How do successful Creators measure the performance of their Content?
A question was bothering me.
How should online Creators measure the performance of their Content?
Should they be concerned about the number of Tik-Tok followers?
Should they be looking at their Google Analytics every day, desperately trying new strategies of reducing the bounce rate on the websites?
Or maybe the answer is Reels. More Instagram reels.
The answer had to be found.
Wow, a quest.
I reached out to a few creators that I admire. Creators that are making a dent. These Creators are my friends. Although, some may argue that this friendship is one-sided. Shhh!
I asked them 2 simple questions –
How do you measure the impact of your content? What kind of numbers do you pay attention to?
Their answers were insightful.
Let’s start with Philip Morgan. Philip has been a mentor and a friend.
Philip has built a successful online business that helps Consultants specialize and build expertise.
Here’s what Philip said.
My measurement is a combination of qualitative “feel” and quantitative stuff: replies to emails, organic shares of stuff, people echoing my language back to me, and of course sales/web traffic/list signups.
Hmmm… interesting.
Ok, thank you, Philip. Moving on.
Rochelle Moulton is awesome. She helps Consultants become authorities. She is also the co-host of the podcast “Business of Authority”.
Here’s what she told me –
“I measure my email content by looking at my email open stats relative to each other to see which things are opened more often/by more people.
We measure our podcast by looking at the download stats from our server, although I also (intuitively, not quantitatively) see which ones get the most responses, either via email or on social.
I do have to think of my ‘influence factor’. What am I hearing from people who have been affected by my work? How have their lives changed?
So overall, guess I’m more qualitative than quantitative!”
Thank you, Rochelle. Moving on to the next one.
If you are a Marketer, it’s hard to ignore Louis Grenier. Louis rose to fame with his legendary podcast on Marketing named — Everyone Hates Marketers. He now helps people radically stand out with his program — “Stand the F Out”.
Here’s what Louis said –
I measure success by the number of new email subscribers basically. I sent a survey recently asking how they first found out about me, and LinkedIn + Podcast came out on top!
Now, because I have followed Louis for a while, I know that there is more to this answer. While he was building his podcast, Louis was continuously seeking feedback from the audience. He cared about the problems they had, the questions they asked, and what resonated with them.
Jonathan Stark teaches independent professionals how to make more money without working more hours.
Here’s what he told me –
I don’t track the “success of my content” in any meaningful way.
The only three numbers I look at are very high-level YoY type stuff:
– Subscriber count (higher is better)
– Annual profit (higher is better)
– Hours spent working (lower is better)
Can you spot a theme here?
Moving on to Jay Acunzo, who helps B2B marketers & creators to resonate deeper with their audience.
I don’t really look at much data beyond revenue, podcast download total monthly growth, and qualitative feedback from my audience. The latter is my most important leading indicator.
Qualitative feedback… again!
Finally, let’s hear from Margo Aaron, the genius writer…
Sales content gets assessed on sales.
Articles are assessed on whether or not I am proud of them.
I try not to “engineer” content for “growth” and “virality” — don’t believe in it.
I definitely pay attention to numbers.
But I try not to let it direct my strategy. It informs it, doesn’t direct it.
Summary:
These wildly successful Creators do pay attention to a few important quantitive metrics like Subscribers and Traffic. But they choose to ignore funnels, the bounce rate, and the views on their Instagram reels.
What do they care about?
Qualitative feedback.
They have fallen in love with their audience and they have fallen in love with the problems of the audience. They keep a close eye on how their Content is making the audience feel.
They care about what resonates.
P.S. I publish an article every week. It's pretty insightful. ;)