Improving Your Content Marketing with a Content Matrix
A large part of your Content Marketing Strategy should be measuring your results and improving!
It's all very well being told from every direction 'look at your Google Analytics', 'use analytics on Twitter', 'measure your results!', but what on Earth do you do with all that information?
It's really just a load of numbers, which sure, are interesting to watch go up and down as each month goes by, but aren't particularly useful on their own.
Enter, the Content Matrix (because who doesn't love a good matrix?).
The content marketing matrix
This handy little tool is a great way to help you find out which are your STAR pieces of content; meaning, which bits of content are aligned with your brand and business objectives, and are successful with your audience.
High performing + highly aligned
These are your STAR pieces of content (literally, they're your star performers...I wasn't making up another acronym).
Not only are the bang-on-brand (they're consistent with your business' personality in terms of design, subject matter and voice), they're actually pretty successful with your target audience. They're getting likes, comments and shares!
What to do with content that goes in this category:
Make note of what you think is making it successful - did you ask a poignant question? Was it controversial? Then, recreate it! Keep publishing things like these because they're winning in content-land...
low performing + highly aligned
These pieces of content have probably taken you a long time and a lot of effort to put together, so it can be disappointing when they don't 'perform'.
But, because they're what your business needs in terms or objectives and branding, don't give up yet. They have potential!
What to do with content that goes in this category:
Take a look at your High Performing content and see if you can make out a pattern of why they're so successful. Add those elements into these pieces of content, and test them out on your audience. Still not working? Tweak and test again!
High Performing + poorly aligned
These are the real question marks of your content strategy. You're probably not totally sure of the reason why you posted in the first place (chances are it didn't really have much thought behind it, but it sure looked cool!).
What to do with content that goes in this category:
Don't scrap it just because it's not actually doing anything for your business. Use it's success to improve it - release a new and improved version (this time focused on your objectives and brand).
low performing + poorly aligned
Want the honest answer? Give up on these.
They're not doing anything for your business, both in terms of brand/objective aligned or engagement, so they aren't worth the effort.
What to do with content that goes in this category:
Okay, don't just scrap 'em. At least take a look at the reasons you created these pieces of content in the first place, and consider if those reasons are important. If not, make a conscious decision to make less of these.
so, Where do I find the information for this matrix?
Google Analytics
If you have Google Analytics set up on your site, you can go to the sidebar, press Behaviour > Site Content > All Content, and you'll see a table of your best (and worst) performing blog posts and web pages.
Twitter Analytics
Head to Twitter's native analytics tool to find out which of your tweets have performed well or badly throughout the month. If you go to 'Tweets' in the top bar, you can see results in terms of likes, retweets and comments.
Facebook Analytics
Have fun getting to grips with the new Facebook Business Manager. It's a headache and a half. BUT if you click 'Use Page' under the page you want to see the analytics for, and then go to 'Insights', you should see your analytics as you always did. Go to 'Posts' to see how each post is performing.
Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest Analytics is lovely and simple; in order to see how well your pins are doing, simply scroll down to see your best performers in the past 30 days.
