7 Crucial Social Media Metrics to Monitor to Grow Your Business
n recent years, the hype around social media has been growing tremendously, be it in businesses of all sizes and in all industries. It has become vital for all the brands to leave their trail in the online chatter of these numerous networks, and they have devoted entire strategies in doing so. After all, this is precisely where your customers are, where they browse, get chatty with brands, as well as friends.
Spread the word about awesome products, and make buying decisions easier for your valued customers. Social Media Metrics plays a crucial role in the present businesses.
As a result, brands do their best to make some authentic noise, and keep their followers interested and glued, with fun content, unique language, and brilliant imagery. Of late, video content on social media is in the form of live-streaming, as well as short animations, such as gifs have become an even more popular form of content that most audiences love. So, brands do deliver.
However, many businesses fail to look at the results of their efforts from a critical perspective. They invest a lot of time, resources, funds and expertise in crafting ingenious strategies, but sadly, fail to follow up with the response. In the current era, an equal portion of a successful social media strategy, requires every brand to keep track of their results on social media and react to them in such a way so as to focus on continuous improvement. This is to keep pace with the ongoing market trends. Social networks are almost infinite sources of useful data, and it’s up to you to make the most of it to dazzle your followers and turn them into loyal customers.
The number and growth rate of your followers
There’s no such thing as having too many followers, so naturally, brands aim to attract more of them each day. They create new posts and do their best to entice a lively conversation. However, earning these followers is often a result of years of reputation-building, that is not solely dependent on your social media tactics. Hence, the need to keep an eye on the rate of your follower growth is imperative.
The first number, your overall follower base, that is, shows the potential reach you have since they combined with their own pool of followers, is within your grasp. The second number, or how consistently your audience grows, shows how engaging your social efforts are, and in which instances you’ve earned more followers. This is for you to make more similar posts in the future.
Cross-referencing across your channels, whether it’s YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or a different mix, is crucial, to check which of your followers are simply discovering you – one network at a time. Also, which ones are actually the new members – this will give you a chance to push for more followers in each different segment you find, to have better success rates.
The engagement rate for your posts
How often do your posts receive likes, retweets, shares in other forms, comments, and emotional reactions? Although it feels impossible to track every single post you publish, you can use a wide range of tools on each of these networks, dedicated to monitoring your engagement levels.
If your audience prefers video content, you’ll see a spike in engagement, every time you post something appealing in this format. Given that, you time your publishing schedule well and use the right type of content. Make sure to always sift through your posts, even if you discover that your audience prefers one or two formats. Keep your efforts diverse, try to translate the quality, the look and the feel of those most engaged posts to other formats, to elicit a similar reaction.
Your influencer relationships
Who do your followers look up to when they make decisions related to your industry? For those interested in fitness, just the names Kayla Itsines or Michelle Lewin, ring the bell. They are the key source of inspiration for health and fitness for these folks. While not every brand is able to aim that high on the list of popular influencers, there are literally hundreds of micro-influencers who can deliver the same results to a smaller company.
Always know who your go-to people are. They are not just there to expand your follower base, but they are the key to building a strong reputation, and a name that will stand for well-defined values. That is why, it’s crucial to find the right match and build long-term relationships with them through content and collaboration, your audience will appreciate.
Brand mentions
Those who merely follow your brand without having any type of engagement with you may not be convinced yet about your product or service. Those who engage, in a positive or negative manner, are most likely well-acquainted with your brand, and they are the ones who might actually feel free enough to start their own conversations regarding your brand. This is especially relevant when you wish to see how well your competitors are doing, compared to you, and if a certain campaign is delivering the expected results.
Understanding the emotional context in which your brand appears by including social mention monitoring into your marketing strategy will allow you to reshape your brand perception and build greater brand awareness. Whether you’re pushing a new product line into the market or trying to start a contest to grow your audience, tracking your brand’s mentions will show how well you are truly doing it and which of your efforts are making the greatest difference.
Conversion rates
Every marketer’s favourite metric is the one that shows to what extent all your social media efforts are indeed paying off, literally. Of course, you want your followers to love you, but only when most of that love gets translated into actual purchases. Then you are actually turning a profit from all those hours, thinking up new tweets and delivering stunning Insta-perfect photos.
Now that many social networks actually allow brands to sell through their platforms, they no longer exist merely for creating influence or gently “nudging” their audience to visit their websites. On the contrary, features such as the Instagram Shopping feature which went live earlier this year, have made it possible for brands to sell directly through social media and redirect to their websites. Now, you can measure how many of those selling posts are delivering result, which ones have high click-through rates, and how you can bring more content, that will inspire that level of interest.
Organic and paid reach
Even though social networks update their algorithms to better serve their purpose, you can still see results from the organic reach efforts, and tailor your paid efforts to improve your overall reach. That said, having a massive following on social media doesn’t guarantee that your posts will have an equally impressive reach. This is precisely why you need to structure your efforts carefully to meet this goal.
You’ll see industry examples of people, as well as companies, that manage to reach a large chunk of their audience with a single organic post, but there is so much more than that meets the eye. From timing your post perfectly to crafting exactly what your followers crave for, all the way to choosing the right social platform for such an event – all of this play into the equation.
That’s why some of your posts will outshine others. You need to check the numbers to see which of your publishing content reaches the greatest portion of your audience – whether it’s through paid ads or through organic ads.
Return on investment
In order to have a comprehensive social media strategy put into action, most brands need to invest not just money, but a significant portion of their time and creative energy. It takes expertise to understand the fluctuating market, the changing needs of your audience, the upcoming social media trends, and all the finesse of excelling on these platforms.
That’s why most companies hire at least one dedicated social media manager, although most companies have entire teams at their disposal. Then, there are photographers because you can only use so many stock photos, and the SEO experts who know which keywords will be essential for your business. How many of those investments truly deliver a return you’ll feel and which will allow your business to grow?
You can rely on many analytical tools to give a deeper insight into how far you’ve come with your goals. After seeing these numbers and how they affect your social presence, you can apply a more fine-tuned approach, focus on the key profit-drivers, and create posts that will help you see these numbers grow.
