Contents
- What are social media metrics?
- Why track metrics?
- Where to track metrics?
- Which metrics should be monitored?
What are social media metrics?
Social media metrics are quantitative indicators used to assess the effectiveness of strategies in SMM (Social Media Marketing). They serve as an important tool for analyzing performance on social networks, allowing businesses not only to evaluate current results but also to plan for the future. Metrics help understand how effectively content is produced and how successfully advertising campaigns are conducted.
Each social network provides the ability to analyze its channels or communities. Basic metrics, such as the number of likes and views, are usually available. However, for deeper analysis, such as evaluating the engagement rate of subscribers, additional paid or free tools may be required.
Why track metrics?
Tracking social media metrics is extremely important for several reasons:
1. Evaluation of SMM effectiveness
Metrics help determine whether a business's investments in social media promotion are justified. For example, if a soft toy seller is actively developing a community and receiving positive feedback, but profits are not increasing, analyzing metrics may reveal that users are not clicking on links to the website. This may indicate the need to change the strategy, rather than flaws in the website itself.
2. Development of a content plan
Metrics allow for identifying the most successful and less popular publications. If all of the company's posts have approximately the same number of views and likes, statistics may show that certain formats, such as tutorials and life hacks, receive much more engagement. This allows the SMM manager to adjust the content strategy according to audience preferences.
3. Testing hypotheses
Metrics provide the opportunity to test various formats and themes of publications. For example, if an SMM manager believes that subscribers will enjoy vertical videos, they can test them for a week and analyze the results before incorporating such a format into the permanent content plan.
4. Choosing influencers for advertising
Metrics help make informed choices about influencers for collaboration. Basic metrics can be seen on the blogger's page, while additional ones can be found in specialized services. For example, TGstat provides information about the average reach of a publication.
Where to track metrics?
There are several ways to monitor metrics:
- Account analytics: In the settings of social networks, you can find statistics on the main indicators of the community, including information about subscriber movements.
- Specialized services: If standard metrics are insufficient, paid and free services can be used to collect advanced data and compare the account with competitors.
- Google Analytics: This tool allows you to track the interaction of social networks with the company’s website and analyze traffic.
- Advertising cabinet: Allows you to monitor statistics on paid advertising campaigns, including cost per click and conversion rate.
- Manually: Some metrics can be calculated independently using formulas and calculators.
Which metrics should be monitored?
Social networks offer a variety of basic and advanced metrics:
Basic metrics
- Impressions and reach: Impressions define the total number of views, while reach indicates the number of unique users.
- Subscribers: Statistics on the number of followers and changes over a specific period.
- Engagement: The number of likes, reposts, and comments on posts.
- Link clicks: The number of clicks to the company's website from links in posts and profile bios.
Advanced metrics
Advanced metrics are divided by stages of user interaction on social networks:
- Reach: The percentage of subscribers who saw the publication.
- Audience growth: The increase in the number of subscribers over a specific period.
- Engagement: The engagement rate (ER) shows how actively users interact with the content.
- Conversion: The level of completing target actions, such as clicks on links or purchases.
- Retention: The percentage of subscribers remaining in the community, as well as NPS to measure customer loyalty.