Social media has become an integral part of most businesses‘ marketing strategies – and for good reason. With over 4.2 billion active social media users worldwide, these platforms provide an unparalleled opportunity to reach and engage your target audience.
But with so many different social networks and an overwhelming amount of data available, it can be challenging to know which social media metrics actually matter for your business. Tracking vanity metrics like follower counts and likes is not enough. To measure true performance and return on investment from social media, you need to dig deeper.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about social media metrics – from what they are and why they matter to the specific metrics you should be tracking and how to measure them. Whether you‘re new to social media marketing or looking to level up your current reporting, read on to learn how to use data to optimize your social strategy.
What Are Social Media Metrics?
Simply put, social media metrics are data points that allow you to measure the performance and impact of your social media efforts. They provide quantitative information that you can use to determine what‘s working, what‘s not, and where there are opportunities for improvement.
Metrics go beyond basic counts of followers or engagements. Meaningful social media metrics are directly tied to your specific business goals, such as:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Driving website traffic
- Generating leads and sales
- Providing customer service
- Building a community around your brand
The metrics you choose to focus on will depend on your unique objectives. But in general, tracking a combination of reach, engagement, conversion, and customer experience metrics will give you a well-rounded view of your social media performance.
Why Social Media Metrics Matter
Far from just collecting data for data‘s sake, tracking social media metrics is essential for several key reasons:
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Measuring ROI: Metrics allow you to quantify the return you‘re getting from the time, effort and resources you invest in social media marketing. By tying social media actions to real business results, you can demonstrate the value of your work.
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Optimizing your strategy: Metrics provide the insights you need to continually improve your social media performance over time. By analyzing what content resonates most with your audience, when they are most active, and which CTAs generate the most clicks, you can refine your strategy for maximum impact.
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Reporting to stakeholders: Whether you need to justify social media spend to executives or share results with clients, having clear data points makes your reporting more compelling. Metrics allow you to show progress toward goals and make data-driven recommendations.
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Competitive benchmarking: Comparing your own social media metrics to industry averages and competitor data can show how you stack up and identify opportunities to differentiate yourself. Tools like Rival IQ can provide this competitive intelligence.
Now that we‘ve covered the importance of social media metrics, let‘s dive into the specific metrics you should be tracking and how to measure them.
15 Key Social Media Metrics to Measure
1. Reach
Reach is the total number of unique people who see your content. It‘s an important metric for measuring brand awareness as it shows how far your message is spreading.
To calculate reach, most social media platforms have built-in analytics that show you the reach of each post. Tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social can also provide this data across all your social profiles.
2. Impressions
Impressions refer to the number of times your content is displayed, even if it‘s not clicked. One person could have multiple impressions of the same post.
Impressions can give you a sense of how frequently your content is showing up in people‘s feeds. Divide your total impressions by your total number of followers to see your rate of non-followers viewing your content.
3. Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is one of the most important social media metrics, as it shows the level of interaction your content receives. Engagement includes reactions/likes, comments, shares, saves, and clicks.
To calculate, divide your total engagements by your total number of followers (or reach for a specific post). While average engagement rates vary by industry and platform, a common benchmark to aim for is 1-5%.
4. Applause Rate
Applause rate, a type of engagement metric, refers specifically to approval actions such as likes, favorites, and reactions. It shows what percentage of your audience finds your content valuable enough to engage with positively.
To calculate, divide your total approval actions by your total followers. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn all have their own versions of likes/reactions to measure applause.
5. Amplification Rate
Amplification rate measures how much your followers are expanding your content‘s reach by sharing it with their networks. It indicates how relevant or share-worthy people find your posts.
To calculate, divide your total post shares by your total number of followers. Pay attention to which types of content generate the most amplification.
6. Virality Rate
Virality rate takes amplification a step further to measure how widely your content has spread across the social network beyond your own followers. It shows your potential to reach new audiences.
To calculate, divide the number of unique people who shared a post by the number of unique people who saw it (reach). The higher your virality rate, the more your content has gone "viral."
7. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate measures the percentage of people who see your content and click on a link, such as to your website. It‘s a key indicator of how effective your social media content is at driving traffic.
To calculate CTR, divide total link clicks by total impressions. According to WordStream, the average CTR across industries is 2.27% for Facebook and 0.86% for Instagram.
8. Conversion Rate
Conversion rate takes CTR a step further to measure how many people who clicked through went on to complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a lead generation form. It shows your content‘s ability to drive real business results.
To calculate, divide the total number of conversions by total link clicks. Be sure to use UTM parameters in your links to attribute conversions to the right social media campaign.
9. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate measures the percentage of people who click through to your website but leave after only viewing one page. A high bounce rate indicates your website content may not be meeting visitor expectations.
Use Google Analytics to find your bounce rate from each social media platform under Acquisition > Social > Network Referrals. Look for bounce rates under 70%.
10. Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Cost-per-click is an advertising metric that measures how much you are paying for each click on your sponsored social media posts. It‘s important for tracking and optimizing your paid social media ROI.
To calculate CPC for a specific ad campaign, divide your total ad spend by your total measured clicks. Most social media advertising platforms will also provide this metric in their campaign reporting. Aim to minimize CPC over time.
11. CPM
CPM stands for cost per 1,000 impressions. While CPC focuses on clicks, CPM measures the cost-effectiveness of your social media ads in terms of views/impressions.
To calculate CPM, divide your total ad spend by your total impressions, then multiply by 1,000. Again, advertising platforms should provide this data directly. A lower CPM means you‘re getting more bang for your buck in terms of reaching a large audience.
Social share of voice measures how much of the online discussion around your industry or a specific topic is about your brand compared to your competitors. It shows your brand‘s visibility in the market.
To calculate SSoV manually, track your mentions and your competitors‘ mentions around a topic over a period of time. Divide your mentions by the total of all mentions for your percentage share of voice. Tools like Brandwatch can also help automate SSoV tracking.
13. Customer Satisfaction Score
If you use social media for customer service, your customer satisfaction score (CSAT) is an important metric for ensuring you‘re meeting customer expectations. CSAT measures how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction.
To measure CSAT, send customers a survey asking them to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1-5. Calculate your percentage of satisfied customers (those who rated 4 or 5). Over 70% is considered good, while over 95% is outstanding.
14. Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score (NPS) goes beyond CSAT to measure customer loyalty over time. It reflects the likelihood that customers would recommend your brand or product to others based on their overall experience.
To measure NPS, survey your customers on a scale of 1-10: "How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?" Subtract the percentage of detractors (those who rate 0-6) from the percentage of promoters (9-10) to get your NPS. Over 30 is a good score.
15. Response Rate & Time
If you use social media for customer service, response metrics are key. Response rate measures the percentage of customer inquiries that get a response, while response time tracks how quickly you‘re getting back to people.
Most social media platforms provide response data in their analytics, or you can calculate manually. Aim for a response rate of 100% and an average first response time of under 4 hours.
How to Measure Social Media Metrics
Now that you know which metrics to track, here are some tips for actually collecting and analyzing that data:
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Set clear goals: As mentioned earlier, your social media goals will dictate which metrics are most important to track. Make sure your whole team is aligned on what you‘re working towards.
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Determine your benchmarks: To gauge your performance, you need something to measure against. Look at your own historical social media data, industry benchmarks, and competitor performance to set realistic targets.
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Use social media analytics tools: While you can calculate many metrics manually, tools will save you significant time and provide richer insights. Most social platforms have their own native analytics tools. Third-party tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social are also great options.
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Track metrics over time: Rather than just looking at metrics in a vacuum, track your progress regularly over weeks and months. This will allow you to identify trends, correlations, and areas for improvement.
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Choose an attribution model: Some social actions are easier to measure than others. You may need to get creative to tie metrics back to real business results. Choose an attribution model that makes sense for your unique funnel.
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Don‘t forget about qualitative data: While quantitative metrics are important, don‘t discount the value of qualitative feedback you can gather from social media comments and messages. These anecdotes can provide important context for your metrics.
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Test and optimize: Use A/B testing to experiment with different social media tactics and see which yield the best results. Over time, you can fine-tune your strategy based on your metrics.
Examples of Brands Using Social Media Metrics
Need some inspiration for how to put social media metrics into action? Here are a few examples of brands leveraging data to drive results:
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Airbnb used social media listening to uncover that customers were frequently mentioning "kitchens" in their social posts. Based on this insight, they launched a social media campaign around "Kitchens around the world" which yielded a 22 point lift in ad recall.
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Fenty Beauty uses social media comments as a "focus group on steroids" to rapidly collect customer feedback, make product improvements, and inform new launches. Their foundation shade expansion generated over 10,000 mentions in its first 5 days.
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Casper, the mattress company, A/B tested different Facebook ad creative and used conversion lift studies to identify the top performing content. The insights helped them achieve a 2.3X higher return on ad spend.
The Future of Social Media Measurement
As social media platforms and user behaviors continue to evolve, so too will the way we measure success. Here are a few trends shaping the future of social media metrics:
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Cross-platform measurement: People interact with brands across multiple touch points, both on and off social media. Marketers will need to connect the dots to measure the full customer journey.
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Blended metrics: Metrics that blend social media and business data, such as customer lifetime value of social media audiences, will become increasingly important to quantify impact.
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AI-powered analytics: Artificial intelligence tools will help marketers process social media data at scale to uncover insights and make predictions faster and more accurately.
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Private metrics: With the rise of private messaging and "dark social," metrics around 1:1 interactions will become key for understanding the full scope of social media‘s impact.
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Real-time insights: Marketers will increasingly focus on tracking metrics in real-time to be able to respond to customer needs and make in-the-moment optimizations.
The one thing that will remain constant is the need to tie social media metrics to real business outcomes. No matter which specific metrics you choose to focus on, always question how they ladder up to your larger objectives.
Putting Your Social Media Metrics Into Action
Tracking social media metrics is not just a box to check off your to-do list. The real value lies in what you do with your data.
Use your metrics to test and iterate your social media strategy over time. If something isn‘t working, don‘t be afraid to pivot and try a new approach. On the flip side, when you see a tactic is generating strong results, double down and scale your efforts.
Remember that metrics shouldn‘t exist in a silo. Look at your social media data in the context of your other marketing and sales activities to get a holistic view of your funnel. Use both quantitative data and qualitative insights to guide your decision-making.
Finally, make sure to share your finding and learnings across your organization. Social media metrics shouldn‘t just live within the social team. Other functions like content, product, sales, and customer service can all benefit from understanding how customers are engaging on social.
Conclusion: Driving Meaningful Results From Social Media
Social media success is no longer just about getting the most likes or followers. In today‘s digital landscape, businesses need to focus on metrics that drive true value – whether that‘s awareness, engagement, conversions, or loyalty.
By tracking the right metrics and tying your data to your larger business goals, you can get a clear picture of your social media performance and ROI. Use the insights to continually optimize your strategy and tactics over time.
Remember, social media measurement is not an exact science. It‘s an ongoing process of experimentation, learning, and refinement. Don‘t get bogged down in vanity metrics or lost in the sea of data. Focus on the metrics that matter most for your unique brand and audience.
Leverage the power of social media analytics to better understand your customers, create more impactful content, deliver better experiences, and drive business results. With the right metrics guiding your strategy, you can take your social media efforts to the next level.
