The number 1 content metric you should be tracking to measure success

It’s easy to get lost in what’s important with so many stats available. So what is the number 1 content metric you should be tracking to get success? Is it reaching the right audience, should I have more words, should I have less, and is this going to get me the likes and comments I so desire?

These metrics, numbers, and stats, are all great – but they aren’t going to help you in the short term. Actually, they aren’t going to help you in the medium-term either. I work as a Data Analyst and “looking” at numbers is how I make a living. So I know a thing or two about numbers.

What’s the difference?

People really don’t like to be told that measuring social media likes and views are simply just vanity. When I ask them what the engagement, likes, or reach of their last post was, sometimes they can tell me, but when I ask them what was the impact of that post and its engagement to their goals, they can’t answer me.

They do try and answer with statements like, “It’s given my brand so much recognition” or “It’s resonating with my audience so that builds trust”. While the last statement has more weight to it, this reasoning doesn’t actually answer the question.

What’s the difference to your goals if your post gets 1 or 1000 likes?

If your goal is to get more clients and your post that got 1000 likes doesn’t do that, then it doesn’t help. In fact, I’d put forward the position that it probably does more damage. Here’s why. When you are getting started on taking your content seriously, and you get a post that goes somewhat viral, whatever viral is for you, then you may find yourself trying to “post more stuff like that”, which is the common advice given, but if you do that you will start chasing the likes, not your vision.

It’s easy to find yourself chasing after the likes, you don’t like being liked? However, if this doesn’t take you to your goal then you are going to end up far away from where you want to be and most likely suffer some content creator burnout.

Post for the 1, not 1000

When I work with others that want to get better at creating content for their audiences and most of the time that means that they want to get more clients, I advise that they think about the 1 person that this content is going to help. That way, if the 1 person liking the content is that person you had in mind, then it’s more powerful than the 999 other people that could like it.

Posting for just that 1 person also allows you to get more clarity on who your ideal customer is. If you haven’t heard of this concept before, then think of the ideal customer as someone that you think will really like what you have on offer and want to pay you for it. This can change over time but in the beginning, you want to think of your content as your voice to that 1 person. That 1 customer

Thinking about this 1 person will allow you to create a universe of content. It will start to bring all of the ideas that you have into perspective and it will most certainly block out a lot of the social media noise that we all fall for.

So what’s the most important metric?

The only metric that matters is for your to keep consistent at creating content and posting it. It’s the same with anything in life. The more you practice the luckier you’ll get. It’s like going to the gym. You can get fitter or stronger if you not working out, but you can’t work out unless you are at the gym.

Creating content is getting to the gym. It’s not the workout. Even though it can sometimes it can feel like heavy lifting. When you start to create your content it’s the habit that you want to track. Am I posting regularly?

It can often be very difficult to remain consistent with your content. It may be fine for the first few weeks, but then you get busy and you forget to post, or you wake up one morning and you have no more ideas, you’ve hit the content brick wall. It’s with this in mind, something that I went through as well when I first started to create content, that staying consistent is the hardest metric to honour.

So how do you stay consistent?

For the last 2 years, I’ve been using a simple method to help me come up with new ideas and stay consistent. I call it the 15-minute content planner and it’s done wonders for my consistency. What’s more, is that those engagement metrics are actually all trending up and have been ever since I doubled down using this content planner.

So, If you wondering how to get started with creating your own content but just don’t know where or how to start? Then download my FREE 15-minute content planner where I show you how you can create 8 weeks of content in just 15 minutes.

If you want to give this a try then enter your details to download the planner. Oh, I also send you weekly tips and content ideas for the upcoming week, to help you on your content-creating journey