Using vanity metrics to measure the performance of content campaigns on social media is perhaps one of the simplest things to do in marketing, but also one of the most difficult.

It’s simple because vanity metrics are easy to obtain in large numbers – all platforms supply them; it’s difficult because they are often ambiguous when it comes to reporting a return on investment (ROI) or value to a business. It’s this second point that is the thorn in the side of many marketers struggling to discover the true value of a vanity metric to a business.

In this article, “vanity metrics” include impressions, “likes,” shares, comments, followers, open rates, views, traffic, time on site, bounce rate, and many more. Often called “engagement metrics” or “consumption metrics,” they simply are the most-used metrics in social media, content marketing, digital advertising, PR, and inbound campaigns to measure the performance and success of our marketing efforts.
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At the initial meeting with a new client, I ask a simple question: What is the goal for your content marketing efforts?

By far the most consistent answer I receive is “to generate leads and sales of our existing products.”

While this is an important goal to have in any content marketing strategy, we often focus too much on direct sales-related transactions to prove our content marketing return on investment.Continue Reading

Tell me if this scenario is familiar:

You decided to create a piece of content for the brand. You used semantic research to find the topic and created content that is fun, valuable, and informative. Finally, you attached goals to this content in terms of performance, such as:Continue Reading