The Misconception of Measuring the ROI of Individual Content Pieces

There’s this common misconception among executives and leadership that the return on investment (ROI) of an individual piece of content can be accurately measured. However, this approach is not only a waste of time, it's simply not possible to accurately measure the ROI of a single piece of content. So, what should B2B marketers do instead?

The Accumulation of Consistent, High Quality Activities

The impact of content is based on the accumulation of consistent, high quality activities executed over a sustained period of time. Just like attributing the results of bicep curls to the accumulation of sets performed, the ROI of content should be attributed to the channel or activity rather than each individual piece.

For creating demand channels, self-reported attribution is appropriate. For capturing demand channels, software-based attribution is recommended. 

Measuring the Quality of the Activity

When optimizing your content strategy, it's important to focus on measuring the quality of the activity rather than the ROI. For example, in the gym, you measure the type of bicep curl, weight used, and number of reps performed to assess the quality of the activity. Similarly, for content, you can measure qualitative signals such as comments and engagement from target customers, as well as quantitative signals such as views and likes. These signals provide valuable insights into what topics resonate with your audience, the best time to post, frequency of posting, and the effectiveness of different formats such as video or text.

Moving Beyond the Misconception

The notion of measuring the ROI of individual pieces of content is a holdover from the days of blogs and gated e-books in the early 2010s, nearly a decade ago. It's time to move beyond this outdated thinking and focus on the bigger picture. The results of a successful content strategy are built through the accumulation of numerous pieces of content and touchpoints over time, not through the ROI of a single piece of content.

Conclusion

We should all probably stop wasting time trying to measure the ROI of individual pieces of content. Instead, focus on measuring the ROI of each channel overall, and use qualitative and quantitative signals to optimize your content strategy. Remember, the impact of content is based on the accumulation of consistent, high quality activities executed over a sustained period of time.