Measuring Content PerformanceMaking the tool work for you

About me

Psychology Grad

Insights for 6 years

Started in market research

Lead Analyst, Hearst UK

@dannyluc88

Analytics @ HearstUK

Google Analytics Premium

Tableau

BigQuery

Excel

10 mins… Page views are greatCan measure performance of individual articlesCan measure performance of channels

Are we capturing what we need?

What behaviours are you writing for?

From brand blogs to publishers, content is everywhere

“Five behaviours that define the news business” Thomas Baekdal

1. The Break2. The Update3. The Lookup4. The Story and

passion5. The Recline

Talk to your editorsWho are they writing for?

How do they contextualise their content?

Get access to their CMS and understand the different ways they tag their content

Traffic sources say a lot about user expectations… users on Facebook expect different content than those using Search

Get campaign tracking right (yes this is still important!)

You can tidy this up in excel/BI tool but why make people rely on you?

Traffic report still messy? Use filters

Now, what works on each platform? Queries from editors:

• What types of articles should include in my newsletter?• Is it true Facebook users only engage with short form articles?• I only want to see the content I’ve published this week

Page information missing:• Length• Category• Sub category• Article, video or gallery• Contains image• Recency• …and more

You can’t get this insight in your analytics tool “out of the box”

3 ways to get more from your data

Customise your analytics toolCustom dimensions/variables are waiting for your data

Capture interesting page information/CMS tags in your custom dimensions

Bribe a developer or use a TMS

Build the reports you actually need

Access your CMSYour CMS database is full of interesting page information

• When was it published• Did it contain a video or image or 2• Who was the Author• Raw html tags

How? Analytics export (page and data) + CMS export (page and page info)= match on page

Good old ExcelYour URL has contextual info:

Turnhttp://www.esquire.co.uk/style/news/g9606/8-style-rules-all-british-men-should-know/

Into

Site Category

Content type

Article Type

ID Content title

Content Style

Esquire style news Image/gallery

g9606 8 style rules all British men should know

list

Engagement

Create your own definitionJust because it’s hard to define, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it

Event tracking:You can track interactions - scrolls, time beacons, video views, slide views, clicks on social shares and newsletter sign ups etc.

I find them tricky to report in GA and have to use excel (even trickier in tableau…)

Track events with custom metrics to add context to your dimensions

How has it worked at Hearst?

Process:Started with page views – editors wanted to know moreWorked with one brand first and rolled out to others

Now:Editors are in charge of tagging – section editors have their own targets and reportsEditors want to customise their tracking with their definitionsEngagement as a KPI is being discussed at a senior level

Thank you!