for original content if they want to get a surge in traffic on their website. Paid content and promotion can be a strategy but the dominating factor in any marketing campaign must be original content.

Case Study #2: “Perceptions of Perfection” goes viral

The Challenge:

Superdrug.com wanted to build a campaign that would bring more attention to the lasting problems surrounding body image issues, especially in women. The goal was to offer and raise awareness of resources available to anyone struggling with these problems. This was a sensitive topic that needed to be handled well in order to be effective.

The Strategy:

Graphic designers from 18 countries around the world were hired, all with the same simple task: photoshop the same image of a model and make her attractive in a way that fits their country’s beauty standards. The results were shared as part of the campaign to show the vast differences in beauty standards across the world.

The Results:

• Almost 600 pickup placements, including on major sites such as Buzzfeed and The Huffington Post, as well as international coverage by multiple news outlets
• Nearly 1,000,000 social shares
• Multiple celebrity endorsements

Takeaway:

Appealing to emotion in a way that is relatable to your audience is an effective way to connect and encourage engagement. Emotions are also a key factor in viral content.

This is one of the best content marketing case studies as it involves a topic that’s difficult to deal with. Handling human emotions can be extremely tough. The strategy employed in this campaign was simple but well-planned and innovative. A large percentage of women from across the world are dealing with body image problems. You have to be truly in their shoes to view the problem from their perspective and understand their feelings and emotions. The strategy was brilliant in many ways.

Case Study #3: Dell’s Lead Nurturing campaign achieved $40 million in incremental revenue

The Challenge:

Dell’s marketing strategy didn’t account for following up on leads from partner campaigns, leading to ROI losses and a disconnect between Dell’s marketing efforts and their sales channels.

The Strategy:

Dell began a lead nurturing solution that utilized thousands of pieces of unique content that would personalize the experience for every lead, guiding them through interactive content including emails, landing pages, and more that would enable viewers to explore and educate themselves about Dell’s products before ultimately making the decision to buy.

The Results:

• Dell saw an average 35% sale value increase in nurtured leads vs. unnurtured
• 300% engagement rate improvement
• $40 million in incremental revenue from marketing partners

Takeaway:

Always follow up on leads and never leave your customers with a dead end when they are viewing your content. Dell’s efforts in creating thousands of pieces of interwoven content allowed for a highly personalized campaign that appealed to a wide audience.

Different companies have different goals to achieve their idea of success, but the many sides of content marketing offer something for everyone when it comes to reaching those goals, whether it’s company growth, greater ROI, or greater brand recognition. Content marketing strategies are the most effective when marketers take the time and research to understand their target audience. The key takeaway from any content marketing case study is to craft a strategy that revolves around your company’s goals and the story you want to tell.

The above content marketing case studies show why success in digital marketing is directly proportional to the ability to create engaging content. To achieve this you must have a deep understanding of the buyer’s journey and know how to influence the next moves.

All Types of Digital Marketing Rolled Into One

Digital marketing are of different types and the decision to use the one that fits well within your current business demands and future goals is entirely your call.

Businesses looking to increase search traffic can rely upon SEO and PPC to increase their ranking on top search engines. Brand awareness and reach can be extended by leveraging the social media connects you have and making use of the platform that best suits your business model. You can drive sales and gain profits by using the influencer marketing approach which can take your customer engagement level to a new high.

All these diverse digital marketing strategies are ideal for achieving various marketing goals. However, content marketing is better of them all as it can help you pull all these methodologies on one platform and make them work in synergy.

What Makes Content Marketing So Versatile

Content marketing is, without doubt, the most versatile of all the digital marketing strategies. The results can be enjoyed for a longer term as the benefits can compound over a period of time. Any business can adapt content marketing strategy as content can be created and published easily as compared to other marketing procedures. It can also be reposted in a completely different medium to give your free marketing edge by using the same old content in a different manner.

Content marketing is also one of the best tools for lead generation. It will cost you significantly less than traditional marketing and can generate thrice as much leads.

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