If they are not going to get replaced by AI any time soon, copywriters, business owners who create their own content, content creators, and strategists alike still need to acknowledge the fact the world of content creation is changing. Tomorrow’s content creator is no longer the wordsmith who can dazzle everyone with their turn of phrase. To survive in this cutthroat market and make a difference online, they need to learn new skills, interpret data, and look at how users interact with their work. The future is here, and this is a good thing.
A copywriter might have written for several popular brands. They might have the power to weave the words into a gorgeous-looking piece of copy. But if their work fails to drive home valuable conversions or boost their clients’ engagement, it’s time they get to the bottom of what might be missing.
The answer, more often than not, would be a lack of data. Today, copywriting is more measurable than ever. Assessing the metrics before crafting a piece can make all the difference between content that wins and content that gets lost in the crowd.
Let’s quickly look at four reasons that make data-driven content (and writers who focus on valuable metrics) the first choice of businesses.
Writers Who Show Metrics > Writers Who Don’t
As discussed, great content is not what “looks good.” It is something that also brings real results. Sadly, most copywriters fail to display powerful metrics alongside their writing samples when sending their job applications or finding new clients.
Today, aside from showcasing a series of blog posts, email campaigns, or web pages, it has become critical to go the extra mile to include “numbers that speak.” A few of these include:
· Engagements and/or conversions from the content that is published.
· The number of views since a piece has been published. Alternatively, writers can even communicate a consistent demand for their work by including the average views per month.
· The search rankings a piece of content boasts.
· The number of shares a copy brings on social media platforms.
· The number of comments a blog post attracts.
· Other information that is relevant to a client.
High-Performing Copy = More Bonuses (and Clients for Freelancers)
In the world of Journalism, writers of articles that bring more traffic are offered additional bonuses. While this trend might not have fully reached corporate copywriting yet, it is well on its way to. Similarly, clients prefer freelancers who understand the art of data over those who don’t. After all, businesses that put the spotlight on web analytics take the fast track to success than those that simply linger around the basics of data.
Accountability Is Essential for Everything
Companies, today, seem to be under increasing pressure to track every element of their business – this includes how their copy is currently performing.
Whether a writer wants to grab a favorite position in a company or have an increasing number of clients under their belt – numbers are the best way to gauge and showcase their success.
Even if you think your numbers aren’t all that impressive currently, it’s important you start somewhere. Tracking your performance will help you determine where you stand at the moment and how you can eventually boost your performance.
The goal, at the end of the day, is to be accountable to both your company (or clients) and yourself. When you learn the “art of metrics”, you begin to hunt the nuances you wouldn’t have noticed before. This, in turn, will help you discern how you can improve your writing in the future. For instance, the data attached to a blog post might not reflect many page views. But it might show how the piece drives home several quality conversions.
“Beautiful” Writing Simply Won’t Be Enough…
Today, the highest-paid writers are more than wordsmiths that churn out magical content. They are also analysts. The newest trend in the world of content is all about creating pieces based on valuable data including the current market demand and past successes. Sure, the algorithm is not 100% predictable. But running thorough research helps you create content based on solid information.
The best copywriters today don’t just create content meant to “get the job done.” They analyze their client's current situation, make educated decisions, and come up with strategies that bring that win quality leads.
Data Tools for Content Creation to Arm Yourself With
From the style and tone of your content to the final call-to-action and everything in between, every area within a piece of copy is meant to be “measured.” There is an abundance of tools that help you determine how well your content would perform after you publish it. But what tools can you rely on to prepare your copy for the win before shooting it into cyberspace?
Here are a few helpful tools to help you gauge elements like performance predictions, target demographics, the engagement potential your work would have, SEO analysis, and more.
Google Trends
Before crafting any piece of content, it’s important to first extract relevant background information about the subject you’re covering. Google Trends can be a great “insights repository” that can help you uncover several things. Here, you can discover search interests based on two factors: time period and region.
If, for instance, you’re covering the topic of cryptocurrency, you can discover the exact areas in which the search interest of this topic over the past 6 months was concentrated. You can gauge how fast or slow the search interest would grow over a period of time.
Valuable metrics from Google Trends help both marketers and copywriters determine the location demographics to focus on. In addition, diving into related queries and topics helps narrow down the keywords to be included in a piece of content.
SEMrush
Keyword analysis is a critical part of content creation and SEMrush is the perfect tool to run comprehensive keyword research before creating any piece of content. When you enter a keyword into the tool, you receive a slew of key metrics including search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC (or cost-per-click), and keyword variations.
Ranktracker
When it comes to creating content that drives traffic, engagement, and conversions, it can be helpful to peep into what your competitors are doing as well. This is exactly what Ranktracker can assist you with. Through this tool, you can deep dive into how your competitors have used keywords that you’ve shortlisted to create high-performing pages. This, in turn, helps you discern what would work best for you. In addition, Ranktracker also helps you spot any keyword gaps in your site.
Hubspot
Hubspot helps gauge two important things: analyze the SEO of a brand’s site and determine its reader persona.
The reader persona can be defined using “Make My Persona” – Hubspot’s free tool. Using this tool, you can dive deeper into your readers’ identity. Understanding your audiences, in turn, aids in formulating your tone of voice and narrowing down on appropriate keywords.
When you know whom you write for, you know the message you want to get across, the pain points you want to target, and the solutions you want to offer.
The SEO Website Grader, another free tool by Hubspot helps you understand where your site optimization stands. The tool also churns out ideas to make any SEO-related improvements.
Additional Metrics to Consider
As discussed, copywriting goes beyond stitching a few compelling sentences together. The performance of every piece of content can be measured in detail today. With several resources available on the internet, it is easier than ever to dig deep into the metrics that can help your work travel miles ahead of the competition.
In addition, there are several ways to measure your how your content performs after you hit the “publish” button. This data can help you determine what works best for your company or client. Here are the numbers that can enhance your performance and help you get to the top of the food chain in the world of content:
· The pageviews you received on a piece of content or average views per month. This shows your ability to craft content that sees constant demand.
· If you’ve created any A/B test, make sure you showcase the results derived from it. A/B tests show your ability to construct data-backed content and how effectively you can enhance site optimization.
· The results you’ve driven from your email campaigns. Since email marketing is an essential element of content creation, showcasing the conversions you could drive through them (alongside the click-through rate they received) can be another feather in your copywriting cap.
· If your content has received any social shares, make sure you include those metrics as well.
· Include any other data that might be relevant for your client.
So What’s In Store for Content Creators?
Churning out quality and well-written content is not enough to elevate your brand today. “Metrics that speak” have become the difference between high-performing copy and mediocre content.
At Iris Marketing Solutions, our process of content creation is fully data-driven. We create content that shows real results. Tell us what you need, and we’ll scourge the metrics that will propel your brand forward. From unraveling exactly who your audience is to understanding what your competition is up to and everything in between – we walk the long walk of data to help you craft content that wins. If you think it's time for your business to reach the potential it deserves, reach out to us now!