The internet has paved the way for innovation in so many facets of business. However, take a closer look and you will find that this innovation is merely novelty in disguise. Let’s take for example, eBay,Uber, and many of today’s content marketing analytics firms. eBay did not invent auctions; it simply brought a centuries-old method of trading to a convenient new medium. Uber did not create the idea of a Taxi service; it ingeniously brought organization to a mass of vehicles, drivers, and eager-to-pay customers. Lastly, content marketing analytics firms did not invent predictive analytics, but instead brought the common practice of applying analytics to a previously empirical industry. We call this an Imitative Innovation Strategy.
Content Marketing is surprisingly empirical at this point in time. A statistic by Kapost states that only 44% of B2B content marketers followed a documented content marketing strategy in 2014. However, a recent pattern in content marketing strategy is the application of predictive content analytics. I’ll say it again, predictive analytics could be considered a novelty. According to Datafloq, modern predictive analytics was developed in the 1940s when governments started using the first computational models during WWII. Its evolution was nothing short of extraordinary, but until recently, predictive analytics had not been consistently applied to content marketing. Althought predictive analytics is arguably a novelty, Da Vinci would tell you that, “Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication.”
Simplicity: the ultimate sophistication… that is especially true when considering content marketing analytics. The inputs of these analytics algorithms have to account for a multitude of possibilities. You want your analytics to be timely, relevant, and valuable to your industry… otherwise your marketing ROI will plummet like a raindrop from a cloud. Fortunately the brilliant minds at Google have developed Google Trends! This analytics engine does the work for you, and can serve as an extra input to disperse the variable weight of your predictive algorithm.
Google Trends not only tracks today’s relevancy of any search term, but it can be geo-targeted, compared with other search terms, and forecasted! If there is enough data available, you can determine which keywords will be valuable six months ahead of time so that you can adjust your blogging efforts today.
Google Trends can be used to increase the accuracy of your predictive content analytics from third party services. More accurate analytics can be directly proportionate to your marketing ROI… so I would suggest starting your thank you letter to Google as soon as possible.
Whether you conduct your content marketing analytics in house, through a third party, or don’t currently utilize this type of information; Enfusen can help you determine where you’re at, and help you get where you want to be. Request a free assessment today to find out how you can join your peers, and make the most out of your marketing resources!