How to compare owned channels with earned press on Memo

How does readership on owned content from our corporate press center/blog/news site compare to readership on earned press?

It’s a question we receive a lot, and fortunately, it’s a question that’s incredibly easy to answer for two reasons: first, readership on earned coverage provides an apples-to-apples comparison to unique visitors on your owned site (it’s the same metric!). And second, Memo offers an integration.

Below we outline the steps to add your owned-and-operated content to your Memo dashboard, and we highlight some of the major insights this capability offers customers.

Tracking owned channels on Memo: benefits & use cases

Some customers are merely curious about owned versus earned readership, while others have specific goals in mind:

Secure more budget for earned campaigns. Readership removes any questions on how many people your campaigns reached. Showing how earned performance stacks up to owned can strengthen the business case for investing in PR.

Place the right content in the right place. Over time, you may start to surface patterns in the type of content that does best on your owned sites versus through the press.

Contextualize earned readership. When seeing article readership for the first time, people often ask “is this good?” Owned readership provides an immediately accessible benchmark. 

How to track readership from owned channels on Memo

Step 1: Give Memo read-only API access to your channel’s Google Analytics. We can use the Google Analytics API to fetch a URL’s unique visitor count. Go to analytics.google.com and navigate to the property associated with content you want to track on Memo:

Then go to Admin > Account Access Management > Add users. Enter the email address provided by your Customer Success Manager at Memo, and select “Viewer” under roles (this ensures Memo can pull readership with the Google Analytics API but cannot make any changes to your Google Analytics reporting or account settings).

Step 2: Email a list of owned URLs to your Memo rep We need to know the specific content you want to pull into your Memo dashboard. So once per week (or less frequently, if preferable), we’ll ask you to email us a list of URLs to track. 

…and that’s it It’s that easy. Some important implications though: adding your owned content to Memo dashboard will automatically include that readership data in your reporting. You can use filters to exclude owned channels:

Frequently asked questions about tracking owned channels

Is there an additional charge for tracking owned content with Memo? No, the generous Customer Success team at Memo is happy to facilitate this add-on free of charge.

Can I track owned content if we don’t use Google Analytics? Yes, Memo has additional implementation options. Contact your Memo rep to find the best solution for your configuration.

Will my owned readership be available to other Memo customers? No, your owned channel can only be tracked on Memo accounts that you have authorized.

Have a question we didn’t answer? Get in touch at success@memo.co.