Most people think that the success of a social media marketing campaign is measured by likes and comments alone. However, these metrics do not tell the whole story at all.
To accurately analyse a campaign on socials, you have to take into account various other factors. If you want to find out what they are, read on. We will go over everything you need to make your promo efforts more effective than ever.
1. Reach
Put simply, this metric lets you know how many people you reached with your ads or social media posts. It offers you an excellent way of seeing how far your message can really get.
On its own, reach might not be the most revealing factor you need to consider. But it is a start that lets you know which type of content performs best on social media. From there, you can analyse those posts further and see how you can improve the ones that weren’t as popular.
A good way to examine reach is to look at whether your campaign went beyond your target audience. If it didn’t, you need to rethink your strategy, as the message you sent clearly didn’t resonate with your followers. But if your message reached people outside of your target demographic, you are probably onto something and should explore that path further.
2. Impressions
At first glance, reach and impressions might appear like the same metric. However, they differ in one important characteristic. Reach tells you how many people your post got to. On the other hand, impressions show you how many times your content was seen.
We’ll explain the difference with an example. If you see a post on your Instagram feed once, that post gets one impression. But if three of your friends share that same post and you see it three more times, that is four impressions in total, all from you. In other words, the content reached a single person once, but that person gave it four separate impressions.
Impressions are important because they measure how truly popular your ad is. The higher the number of impressions, the closer your content is to being viral. And once you go viral, your brand awareness and reach rise exponentially.
3. Engagement
As its name suggests, engagement tells you how people respond to your content, i.e. how they engage with it. Depending on the social media platform you’re using, engagement can take the form of likes, retweets, shares, quotes, comments, reblogs, and so on.
This metric is essential if you want to build a relationship with your audience. There is no better way to do so than to get them to respond to your content and for you to reply in kind. It will make your followers feel appreciated and listened to, which is important for forging meaningful connections.
In order to calculate your engagement rate, you simply divide the reach by the number of interactions (likes or comments, for example). The higher the percentage you get, the more successful your post is.
When analysing this metric, it is pivotal to also consider your intended action. Was your post asking people to answer a question by commenting? Or was it just something they were meant to ‘like’ but not necessarily comment on or share? Compare your intention to what your followers did, and you’ll see whether you truly have a good relationship with them.
4. Follower Growth
Follower growth is another important element that you need to consider. It is especially crucial if the goal of your campaign is to grow your social media audience by a certain percentage in a particular length of time.
While your follower growth strategy can vary depending on the industry you belong to, giveaway campaigns usually yield good results. For example, you can organise a giveaway on your Instagram page. Make sure that everyone who wants to participate follows you and shares the info on their story. That way, you’ll gain exposure and new followers, which is a win-win situation.
At the end of a particular period you devoted to this metric, you can survey your audience and see whether your chosen strategy gave the results you were hoping for. This data can then tell you if there is anything you need to improve.
5. Social Share of Voice
Aside from looking at what you post, you also need to peek at what others post about you. You can do so by searching for the number of tags your company has on socials or how many times someone has just mentioned it by name.
While tags are excellent because they give other people a chance to check out your page directly, mentions are also an important metric. They let you know that people are talking about you. The more they do so, the more they’ll pique the interest of their own followers.
For this factor, you also need to take a look at your competitors. How many mentions are they getting? Is it more than you, or less? This info shows you where you stand compared to others in the same business, which can help you plan your next marketing move.
6. Viral Posts
All social media managers want their posts to go viral. After all, that kind of attention is proof that your post is reaching countless people and that they are all interacting with it, giving your business a fantastic boost. However, not every post can go viral.
To see how viral a post is, you need to compare impressions and shares. The more shares your post has versus the number of impressions, the more popular it is. But remember, there is no right or wrong when it comes to this percentage. As long as you are above 0, you are doing something right and can always improve.
7. Click-Through Rate
Last but certainly not least, you should also take into consideration your post’s click-through rate. Bear in mind that this metric is only important if your content comes with a call to action. For example, you can write something like “click here to find out more…”. The click-through ratio tells you how many users actually checked out the link.
You calculate this component by comparing the number of clicks to how many overall impressions a post has. The percentage you get can show you if you need to improve anything. In most cases, that includes making your post more engaging so that people will want to read about it in greater detail.
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To Sum Up
Keeping track of all social media metrics can be a real game-changer for any business owner. While each factor is telling on its own, combining them lets you examine the whole picture and see what’s working and what isn’t.
Aside from saving you money by helping you improve unsuccessful promo efforts, being aware of these metrics also saves you time. After all, running socials is a tiring and demanding job. By taking a comprehensive look at your strategy, you can know which area exactly to focus on to make your next campaign the best one yet.
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