Three ways to measure digital content
We know that measuring content is essential. As a hiring manager, I look for an understanding of measurement as a differentiator between a content producer and a content strategist.
But measuring content is hard, expensive and nuanced.
I think it helps to think about measurement in three different ways.
Quality
Effectiveness
Value
Quality
This is something that you should be nailing as a content producer. When you employ expert communicators you know quality is guaranteed.
They use the following to ensure quality:
Style guides
Accessibility guides
Content checklists
Online content conventions
Strict editorial review processes
To be honest, I would say that in a functioning team, quality should not really need to be measured, it should be assumed.
Big call - I know!
Effectiveness
This is where we figure out whether the content we have created does what we need it to. To do this, you first need to have clarity about your content goals and how they ladder to your organisational goals. You can’t measure whether your content is effective if you don't have clarity about its purpose.
Effectiveness testing methods include:
UX user testing
Comprehension testing
Journey tracking
AB experiments
Events tracking
Other analytics
Value
So now it is time to figure out if all that work was worth it. Content is expensive. People, platforms, systems, strategy and risk mitigation all have a cost.
This is often a very nuanced task when considering relationship building and brand awareness as well as more literal tasks like signup or purchase.
Again, to measure value, we need to know what organisational goals your content is designed to address and find ways to baseline and measure org goals, including:
Customer service ratings
Purchase preparation
Purchase completion
Call centre deflection
User education
Complaint reduction
Task completion
Does this categorisation resonate with you? Would you add anything to it?
I was lucky enough to be invited to Weave’s We are content strategy and design meetup on this subject recently. The video of that talk is on their YouTube channel.
