The ever-evolving social media witnesses a constant influx of new metrics for the algorithm every now and then. As a business owner, the best thing about social media is that you can track every single detail to analyze how your brand is performing among competitors. The bad thing is that you need to know how to track social media measurements, what to track, and how to analyze.
Knowing which metrics are most important to your organization in light of your goal is the art of efficient social media measurement.
There are 4.74 billion people using social media, which means that there are 4.74 billion people to impress.
The number of metrics you monitor will depend on your team size, budget, and company goals. In this article, we’ll answer the following questions to help you kick start social media measurement for your business:
- Why is checking your social media measurement important?
- What are the top 3 things you should measure on social media?
- How do you interpret the numbers once you have them?
Why is Checking Your Social Media Measurement Important?
As you develop a content strategy for your platforms, it is important to keep an eye on social media metrics so you can plan your next move. Otherwise, how would you be able to monitor the social media performance of your brand?
An effective digital marketing strategy hinges on high social media metrics, ensuring steady brand growth. Monitoring these metrics is crucial to tracking progress and identifying areas for improvement.
What Are the Top 3 Things You Should Measure on Social Media?
Now that we have understood how important social media measurements are, let’s dive into the top three crucial metrics.
1. Engagement Metrics
The metric that rules social media is engagement. This measure is divided into numerous more detailed metrics that might assist you in creating better content tailored to your audience.
It takes a lot of effort to track this broad area. Consider engagement metrics in terms of the volume of interactions with your content that are occurring. Customers that are actively engaged respond to posts with likes (or other reactions), comments, and shares.
A high engagement rate indicates that your posts are being well received.
Pro Tip: Formula for calculating engagement rate for numerous social media platforms
Different social media platforms consider different factors when calculating engagement on posts. For instance, Facebook measures the reactions, comments, and shares, while Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn track the number of likes and comments to calculate engagement with posts.
2. Impression & Reach
The number of impressions reflects how many times your article was viewed. The same user might view your content more than once, so it may have a higher reach than expected.
People are viewing a post more than once if there is a very high number of impressions compared to reach.
Even though impressions alone can tell you a lot about your content’s potential for social media visibility, it’s still important to look at other metrics to get a full picture of performance. You should probably seek a balance between impressions and engagement if your objectives include both raising awareness and educating your audience.
It is likely that your content wasn’t intriguing enough for audiences to take action after viewing it in their feed if it has a high impression count but a low engagement number (and hence a low engagement rate).
If a post receives a lot of views and comments, it probably means that the article was shared widely and went viral on social media.
3. Voice Share
To determine how well you’re performing on social media in your business or niche, take into account monitoring the share of voice measure. When compared to conversations about your rivals, how are people talking about your brand?
Share of voice reveals the proportion of the overall industry conversation that is centered on your brand.
It’s also a terrific approach to learning from your rivals’ achievements because you can quickly gauge their influence on social media given that so many of these conversations are open to the public.
A few helpful tools for tracking voice sharing for the brand include social listening platforms like Hootsuite and Talkwalker.
How can the ROI of social media measurement be effectively traced?
Tracking ROI (return on investment) in social media measurements indicates gauging the effectiveness of social media initiatives by looking at the monetary gain from expenditures made on social media activities, such as content development, advertising, and community building.
This can be achieved by identifying and monitoring pertinent social media metrics, including audience engagement, lead generation, website traffic, conversions, and sales, and connecting them to particular business objectives. Businesses may evaluate the efficacy of their social media strategy and enhance their performance over time by consistently tracking social media ROI.
Google Analytics is one of the best and free social media ROI measurement tools out there.
How do you interpret the numbers once you have them?
We’ve covered various social metrics methodologies in depth but where do you actually get this information?
The majority of the raw data you require to determine and monitor your social media success may be found using the analytics tools that each social media network offers. This is a labor-intensive method of monitoring your social media stats, especially if you use many platforms. Switching between accounts is a time-consuming activity, and being familiar with the native analytics tools of various networks can also be challenging.
However, there are social media measurement tools that serve as a fantastic starting point for monitoring your social analytics, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, Mention, and much more.
Final Thoughts on Social Media Measurement
Keeping an eye on social media is a continuous process. You must frequently monitor your stats and change them as necessary. However, if done correctly, social media measurement might help you reach your objectives.
Here are some other pointers for measuring social media:
- Define your goals clearly: What do you hope to accomplish with social media marketing? Knowing your objectives can help you select the appropriate metrics to monitor.
- Choose the appropriate metrics to monitor: Not all metrics are made equal. Select the KPIs that are most crucial for achieving your business objectives.
- Employ a range of tools: You may track your social media stats using a wide range of tools. Try out different tools until you discover one that works for you and your business.
- Review your data: Spend some time analyzing your data once you have it. Search for patterns and trends. What is effective? Why not?
- Make changes: Modify your social media strategy in light of your analysis. This can entail altering your strategy, your target audience, or your content.
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from using social media measurement. You may enhance your social media marketing and accomplish your business objectives by monitoring the appropriate metrics and making modifications as necessary.
When it comes to an effective strategy, the important thing to remember is that one size doesn’t fit all. So you can use these measurements to fit your success!