There are many reasons marketers should track social media KPIs. The most important reason for monitoring social media KPIs is that it helps marketers better serve their audience. By understanding which metrics best represent the people they are trying to reach, brands can create content with a more profound sense of resonance and drive more effective results in terms of engagement and conversion rates.
Regular monitoring of KPIs can help marketers identify opportunities for new content and strategies that could effectively reach their goals and help ensure that social media efforts remain on track and produce the desired results.
What Is A KPI?
KPIs, or key performance indicators, are metrics used to track and measure a company’s or organization’s progress.
In the context of social media, some common KPIs include the number of followers or fans a page has, the level of engagement, the number of likes, shares, and comments on posts, and the percentage of people who take action after viewing a post, such as clicking through to a website or filling out a form.
When tracking your KPIs, it’s also essential to remember that social media KPIs are just one part of your marketing strategy. Monitor other vital metrics, such as website traffic, conversion rate, and cost per lead to get a complete picture of your marketing performance.
Regularly tracking your KPIs will ensure that you’re making progress toward your goals by providing insight that allows you to optimize and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Social Media KPIs: Reach
Follower Count
Your follower count is a key metric to measure the success of your social media strategy. This number represents the people who have chosen to follow your account and see your content in their feeds. A high follower count indicates that you have a solid online presence and are connecting with your audience. Growing your follower count should be a priority for any business or individual using social media to promote their brand. To increase your follower count, ensure you’re producing high-quality content that resonates with your audience. People who enjoy what you’re posting are more likely to follow you and share your content with others.
Impressions
An impression is a key performance indicator (KPI) that measures the number of times an ad is displayed, even if it’s not clicked. The impressions metric is considered when measuring an advertising campaign’s reach and frequency. Marketers often use impression data to determine how many people saw their ad and calculate their cost per lead.
Impressions are one of the most commonly used metrics to measure the success of online advertising campaigns. They’re a good indicator of how visible your ads are, but they don’t tell you anything about whether or not people are clicking on them. For that reason, impressions are best used in conjunction with other metrics like click-through rate (CTR).
Reach
Reach is an important metric to measure because it can give you an idea of your content’s success in getting in front of your target audience. A reach KPI measures how many people your content has potentially been seen and refers to other metrics such as total impressions, unique viewers, or video views. If you’re trying to increase brand awareness or grow your audience, you’ll want to focus on increasing reach as it represents overall visibility.
Traffic
Traffic is the number of people who visit your website or page. Your traffic can be measured in two ways: total visits and unique visitors. Total visits are the number of times your website has been visited, while unique visitors are the number of unique IP addresses that have visited your website.
Your website’s traffic is an essential KPI because it indicates how well marketing campaigns are performing. If you see a decline in traffic, it could mean that you need to rethink your marketing strategy or improve the design and content of your website or page.
Social Media KPIs: Engagement
Clicks
A click is a key performance indicator that helps you measure how well your content performs. A click is counted when a user clicks on a link, button, or image.
Monitoring clicks is necessary because it helps you determine whether people find what they’re looking for on your page. If people aren’t clicking on anything, it might be because your content isn’t providing what they need or doesn’t interest your audience. Use this data to make changes and improve your user experience.
Click-Through Rate
As a key performance indicator, CTR can be a helpful metric (again) for understanding how successful your advertising or other online campaigns are. A high CTR indicates that users find your ads or content relevant and interesting, leading to more sales or conversions. Conversely, a low CTR suggests your content needs improvement.
There are several different ways to calculate click-through rates. One is to take the number of clicks on an ad or link divided by the number of impressions. For example, if an ad is displayed 100 times and gets ten clicks, its CTR would be 10%.
Likes
Likes can be an important KPI for brands and businesses on social media. A high number of likes can signify that your content is resonating with your audience; at their most basic, likes are a way for users to show their approval or agreement with a post, but they don’t necessarily indicate the quality of the content. It’s essential to remember that likes are just one metric among many and shouldn’t be used as the sole measure of success.
Shares
A “share” on social media is a metric that reveals how many times other users have shared your content with other users. It’s important to track because it measures your content’s virality and indicates how likely it is to be seen by new audiences. Social media platforms use “shares” as a factor in their algorithms to determine which pieces of content are shown to users on their feeds. So, the more shares your content receives, the more likely it is to be seen by more people.
Comments
Comments are the lifeblood of the online ecosystem – they help us measure engagement, improve our content, and build a community around shared interests. As a KPI, comments indicate how well content is resonating with readers. Comments provide valuable feedback for content creators trying to understand what their audience is looking for.
Brand Mentions
A brand mention is when a brand is referenced in any content, whether it’s a blog post, tweet, Facebook post, etc. Brand mentions are essential for brands because they help create awareness and visibility. Additionally, if people are talking positively about your brand online, it shows you have a strong market presence.
Social Media KPIs: Leads And Conversion
Cost Per Lead
A Cost Per Lead (CPL) metric is used in online marketing to track the costs associated with acquiring new customers. CPL is calculated by dividing the total cost of marketing efforts by the number of leads generated. So, for example, if you spend $1,000 on marketing and acquire 100 leads, your CPL would be $10.
While there are many ways to calculate CPL, most businesses use either a “hard” or “soft” CPL calculation. Hard CPL measures only those leads that result in an actual sale, while soft CPL includes all leads, regardless of whether they resulted in a sale.
Several factors can affect your CPL, including the cost of your marketing efforts, the conversion rate of your website, and the quality of your leads. To lower your CPL, you’ll need to focus on generating high-quality leads more likely to convert into customers.
Customer Lifetime Value
CLV, or “customer lifetime value,” is a key performance indicator that measures the financial value of each customer over the entire duration of their relationship with a business. It considers how much money a customer spends on products or services and how likely they are to return and refer others.
Businesses use CLV to measure the financial impact of customer acquisition and retention efforts and determine the optimal amount to invest in acquiring and retaining customers. Ultimately, CLV is an essential metric for gauging the overall success of a business’ customer-centric strategies.
Sales Revenue
A sales revenue is a key performance indicator that measures the total income generated by a company through the sale of its products and services. It is a vital metric for businesses as it provides insights into the overall health and performance of the company.
Sales revenue is divided into two main categories: gross and net sales revenue. Gross sales revenue is the total amount of money generated from the sale of products before deductions are made. Net sales revenue is the amount of money remaining after deductions, such as discounts, returns, and taxes. Sales revenue is typically measured on a monthly or annual basis.
Lead Conversion Rate
Your lead conversion rate is a key performance indicator (KPI) that tells you how effectively your marketing efforts turn leads into paying customers. It’s calculated by dividing the number of paying customers by the total number of leads generated.
Ideally, you want your lead conversion rate to be as high as possible so that you’re not wasting time and money on marketing activities that don’t produce results.
How To Track Social Media KPIs Using Publer
With so many platforms out there, tracking key performance indicators across several channels becomes difficult. Publer’s analytics tool easily tracks important metrics across all platforms, meaning all your social media KPIs are at your fingertips with just a click! You can access these insights from an easy-to-use dashboard designed to provide valuable insight aiding future decisions for marketing campaigns.
The days of spending throwing away resources on complex analytics solutions are gone for good! Here are a few of the insights you can access directly from Publer’s all-in-one dashboard:
- Likes
- Reach
- Engagement
- Clicks
- Video Views
Publer helps you make the most of your metrics—get in touch with our team to find out more!
Key Takeaways
Without tracking KPIs, there is no way to measure the success of your initiatives or brand overall. Tracking social media KPIs gives you greater insight into the behaviors and preferences of your audience. By tracking KPIs, you gain the knowledge needed to customize campaigns to maximize reach, engagement, and profitability.
Let’s recap the main benefits of monitoring your social media KPIs:
- Track campaign performance
- Improves engagement
- Aids in setting better goals and benchmarks
- Increases revenue
- Identifies areas for improvement
Which KPIs do you use to track your performance? Let us know in the comments section below!
Ervin Kalemi
