What Social Media Metrics Should You Track?
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Last month, Autumn discussed how users can get the most out of Instagram. Part of getting the most out Instagram and other social media sites is paying attention to the metrics that come from your posts. There are many important metrics available to track but which ones should you be monitoring the closest?
Engagement
Engagement is essentially interactions on your posts, this means likes, comments and shares. Engagement can also come in the form of @mentions which is when your account is tagged.
Being tagged in posts builds your brand awareness and creates exposure for your page.
The engagement metric tells you how people are interacting with the content that you post. This metric is easy to track as it is shown to you on the analytics page of each social media platform whether it is Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics. Another helpful tool for analytics is marketing software like Sprout Social, which compiles engagement reports for any social media account you register under the software.
Reach
Reach is the total number of people that see a post you have made. This is the easiest social media metric to understand and is usually the easiest metric to find as well. While it is important to have a large reach and proves that you have a big audience, it is beneficial to use reach as a tool with other metrics to give context to how your engagement is. For example, dividing your likes by your total reach for a post can give you the like rate for that specific post. If your engagement comes out low, consider what you are posting and ask yourself if what you are posting is engaging to your followers and worthy of eliciting an interaction from them.
Volume
Volume measures how many people are talking about you on social media. This metric is a good tool to determine the interest for your page and is a measurement how many people are taking the time to post about you specifically. This can be in the form of a tag, a mention without tagging you or a hashtag of your name. Facebook Insights explains it simply as “people talking about this”. The best way to boost your volume is to make engaging content that can be shared easily.
Metrics are a fantastic way to set goals, measure success and get to know your audience. Discover the benefits of using metrics and the impact it can have on your social media.
