Companies need content analytics to measure their successes across established and emerging media.

Companies know they need to spend money on their websites, develop content marketing strategies and participate in social media to stay relevant online. These truths have become universal as brands realize their prospects conduct research about products and services online. However, they may not know whether their efforts are paying off or falling flat if they don’t have the proper knowledge to understand content analytics reports.

ClickZ contributor David Daniels recently interviewed Christopher Nash, a senior business optimization consultant at Sitecor, who listed analytics as the one thing that companies want most, but are often missing. Nash asserts that when businesses launch targeted email marketing campaigns, they want to know if customers are clicking through to their websites and visiting multiple pages. Content analytics reporting tools give marketers in-depth information about buyers’ needs that can be used to create personalized marketing materials in the future.

Brands must have analytics resources to determine what their audiences want.

Now that companies are taking their content marketing strategies past email outreach and news articles, they must be able to measure returns on emerging channels like social media and video marketing campaigns. Brafton recently reported that the average marketer will spend 39 percent of his or her total budget allocation on custom content and branded video. More than six in 10 surveyed marketers told the Custom Content Council they are including video in their content marketing mix.

When it comes to producing content for viewers, brands must have analytics resources to determine what their audiences want, Conviva’s President and CEO Darren Feher told Brafton. Data-driven analytics and reporting must be carried over into emerging channels so companies can identify developing consumer trends and verify that their video marketing clips are driving clicks and generating traffic.

Lauren Kaye is a Marketing Editor at Brafton Inc. She studied creative and technical writing at Virginia Tech before pursuing the digital frontier and finding content marketing was the best place to put her passions to work. Lauren also writes creative short fiction, hikes in New England and appreciates a good book recommendation.