Social media is like a cake. The creativity of eye-catching graphics and engaging captions are the icing on the cake, while the analytics and metrics are the ingredients that make the cake so flavorful. Social media metrics allow you to track every detail of your post’s performance, but they can be a little overwhelming, especially if you don’t understand the information you’re seeing. Think of them as scorecards of your posts that let you know how many people saw it and how many people engaged with it. Without metrics, there wouldn’t be a way understand how well your strategy is performing. We’ve put together a list of metrics that you should be tracking to help you understand where you’re exceling and where you could be doing better.
Engagement Rate
Engagement rates measure the number of engagements (likes, shares, comments, reactions) your content receives (as a percentage). Higher engagement rates signify a strong connection with your audience, reflect content relevance and lead to increased visibility on social platforms. Tracking this metric closely allows for fine-tuning your content and identifying trends that can lead to building a more impactful online presence.
Website Traffic
Social media plays a huge role in directing people to your website, and tracking this metric helps gauge the impact of your social efforts. If a particular post or campaign generates an influx of website visits, this indicates that the content your posting is successfully converting social engagement into tangible actions.
Impressions
Impressions are the total number of times a piece of content has come across someone’s screen, without any interaction. Tracking this metric helps with evaluating the reach and visibility of your posts. Just like engagement rates, a higher number of impressions shows that your content is being seen by a broad audience, which could increase brand awareness. Monitoring impressions also helps with identifying trends, optimized posting schedules and creating content that resonates more to your audience.
Link Clicks
Link clicks directly track audience engagement and interest in your content. This metric should be tracked because it allows you to assess the effectiveness of your call-to-actions and the appeal of the linked content. A high count of links clicked indicates a successful conversion thus turning social media users into website visitors, potentially leading them to even more interactions or conversions. This metric is most valuable for businesses wanting to drive more traffic to their website.
Followers
While an increased follower count is associated with a growing audience and potential reach, it’s important to go beyond just quantity. A steadily growing and engaged follower base can increase brand loyalty and credibility. Regularly tracking follower growth, demographics and engagement lets you communicate more effectively with content they’ll actually like.
There are so many numbers to keep track of and getting distracted by the wrong ones can result in wasted time. Focus on the numbers that matter, and our expertise in social media can help! We know the ins and outs of tracking the right metrics that truly matter. Contact us today to get started!
