Tracking the performance of marketing campaigns across different media types

Promote marketing campaigns these days is not an easy task. You have to take into account a lot from the competition to the complexity of campaigns. And still need to keep the strength to measure the results of your campaigns and understand if they brought any results.

So we decided to prepare this post showing the main types of media you can use to promote your business and how to track their performance in each of them.

What types of media are there?

In terms of digital marketing , media are different channels that a company can use to attract visitors and customers to your site.

Generally we identified four types of media:

• owned;
• paid;
• earned;
• shared.

Kind of media owned are those that are under your control. For example your website, your blog, channel social networks and other content you can create (eBooks, checklists, infographics). The best example is Content Marketing . If you have a content strategy, you should be publishing content on your website and then promotes them in social networks.

Media type paid are those marketing strategies that you bought. In the offline world are paid ads in printed media, radio, TV; in online, in GoogleAds, social networking etc.

Kind of media earned are content dedicated to your brand (or those who mention it ) that were created by a person not related to your business and all the media coverage you may have on external sites: mentions on social networks, comments, ratings , feedback, blog posts etc.

Kind of media shared are the media responsible for word of mouth advertising, reviews and user generated content.

Source: Pear Analytics

I use more than one type of media?

Yes! When dependent on a single channel, you become vulnerable to new changes and developments that may affect it.

I will explain with an example. A few years ago companies only focused on SEO and media themselves faced with a drastic drop in traffic and conversions due to changes in search engines algorithms. And the worst of it is that many of them failed to recover the positions today.

Companies that have chosen to focus its marketing efforts exclusively on PPC were affected by an increase in advertising prices. According to recent research, even brand keywords are getting very expensive.

To prevent this from happening to your business, keep a healthy balance between the four types of media.

How do I know if my campaigns in these channels are being effective?

Even with all the available statistical data, measure the performance of their digital marketing campaigns it is still not easy.

Often this happens because of lack of insight into the key metrics that should be analyzed.

How to measure the performance on different channels

Owned media: since you have full control over these channels is easier to measure their performance. Most of the necessary data can be taken from platforms such as  Google Analytics and  RD Station and social networking profiles.

We recommend evaluating the following metrics:

• Increased traffic, where we measure all traffic to your site or blog;
• Increase Traffic by content type;
• Leads generated by content type;
• Involvement in social networks (likes, shares and comments on their pages).

To monitor the involvement in social networks you can use the following tools:

• Buffer (especially the report shares and involvement);
• SEMRush (to monitor involvement in major social networks and compare their performance with that of its competitors);
• Mention (to keep an eye on mentions of your brand on social networks);
• RD Station (also to keep an eye on mentions of your brand).

Paid media: whereas paid media depend on their money to generate traffic, it is important to monitor the following metrics:

• Customer acquisition cost;
• Acquisition cost for Lead;
• Return on investment;

Most platforms such as Google AdWords and Facebook Ads , offer in- depth data about the performance of your campaigns. However you can also choose to use some additional tools, such as AdEspresso .

Earned media: in this case, the performance measurement process is a bit more challenging, since this type of media includes the contents that were not produced by you. To help you there are some tools, for example Buzzsumo and SEMRush .

These tools monitor the internet looking for mentions of your brand or any related keyword, create reports and to allow respond to mentions.

Shared media:  depending on the depth of their involvement with such media, you can measure your performance with social networking reports (especially when you want to monitor metrics such as likes, comments, shares and mentions of your brand on social networks).

These reports can be generated in social media platforms or with the help of tools such as Mention , Buzzsumo , RD Station and SEMRush .

Another way to monitor the shared media is to add a tracking code to all links you post online.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has helped you understand different types of media with which you can promote your business.

Do not forget to invest in the development of each of the four types of media and measure the results to understand what works best for your audience.

It is time to implement these tactics in its strategy and start reaping the fruits of your marketing campaigns.

Good luck!