Is all content you create Performance Content? The answer is no. Performance is a new type of content that connects with audiences at a deeper level; it’s an emotional experience that translates into loyalty. Subconsciously, consumers are always thinking: “What’s in it for me?” and your content needs to answer that question.
It also maximises the benefits of your owned assets across all different touch points to amplify reach and performance.
It’s important to understand that Performance Content will flourish in an organic environment; therefore search engine optimisation (SEO) is the main driver for Performance Content, but the fuel is intent. Our target is to intercept visitors with the right content based on their intent.
1. Strategy behind Performance Content
Focus on the business goal. When we propose any Performance Content, we discuss with the client what challenges they are facing and what they want to achieve at the end of
a campaign.
Understanding your audience. Every piece of content we create has to be matched with the right audience and their intent. This will set the guidelines for the tone of voice and the format of the asset.
Use data as much as possible. There are a plethora of tools to collect data as well as your own proprietary data, such as web analytics, paid campaigns, internal research, and market research.
Follow the PSCAT recipe. Once you’ve identified the goals and objectives and the format and topic you’ll be covering on your Performance Content, use the following recipe as a checklist to make sure you are covering all the important elements:
P = Problem: The content you are creating has to solve a problem. This is to cover the fundamental question of “what’s in it for me?”
S = Solution: The purpose of this content is to provide a solution.
If this content is for e-commerce, never do a hard-sell approach.
It’s much better to have a soft-sell approach and even provide alternatives, as that will build the next point.
C = Comfortability: When a customer or visitor is reading your content, they need to feel comfortable with the message. If the message is ambiguous or not supported by data, then visitors won’t feel comfortable with it and it
will jeopardise your relationship with them.
A = Affordable: This applies to content that is used for e-commerce, although a customer will be more reactive to a soft-sell approach. In the back of their minds, cost is always there, therefore provide a subtle way to show that your product/service is affordable to them.
T = Trust: When a customer trusts your content, they are more likely to share it. This will help to improve shareability and amplification.
2. Metrics and KPIs
Performance Content metrics and KPIs focus on user experience in order to measure the success of a campaign. We mainly focus on engagement metrics, which can be measured and improved.
Time spent. This is one of the main KPIs to evaluate whether our content is engaging or not. This metric, combined with bounce rate, will give us a good idea if our content is delivering the right message and call to action.
Conversion rate. Performance Content at its core is focused on conversions. This can be translated into the actions we want the users to take after reading the content. This will allow us to identify which type of Performance Content is more effective in order to replicate it for future campaigns.
Value per engagement. Every engagement done via our Performance Content should be measured on a monetary basis in order to evaluate ROI. The closer to the lower funnel the message is, the higher the value.
On top of these deeper metrics, we should also monitor and measure the usual suspects: amplification and outreach for link building, shares and likes for social signals, and organic and direct traffic.
Performance Content and the future of SEO
As Google keeps saturating its first result page with ads, knowledge graphs and other products, the real estate for organic results has become more and more competitive.
This doesn’t mean that you should stop doing SEO and move all of your efforts to paid media. The future of SEO in the short term is to go back to the basics, but while embracing new technology. Some of the new trends we should start focusing on are:
1. Moving from user-generated content to chatbot-generated content. Use chatbot conversations to generate content, as this will laser-point issues your visitors are facing.
2. Be proactive when comes to new technology such as AMP and Google AI. Make sure your content is using the latest technologies.
3. Data as the engine of all your SEO efforts – monitor, evaluate and reiterate. Use as many tools as possible to evaluate the performance of your content.
In summary, embrace Performance Content as your main driver to get better results and performance by supporting it with data and
new technology.
Julio Cesar Rodriguez Davalos, Head of performance & SEO, MEC MENA
