It’s important to track ‘key performance indicators’ (KPIs) for your
social media marketing so you can see what content captures attention and identify opportunities to increase engagement. If your
audience isn’t interacting with your brand on social media, then your strategy needs to change so you’re not wasting resources.
Start tracking these eight social media KPIs to better understand what’s working and what needs improvement:
1. Link clicks
Clicks don’t paint the whole picture, but they’re a good place to start. A post with a decent amount of link clicks but low engagement (e.g. shares, comments) indicates that the post captured attention but failed at encouraging further interaction. On the other hand, high engagement with low clicks means you need to change how you pitch the
content.
2. Shares
When users share your post, it’s like they’re giving a personal recommendation to their followers. A post with a high number of shares is a sign that your content strongly resonated with your audience, and vice versa.
3. Likes
The more likes (or “reactions” on
Facebook) your post receives, the more visibility it will have in newsfeeds. Additionally, users gravitate toward popular posts which garners more engagement. Social media platforms — like Facebook and
Instagram — also show when a user’s friends interact with the post, driving extra interactions.
4. Comments
At its core, social media is about conversations. Having posts that attract comments demonstrates to other users that your content is interesting enough to talk about. Negative comments can also offer value to brands by providing constructive feedback and communicating customer pain points.
5. Engagement Rate
It’s vital that you track your engagement rate for your social media posts to understand the bigger picture of your strategy’s performance and see if it’s heading in the right direction.
To determine your engagement rate, calculate the total number of engagements (e.g. comments, shares, likes) and divided it by total followers, then multiply by 100. Here’s an example engagement rate for a post:
20 comments + 50 shares + 300 likes = 370 engagements
(370 engagements / 10,000 followers) x 100 = 3.7% engagement rate
6. Brand Mentions
When your account is tagged in a post or comment, it’s considered a brand mention. It shows that your brand is staying relevant in the conversation while also helping expose your brand to potential new followers.
7. Profile Visits
People that check out your profile show a higher level of interest than if they were to simply like your most recent post. If your social media analytics displays this KPI, take note of which posts drove a boost in profile visits.
8. Active Followers
A large follower count looks impressive, but it doesn’t really mean much if most of them are inactive. It’s crucial to increase active followers (i.e. those who have interacted with your content within the past 30 days) so you’re not wasting time and resources talking into a void.
Boost Social Media Engagement
Social media marketing won’t generate the leads or sales you want if your content fails to engage your audience and attract followers. That’s why it’s essential that you track the right KPIs to understand how your content is performing. From there, you’ll be armed with data to make better-informed decisions that will lead to successful results.