The social media KPIs you should be tracking
By Matilda Ekström
Most corporate companies that are active on social media want to create successful content that connects with their target audiences. But how exactly do you know if your post has been successful? And how can you pinpoint areas of improvement? Well, it all comes down to tracking the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Why set social media KPIs?
The answer is quite simple. Setting KPIs allows you to measure the success of your social media posts and campaigns and — most importantly — adapt your strategy to improve your social media performance. In other words: all corporate companies with a social media presence should track at least the most basic KPIs.
Track different types of KPIs
The number of followers you have on your social media channels are important. However, a high follower number doesn't necessarily mean you're doing well. For instance, if you have over 10,000 followers but only a few likes per post, well, then you need to rethink your strategy. In fact, to actually know how well your company is doing on social media, you have to measure a combination of different types of metrics.
Reach
As the name implies, Reach KPIs track how many people you reach through your social media channels. These KPIs don't tell you anything about if and how much your audience actually engage with your content (more on that below) - they simply tell you how big of an audience sees your posts. Examples of Reach KPIs are:
- Follower count: I'll let your figure out what this one means!
- Reach: tracks how many people have seen your post
- Impressions: number of times your post was showcased to people. One person may have several impressions for the same post
- Social share of voice: number of people that talk about your brand in comparison to your competitors' brands
Engagement
Engagement KPIs track how many people interact with your post. These KPIs tell you whether you're actually connecting with your audience through your content, or just generate content that your audience scroll past. Engagement KPIs include:
- Likes: how many likes your posts get
- Clicks: clicks in all shapes and forms. It may mean a click on a link in your LinkedIn post, a tap to read the full Instagram caption, or perhaps a click on your Facebook page
- Comments: you guessed it - this measures how many comments you get. As comments are not always a sign of appreciation, this figure needs to be interpreted with caution!
- Shares: how many times your content has been shared by users
Conversion
Conversion KPIs measure how many of the interactions with your content result in an action, such as visiting your website. If you have a high conversion rate, your social media strategy is working (yay!). Conversion KPIs include:
- Conversion rate: measures the percentage of the total number of clicks that turn into an action as specified in your CTA. For instance, if your post gets 10 clicks, and 5 of those clicks turn into website visits (if this was your CTA), your conversion rate is 50%
- Bounce rate: tracks the percentage of users who took the action specified in your content, e.g., clicked on a link to your website, but then left your website straight away. The lower the bounce rate, the better!
Top 5 most important KPIs to track
Finding the right KPIs to track can be overwhelming. Perhaps you don't have the time and resources to stay on top of 15+ KPIs for your social media channels. So, as a start, which ones should you track?
- Follower count: to get an overview of how many people have found your platform and wants to see your updates
- Impressions: to see if you reach your audiences
- Comments: Unlike Likes, comments indicate that your content is engaging enough for audiences to discuss
- Clicks: gives you an idea about if people actively reads your content or follow CTAs
- Conversion rate: the ultimate indicator of whether your audience takes the action you want
Further reading:
Social media KPIs by Sprout Social
Reach vs impressions by Sprout Social
Social media KPIs by Hootsuite
How to increase share of voice by Hootsuite
12 social media KPIs you should be tracking by Hopper
Social media KPIs by Kontentino
Get in touch
Need help deciding which KPIs to track? We have plenty of experienced consultants ready to help. Don't hesitate to contact us.
