Social media marketing is a popular marketing strategy used by brands to achieve their business goals. But your job doesn’t end after you publish your social media posts or launch your social media campaign. You still need to track it to see if your efforts are reaping the results you expect. This is where social media metrics come in.

Social media metrics allow you to determine what works and what doesn’t in your social media strategy. The result is that you can make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the plan generates better results.

You can track many social media metrics, but, by and large, they are affected by your social media goals. For example, if your goal is to increase engagement or increase your brand’s reach, then the social media followers, likes, and overall engagement will be part of the key metrics to measure.

That said, here are the five social media metrics that matter the most:

1. Followers 

The number of followers shows whether your content is reaching an audience. In a way, it also shows whether your audience finds your brand valuable. The number of your followers on your social media accounts can show your brand’s credibility. This is crucial to have increased engagement and, therefore, to achieving your business goals. 

The growth rate of your followers is also crucial. For example, if the number of your Instagram followers was 5,000 at the beginning of a quarter and still remains the same at the end, it shows that you may need to rework your social media efforts, especially if the goal is to increase your brand’s engagement.

The number of followers also has an amplification effect as your potential audience can see what your immediate audience follows.

Lastly, the number of followers you have affects how well the algorithm pushes your content to the top of the feed, making it important to pay attention to these metrics.

2. Reach

Another metric that matters a lot is your reach. Simply put, reach refers to the number of people who come across your social media content. This metric includes your social media audience and your potential audience base.

It’s important to calculate how well your social posts reach your followers and non-followers. This metric allows you to easily measure how individual posts perform across your social media accounts. For example, on Twitter, you can easily check the number of people who have viewed an individual post. 

Here’s an example of the views on a Tweet placed at the bottom left of the image below.

Your reach could also involve your video views. Many social media platforms show video views per post, giving an idea of how your content performs. Measuring your reach on social platforms can show how successful your social media campaigns are.

It can also provide information on your number of active followers, potential audience, and how large your audience base is. Rather than showing the viewers who come across your social media content multiple times, social media reach calculates the number of unique visitors or viewers per single post.

Calculating your reach can help you measure your brand awareness growth across social networks over time. On some social media sites, the reach is broken down into different categories such as organic reach, viral reach, and paid reach.

Organic reach refers to the number of viewers on original posts. This type of reach does not involve sponsored posts or ad posts.

Viral reach, meanwhile, includes the number of viewers who come across your content because of other users. For example, the number of people who view your content because of reactions or shares by other users.

Paid reach calculates the reach of paid content such as ads and sponsored posts.

3. Engagement

One of the most important social media metrics is engagement. Engagement is a broad category that includes other subcategories. Each social network has its engagement metrics such as comments, retweets, shares, and likes. They show whether people find your content valuable or interesting and whether, ultimately, your social media strategy suits your audience. 

It’s quite easy to view these metrics on your social channels. It is one of the prominent features of each social media post. The likes on a Facebook post, for instance, can be found right underneath a post:

The total engagement rate is calculated by adding the total number of interactions, shares, comments, and other engagements for a specific period. It is then divided by the total number of followers and multiplied by 100.

However, the formula may vary slightly depending on the social media channel. For example, on Facebook, the engagement rate by followers is measured by adding the number of reactions, shares, and comments. The total is then divided by the number of followers and multiplied by 100.

The engagement rate per post can be calculated by dividing the number of engagements by the reach or the number of impressions. The amplification rate is also part of the engagement metrics.

It refers to the number of shares on average per social media post. Measuring your engagement on social media can give an idea of your brand recognition and popularity. It is critical to your overall social media strategy.

Social media networks keep adding different features for engagement, so it’s important to stay up to date with the possible engagements to measure. You can track your engagement manually or by using a social media analytics tool.

To increase engagement, make sure you create excellent content. Use visuals as much as possible. Also, don’t just write engaging copy. Write it in straightforward and plain language, too, so your audience can easily understand your message and relate to it.

4. Click-Through Rate 

The click-through rate (CTR) refers to the rate at which people click on links included in your social media content. For example, the link could lead to a blog post or other types of content. Click-throughs show the people who are interested in interacting with more of your content.

To calculate the CTR, divide the number of clicks by the total number of impressions. To determine whether your CTR is good or not, you can compare the results to the industry benchmarks. A low click-through rate shows that viewers do not find your content relevant enough to click the links.

5. Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is also one of the important metrics to track on your social accounts. The conversion rate shows how your social content leads to a desired conversion, such as a sale, download, or subscription. The desired action should be written in straightforward language to encourage viewers to do what you want them to do.

To calculate your conversion rate on social media, you can use trackable call-to-action links, such as a free URL shortener. Use this to track the conversions each post has gained. To calculate the conversion rate, divide the total number of conversions by the total number of clicks, multiplied by 100.

Tracking your conversion rate is important as it shows how your social media content is performing, as well as the overall success of your social media campaign.

In Closing

Social media is an important tool for many businesses. But you shouldn’t just run social media campaigns and expect the best results. Track campaigns with the right metrics, too. This way, you can make the necessary tweaks to your next campaign and, ultimately, generate better results.  

You learned the most important metrics to track from this article: your followers, reach, engagement, click-through rate, and conversion rate.

When combined, they can give a wholesome view of your social media campaign performance. Use them to your advantage.