How to measure growth on social media
What social metrics should you track? Metrics are important because they show numerical proof of how your business is doing on social media. A metric is a system or standard of measurement. KPI stands for a key performance indicator. KPIs measure performance based on key business goals, while metrics measure performance or progress for specific business activities. KPIs are strategic, while metrics are often operational or tactical. In short, the metrics and KPIs you monitor should be based on your social media goals.
Social media metrics are the data points that show you how well your social media strategy is performing.
Metrics help you understand everything- from how many people see your content all the way through to how much money you earn from social media. In short, metrics are the building blocks for ongoing improvement and growth on social platforms.
What are common metrics?
You may recognize metrics regarding likes, follower count, and reach. You can categorize important metrics into a few different categories to keep things organized:
- Awareness metrics – These numbers show how many people see your content and how much attention your brand gets on social media. Awareness metrics include reach, impressions, and audience growth.
- Engagement metrics – Social media engagement metrics show how much people interact with your content instead of just seeing it. Engagement metrics include engagement rate, amplification rate, and virality rate.
- Video metrics – Video metrics are specific to video content, like views. Other video metrics include video completion rate, customer satisfaction scores, and net promoter scores.
- ROI metrics – What’s the return on your social investment? These metrics will help you figure that out. Click-through rate, conversion rate, cost-per-click, and social sentiment are all ROI metrics.
What metrics are important
- Follower count: This measures the number of people who follow your account and can indicate your account’s reach. This can also be referred to as audience growth.
- Reach: This metric measures how many people have seen your content, which can help you understand how far your content is spreading.
- Engagement: Engagement measures the number of likes, comments, shares, and saves your content receives. It’s an important metric because it indicates how well your content resonates with your audience.
- Click-through rate (CTR): This measures the percentage of people who click on a link or call-to-action in your post, which can help you understand how well your content drives traffic to your website or other desired actions.
- Conversion rate: Conversion rate measures the percentage of people who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form, after clicking through your social media content.
- Impressions: Impressions show the number of times a post appears in a social media user’s timeline. Impressions give you insight into the number of people who saw your posts, even if they didn’t click, comment, or engage with that post in any other way.
- Volume: The volume metric indicates how much people talk about your business or brand online. It counts mentions.
- Sentiment: Sentiment shows you how people feel about your brand. To measure sentiment, monitor messages and relevant keywords online. You can sort them into emotion-based categories such as sad, angry, and happy. With these metrics, you get to know where you stand against your competitors when it comes to online conversations.
- Response rate and time: Monitor your response rate and time on your social media profiles to determine whether you need a community manager to improve on this metric. This metric will help you get insights into your overall customer service approach. You’ll know whether you must restructure your strategy if most of your client issues go unresolved.
Ultimately, the most important social media metrics depend on your business goals and objectives. It’s important to track metrics over time and use them to make data-driven decisions to improve your social media strategy.
How are metrics calculated?
- Follower count: This metric measures the number of people following your account.
- Reach: Reach measures how many people have seen your content. This can be calculated by taking the total number of impressions (i.e., the number of times your content was displayed) and dividing it by the number of unique users who saw your content.
- Engagement: Engagement measures the number of likes, comments, shares, and saves your content receives. This is calculated by adding up the total number of likes, comments, shares, and saves and dividing it by the total number of impressions.
- Click-through rate (CTR): CTR measures the percentage of people who clicked on a link or call-to-action in your post. This is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
- Conversion rate: The conversion rate measures the percentage of people who completed a desired action after clicking through your social media content. This is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the number of clicks, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
- Referral traffic: Referral traffic measures the number of people who visit your website from social media. This is calculated by using website analytics tools to track the source of your website traffic.
- Brand mentions: Brand mentions measure how often your brand is mentioned on social media. This is calculated using social media monitoring tools to track brand mentions across various platforms.
Understanding how social media metrics are calculated is important to accurately interpret and use the data to improve your social media strategy. When you know how to express social media metrics, you can set specific numerical goals and track your progress. There are several options and resources online you can use to calculate results.
How does Nuvo track social media growth?
Social media metrics can be a powerful tool to help our clients achieve their social media goals and objectives. Our team at the Nuvo Agency can use social media metrics in various ways to help our clients meet their targets. For example, we can use the data from tracking our clients’ social media metrics to evaluate social media performance, optimize content strategies, monitor brand reputations, and create reports on social media performance. By regularly tracking and analyzing metrics, our team can continuously improve our clients’ social media strategies and drive better results. Are you interested in giving your social media presence a purpose? Call us today to get started on a custom marketing strategy and tailored website.