How many hours a day do you spend on your phone and computer?
Be honest!
You don’t need to share your daily usage number, but what you can admit is that you see a lot of digital marketing campaigns trying to – and some succeeding in – getting your attention and, most importantly, leading you to act in some way. These marketing campaigns may be aimed at getting you to sign up for a newsletter, download a white paper, engage with and/or share social media content, subscribe to a video channel, purchase products and services for your organization, the list goes on.
According to research, over 90 percent of people who own smartphones decided to make a purchase after they saw a relevant ad. That goes to show there is proven and positively consequential value from investing in digital marketing. This holds true for B2B companies too. If your company puts in the effort to build a targeted and effective digital marketing plan, there are opportunities to see positive results in a variety of ways depending on your company’s specific goals and action plan. Every day we see great digital marketing content that is engaging, informative, creative and persuasive. It’s important to understand that half of the content produced by B2B marketers is aimed at driving brand awareness and interest in their company, according to the Content Marketing Institute.
Before jumping into measuring digital marketing success, it’s important to first identify a few pieces of information about your company that will impact your digital marketing planning and strategy.
- Type of company (size, location, products, services)
- Industry (B2B, non-profit, government)
- Competitors (who are you competing with?)
- Goals (gain new customers, increase website traffic, build social media presence and engagement, build brand awareness, earn more revenue, etc.)
- Channels (Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, website, email, blog posts, video platforms, etc.)
- Digital Marketing Platforms (Google Analytics, for example)
Below are five digital marketing KPIs (key performance indicators) that can be used to measure digital marketing success in 2022.
First Visit/First Touch Metric
How are web users finding your website? Understanding the “customer journey” to your website and content is critically important because it informs how and from where they found your website. This includes things like organic search and social media, as well as how long they are searching and staying on your website, according to Klipfolio. If you can analyze how and from where people are visiting your website, then you can use that data to inform the accompanying parts of your digital marketing strategy.
Unbranded Search Rankings
Most marketers are aware of the importance of search rankings these days. But, since not all rankings are equal, there still is not enough attention paid to what is ranking.
When it comes to which rankings are most important, unbranded search rankings sit at the top of the list. An unbranded search would be typing “digital marketing agency in Columbus” into the search engine, whereas a branded search would be typing “GREENCREST” into the search engine. Non-branded search rankings represent an opportunity to reach new prospective customers, while ranking for branded search terms only captures an audience that is already familiar with your brand and has likely already decided which action they want to take. Branded search rankings in SEO are probably a better tool for measuring brand strength and awareness, whereas non-branded search rankings represent marginal room for growth.
Social Media Engagement
Engaging with users on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn is multi-dimensional and can pay valuable dividends down the road depending on your industry and digital marketing goals. Creating compelling content that produces likes, comments and shares provides insight into your audience through social media engagement. Analyzing click-through rates, for example, can be an indicator of success depending on your social media engagement goals.
Here are a couple of valuable statistics to consider regarding social media engagement.
- In 2021, approximately 233 million Americans used social media.
- Facebook – According to Statista, there are 2.6 billion Facebook users who are active on the platform on a monthly basis. Engaging with customers on Facebook is essential for any modern social media engagement strategy.
- Instagram – More than two-thirds of Instagram’s audience is younger than 35-years-old, according to Statista, and the platform offers the second highest marketing return on investment, according to HubSpot.
- LinkedIn – According to Sagefrog, LinkedIn is the leading B2B marketing social media platform and amounts to 80 percent of B2B marketers’ lead generation.
Conversion Rates
Once visitors are spending time on your website, the next step is persuasion. Conversion rates measure the total number of people who visit your website and those visitors who took a specific action. This is a valuable metric for B2B companies because converting visitors into customers is one of the primary goals for digital marketing, so concerning yourself with this KPI throughout your digital marketing process is very helpful in evaluating whether your strategy is successful and on the right track.
One of the most crucial things to consider when it comes to a conversion rate is your page-load time. Research has shown that the highest impact on conversion rates involves the first five seconds it takes for a webpage to load.
Return on Investment (ROI)
For measuring digital marketing success, return on investment (ROI) is a critically important KPI that determines if the financial expense of your digital marketing efforts is producing worthwhile results. If your company has a high ROI for your digital marketing campaign, then your dollars spent have been put to great use as evidenced by reaching the goals you set at the beginning of your digital marketing venture.
When it comes to measuring digital marketing success, a good rule of thumb is to constantly build on what’s working by analyzing and adapting (if needed) to earn better and better results. One initiative may work for the first few months of integration, like increasing web traffic to your website, but then you may notice the web traffic numbers plateau or even begin to drop. In this scenario, you would need to review and analyze applicable metrics to figure out the problem and then revise your strategy with clearly identified, measurable solutions over a specific timeframe. You will need to follow up after that period to analyze and assess appropriate data and then determine next steps.
On this note, it’s important to remember that the more data you collect, the better shape your company will be in, helping you paint a clear picture of your digital marketing’s ongoing results as it pertains to your original objective and subsequent goals. B2B companies use a variety of metrics to measure digital marketing success, which varies depending on the company and industry profile, competitors, goals and objectives listed above. Crafting a digital marketing plan that identifies and then caters to specific goals and objectives will help make your company successful moving forward.