The 4 types of content metrics that matter

Content cannot be measured with a single metric, because no one data point can successfully or satisfactorily tell you whether your program is working. Instead, you need to create an array of metrics that are selected from four primary buckets:

1. Consumption metrics

This is the most fundamental type of content metric and is, unfortunately, the place where many programs both start and end. It’s a critical data point and is generally easy to derive through Google Analytics, YouTube insights, or similar. The key is to not stop your metrics train at this depot.

Key question answered: How many people consumed your content—measured as page views, downloads, or views?

2. Sharing metrics

This is the metric type that probably gets too much love, because it’s often public, which drives up the sexiness factor, like cologne with bits of real panther. Here we’re measuring how successful your content is in getting consumers to share it with others, as determined by tweets, Facebook “likes,” Linkedin shares, Google+ shares, Diggs, and the like.