How to Assess Content Performance Using a Content Scorecard

According to The New York Times, 81% of brands have successfully increased awareness through sophisticated content marketing strategies. 

But how do you assess the effectiveness of your own content strategy?

Content scoring – a system for analysing content effectiveness – will help you gauge the success of your output and develop a digital marketing strategy that revolutionises your brand’s public image.

Your Content Must be Intentional

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, you’ll know the importance of a high-quality social media content plan. Getting your strategy right helps build audience trust, meet marketing objectives, and ultimately increase profitability. 

However, content marketing is intricate. For content to transform your business, your strategy must be goal-oriented, analysed, and adjusted as you grow. 

Aimlessly producing content without an intention or analytical method is like setting sail without a compass—you’re likely to drift meanderingly and never reach your destination.

What’s a Content Scorecard?

Content scoring cards evaluate how effective your content is compared to your previous outputs and competitors in the market. 

The scoring card method combines both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Quantitative evaluations rely on metrics like views, engagement, and SEO ranking, while qualitative evaluations focus on criteria such as readability, accuracy, and voice consistency.

Benefits of Using a Content Scorecard

Using a content scoring card will enable you to identify recurring patterns, trends, and long-term deficiencies – this understanding paves the way for more effective future content decision-making and enhanced audience insight. 

An effective scorecard will help you specify the style of content you must produce to meet your business objectives, develop a consistent brand voice that resonates with audiences, and increase your digital visibility. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create a content scorecard for your business:

Step One: Consider Your Content’s Objectives

For a content scorecard to be effective, you need a clear understanding of each piece’s objectives.

Are you creating high-quality content to strengthen your brand’s trustworthiness, inform potential customers, generate revenue through clicks, or achieve another goal?

Step Two: Decide on Quantitative Metrics

The next step in developing your scorecard is to decide on a few quantitative metrics that are meaningful to your business objectives. Here are a few examples:

• Exposure — content views, impressions, backlinks
• Engagement — time on page, clicks, ratings, comments
• Conversion — purchases, registrations for gated content, return visits, clicks
• Redistribution — shares, pins

Quantitative metrics are valuable because they provide clear, data-driven insights into how well your content is performing, allowing you to make more informed decisions and track progress toward specific business goals.

Step Three: Establish Reference Points

Once you’ve established the relevant quantitative criteria, it’s time to set reference points. What will you measure against—industry standards, internal goals, or perhaps a mix of both?

Create a scoring system, such as a scale of 1 to 5, to evaluate how each asset performs relative to these benchmarks. With this approach, you’ll have a clear and consistent way to assess each piece of content.

For example, if your objective is to generate revenue through clicks and you are analysing your content’s performance against your brand’s historical data, consider how your current views, time on page, and ratings compare to those of previous publications.

Step Four: Add a Qualitative Layer

Quantitative data only analyses half of your content’s performance. To increase the accuracy of your scorecard, integrate qualitative assessments to complement your quantitative metrics. Here are a few examples:

• Brand Consistency – Does the content align with the established brand voice and style?
• Clarity and Accuracy – Is the content clear, accurate, and up-to-date?
• Information Layout – Does the organisation of the information facilitate essential information flows?
• Visitor Engagement – Does the content effectively employ techniques to engage or influence visitors?
• User Relevance – Does the content address the needs of all target user groups?

Develop criteria that reflect important qualitative aspects, such as accuracy and engagement potential. Use yes/no questions to evaluate these aspects, assigning one point for each affirmative response. 

This helps ensure that important qualitative factors aren’t overlooked in your scoring process.

Let’s say you’re evaluating a blog post titled “The Ultimate Guide to Sustainable Packaging for Small Businesses.” You want to assess the content’s qualitative aspects to ensure it resonates with your eco-conscious audience and maintains your brand’s voice.

1. Brand Consistency – Does the blog maintain a friendly and informative tone that aligns with your brand’s commitment to sustainability?
   • Answer: Yes (1 point)
2. Clarity and Accuracy – Are all the facts about sustainable packaging materials accurate, and is the language clear and accessible?
   • Answer: Yes (1 point)
3. Information Layout – Is the information well-organised with headings and bullet points that make it easy for readers to scan and find key points?
   • Answer: Yes (1 point)
4. Visitor Engagement – Does the post include a call to action, such as encouraging readers to share their thoughts or check out related products?
   • Answer: No (0 points)
5. User Relevance – Does the blog address specific pain points for small businesses, like cost and sourcing for eco-friendly packaging?
   • Answer: Yes (1 point)

By using yes/no questions, you score 4 out of 5 points for qualitative effectiveness. This highlights strengths in brand consistency, clarity, layout, and relevance, while also flagging an area for improvement—visitor engagement.

This qualitative score, combined with your quantitative metrics, gives a fuller view of your content’s performance and potential areas for enhancement.

Step Five: Create Your Content Scorecard

Combine your quantitative and qualitative scores into a content scorecard. This tool will enable you to evaluate each piece of content systematically. High scores in both areas indicate valuable assets worth promoting, while low scores may signal content that requires reworking or retirement.

The scorecard also serves as a historical record, allowing you to track improvements over time. Additionally, it can be used to identify gaps in your content strategy, ensuring you are addressing all relevant topics and formats that resonate with your audience.

Step Six: Start Small and Grow Your Scoring Process

Begin with a manageable sample of content—target 100 to 200 assets to identify useful patterns. Regularly review and refine your scoring process, ideally on a quarterly basis, to keep your content strategy effective and aligned with your goals.

As you become more comfortable with the scoring process, gradually expand your scope to include more assets and metrics. This iterative approach will enable you to adapt to evolving audience preferences and industry trends, ensuring your content remains relevant and impactful.