Data means nothing if it doesn’t shape what you do next.
Data is a great tool for helping communicators tell stronger stories.
It’s most effective when it shows real human impact and guides overall content strategy, said Catenya McHenry, chief marketing and communications officer at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School.
McHenry, who will be speaking this month during Ragan’s Employee Communication Conference, said her team collects data that shows what kinds of stories people see themselves in most and then uses it to make the school’s content more engaging.
“I love data, but it can be hard to take those numbers and translate it into people,” she said. “That’s the challenge. For us, human interest stories are really what drives what we do.”
Her team’s work shows how communicators can use data to show impact, improve content and earn leadership buy-in.
Use data as a decision tool
At St. Stephen’s, data review is a weekly practice.
Every Monday, McHenry’s team reviews performance across newsletters and social channels. They look at open rates, click-through rates and engagement tied to specific stories and content.
Based on the review, the team makes changes in what they produce next. Data should drive editorial priorities, McHenry said. If certain themes consistently perform, they should shape your content calendar.
“What we know is that our audience loved stories about student achievement,” McHenry said. “And so those are the things we’re putting more at a forefront.”
The team built a regular cadence for reviewing performance tied to specific content. Then they identified top-performing themes, she said. In this case, it was student experiences.
“We adjusted upcoming content plans based on those patterns,” she said.
McHenry then built social content and newsletters that helped prospective families understand what life at the school looks like through student experiences.
These include student-centered videos and clips that highlight campus clubs, like the school’s fishing club. One video showed students enjoying the outdoors, catching fish and a bird’s eye view of Texas’ Hill Country. Another video showed senior students reminiscing on their favorite pastimes on campus and offering advice to the incoming class.
McHenry said her team looks at every interaction from social posts and then pressure-tests future posts or stories by asking, “does this help someone understand what this experience feels like?”
Teams may fall short when they examine data but don’t take advantage of what the information means, she said. They might report performance internally but fail to turn those insights into clearer, more relevant storytelling externally.
“Translate that information using the numbers to show what an experience is actually like,” McHenry said. “That’s the key.”
Combine analytics with an understanding of behavior
Data alone won’t tell a holistic story.
“There is a psychological element of understanding human behavior,” she said.
Metrics can show what people click or ignore but they don’t explain why.
Her team looks at how audiences move through content like videos or social posts, where they drop off and what draws them in. That helps refine not just what stories they tell, but how they tell them, she said. Does a testimonial work better here? Should the clip be shorter?
“Use those insights to refine story structure and format,” McHenry said.
Tie content strategy to goals leadership understands
McHenry’s team also has regular benchmarks. They track performance across three-, six- and 12-month periods and break results down by format and channel.
“We plan the strategy around content, but we also plan a strategy around how do we measure that content?” she said.
The three-month period structure allows her to show leadership how specific decisions connect to outcomes.
For example, the team focused on building a consistent social media schedule tied to different audience segments. They then tracked engagement, follower growth and interaction across formats like reels, slideshows and static posts.
The result of this showed steady growth without increasing spend, McHenry said.
“All of our growth on social media has been earned growth and not paid growth,” she said.
For executives, this is the kind of evidence that makes communications work tangible, McHenry said. It shows efficiency and return, she said.
By tying storytelling decisions to measurable outcomes, her team was able to show both impact and efficiency, she said.
“I think we’ve been able to not only prove our value but justify the work and the strategies that we’re doing,” she said.
Register now to see McHenry’s presentation and others during Ragan’s Employee Communication Conference, April 21-23 in Boston, Mass.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at courtneyb@ragan.com.
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