Between all of these different platforms, there are so many different metrics and analytics in front of you and it can be difficult to tell which ones are really important. In order to make sure your social media efforts are paying off, there are specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you should be looking at.
It’s about so much more than the number of people who like your brand’s profiles on social media. Here we provide a breakdown of exactly which metrics deserve your focus and how to track the analytics.
Reach
Your reach on social media is an indication as to how many eyeballs your content is getting, but don’t be mislead by this metric! This is only an estimate of how many people potentially saw your posts. Reach can be difficult to track, but here are the KPIs you should monitor:
Followers: The amount of people following your brand, including fans, followers and page likes, is the total amount of people that could possibly see your content when sponsored to your reach your brand’s audience. These are also the people that have opted in to receiving your updates, meaning they want to see your content… so, show it to them!
Impressions: The number of impressions your posts get details the number of times your content has showed up in prospective or existing audience members’ feeds. Dividing the number of impressions by the number of clicks gives you a click-thru rate or CTR.
Engagement
Social media engagement should be one of your top priorities when it comes to KPIs. This is a measurement of the number of likes, shares, comments, retweets, mentions, favorites, etc. that your social posts garner. Having a large reach with low engagement is a sign that your audience may not be relevant or interested in your content, while having a smaller audience that is highly engaged is a very positive indicator for the quality of your content –and the quality of your audience. A small audience can always get bigger, and it will do so organically if your social media posts are receiving high engagement. These are the KPI’s you should measure to get an accurate idea of what your engagement looks like:
Clicks: This metric will reflect the quality of copy and images used in your posts, especially when pushing blog content on social. Make people want to click on the links included in your social media updates if the content interests them. High number of clicks and low number of shares or likes? The social media post was compelling, but the content it links to did not deliver.
Shares: This is inclusive of retweets, revines, repins, regrams, shares, etc. The number of shares your posts receives shows you whether or not your audience feels they want to recommend this content to their own network. Shares broaden reach and are a more powerful indicator than likes because it is a more conscious decision.
Content Likes: The more likes a post gets, the more attention it will get, since people are most likely to gravitate towards popularity. Likes suggest to search engines that this content is relevant and useful in some way.
Mentions: Tags, mentions and comments reflect the amount of conversations about your brand that are occurring. This metric is indicative of your relevance and it shows that you are on the minds of your audience.
Leads
The amount of leads from social media indicates how many of your engaged followers are actually interested in making a purchase or following through on a given call to action. In order to measure your lead generation, test out different analytics tools that tell you the amount of website visits you are receiving through social media referral.
At Liqui-Site, each of our digital marketing clients receives performance reporting that includes total referral traffic and referral traffic per social channel. Knowing the number of leads being generated and where they are coming from can help you figure what types of content work best and which platforms are most effective for your brand or campaign.
Conversions
The ultimate indication of social media marketing success is the number of customers who originated from social channels. Reaching the right people, providing value, keeping them engaged and converting them into customers / donors is the ultimate goal of social media.
Don’t expect to have this KPI available right away — customer acquisition through social media takes time. Your audience wants to get to know your brand before entering into a deeper relationship, and social media is a great place to start. Conversion rates and customer acquisition are metrics critical to your digital marketing efforts. Here, expectations are key. You wouldn’t propose on a first date, so don’t expect conversion from social to sale in one day.
If you aren’t keeping track of these KPIs, how will you know if your social media marketing strategy is effective? Knowing what works and what doesn’t will help you pinpoint exactly how to utilize each platform for success.
