The Most Important Inbound Marketing Metrics to Measure

2017-04-17 10:00:00 | Melissa Hultstrand | inbound marketing

There are a million inbound marketing metrics that you could analyze (seriously, a million – I counted). This is not a surprise to anyone who’s ever set up a dashboard, looked at it, tried to decode it, then quietly closed the window and said to themselves “that’s good… I think…”

Becoming an inbound marketing master isn’t just about creating the coolest of cool content and achieving crazy amounts of exposure – it’s also about evaluating your efforts and making calculated decisions to set yourself up for success. So how do you wade through the overwhelming mass of inbound marketing metrics? Read on for a rad Radiant Marketing breakdown of what to look for in your results.

3 key inbound marketing metrics that let you know if you’re on top of the marketing world… or not.

Landing Page Conversion Rates

Let’s just jump right in, shall we? Landing page conversion rates are probably the most important inbound marketing metric that you should be keeping your eyes on. Your landing page conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who turn into contacts by filling out a form on a landing page. This inbound marketing metric tells you a couple of things – first, it lets you know how personalized and attractive your content offer is. Second, it tells you if your form is optimized for your particular audience.

If your landing page is receiving a lot of views, but no one is filling out the form and converting, then you may need to reevaluate who is being driven to the form. Are you promoting your content through the right channels, to the right audience? Is your form too long? Is the promoted content relevant to your audience?

If your landing page is converting like crazy, then you know you should duplicate this type of offer/content for future use. Narrow down what is making this landing page so successful and use that information to conquer the world. Or, at the very least, to drive your business towards more success.

Social Reach AND Engagement

Are you an inbound marketer who has mastered social media like a Kardashian? Do you struggle with it and consistently post photos that no one likes but your grandma? Whether you’re on your way to breaking the internet with your next selfie or unable to coax engagement out of the most loyal of friends, social media is one of the most important inbound marketing metrics to measure.

Social reach is the total size of the audience your content is reaching, such as your Twitter followers, Facebook fans, LinkedIn followers, etc. This is an important metric because it lets you know exactly how much exposure your content is receiving. If no one is seeing the glorious content you’ve created, you won’t be able to capture any leads.

Social engagement is when your audience is liking, sharing, and commenting on your content. If no one is engaging with your posts (except the aforementioned grandmother), then you may not be sharing with your ideal audience. Evaluating these social inbound marketing metrics will help you to understand how your content is being received on social media and if you are communicating with the audience who connects the most with your brand. Making small changes based on this data will help you to use social media more effectively and successfully.

Want more help in navigating your social media platforms? Download our Ultimate Facebook Guide to Success today!

Traffic Sources

One of the more seemingly intuitive inbound marketing metrics to measure are your traffic sources. Like in every alien invasion movie ever made, it’s important to ask “where did they come from? Why are they here?”

Many marketing measurement tools (like HubSpot) have a traffic sources report. This report can tell you who’s coming to your website and what channel they used to get there. For example, you could be receiving traffic from organic search, referrals, social media, email marketing, paid search, direct traffic, unique tracking URL’s, or offline sources. By determining which channel is bringing you the most traffic (and the most interactive traffic – like visitors who are filling out forms and becoming contacts), you can narrow down where you should be focusing your inbound marketing efforts. The evaluation of this metric is absolutely essential to your inbound success and helps you to avoid wasted time and money.

Analyzing these inbound marketing metrics on a regular basis will truly help to shape up your campaigns and provide you with valuable information that is key to your business’ existence. With this simple breakdown, we hope that we have helped you to decode your current marketing dashboard. Watch carefully, make small changes, and stick with it – we know you’re on your way to great marketing success.