HOW TO READ SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS AND OPTIMIZE YOUR STRATEGY ACCORDINGLY
This post was originally created as a guest blog post for our friends at MKW Creative Co.
Before putting any effort into your brand’s social media, it is important to establish goals as it will set the stage for the social media strategy to follow. Contrary to popular belief, social media is not a mindless game of just posting whatever, whenever. In fact, never post just to post. Behind every piece of content should be purpose backed by a strategy supporting set objectives.
So, what are you hoping to get out of social media for your business? The answer to this question will allow your digital marketer to know where to put most of their energy when planning content and what metrics to look at most when tracking analytics for social media.
Remember, the purpose of tracking social media analytics is to tie the metrics back to your goals and optimize your strategy going forward based on the insights found. Read on to discover the meaning of popular social media metrics and how to use them to inform your content strategy!
REACH
Reach is the number of users that have seen your post aka the number of users your post reached.
IMPRESSIONS
Impressions is the total number of times your post has been seen. It is not the same thing as reach because one user can view your post multiple times. Why would they do that? Likely because the content made an impression on them!
While reach only accounts for the number of users, impressions accounts for the number of times the content was seen by those users.
ENGAGEMENT
Engagement is any form of interaction on your post. There are several ways a user can engage with your content, including:
Likes
This is the number of users that double tapped or tapped the heart icon on your post.
Comments
This is the number of comments your post received.
Saves
This is the number of users that saved your post to refer back to later.
Shares
This is the number of users that sent the post to another account for viewing.
These metrics then contribute to your engagement rate, which is a percentage revealing the level of engagement your post received from those who saw it. The more likes, comments, saves, and shares a post has, the higher that post’s engagement rate.
To calculate the engagement rate of your post, use this formula:
Engagement rate = engagement / impressions OR followers
And remember:
Engagement = total number of likes + comments + saves + shares on your post
So, why is this important? A high engagement rate signals to the algorithm that the content is valuable and that users enjoyed seeing it. Therefore, the higher the engagement rate, the higher the chance of the post being pushed to more users by the algorithm. This “push” is done both via users’ home feeds and the explore page.
PROFILE VISITS
This is the number of times your profile was viewed.
WEBSITE CLICKS
This is the number of taps on the website in your profile.
FOLLOWERS
This is the number of accounts that follow you. It is also a vanity metric, meaning it’s a number that can make us feel good but doesn’t really tell us a lot. Regardless, it is a good metric to track routinely, especially if your goal is to increase brand awareness or grow your following.
INFORMING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
While each metric discussed is important to track, here is a breakdown of specific metrics to pay attention to based on certain goals:
If your immediate goal is to increase brand awareness, pay extra attention to and formulate your strategy around increasing…
Followers
Shares
If your immediate goal is to foster a relationship with your current audience, pay extra attention to and formulate your strategy around increasing…
Engagement rate, which is influenced by:
Likes
Comments
Saves
Shares
If your immediate goal is to increase sales, pay extra attention to and formulate your strategy around increasing…
Website clicks
Overall, when tracking analytics for social media, take note of what is doing well and continue doing it. If something is not resonating with your audience as expected, consider trying out something else! Repeat this process each time when tracking monthly social media analytics to continue optimizing your strategy.
HELPFUL TOOLS
This can be A LOT- we know! Luckily, we have plenty of resources available to help you. Here are a few of our most popular:
For general analytics assistance...
Social Media Analytics Terminology and Definitions
This download contains even more metric definitions, broken down by each social platform!
For increasing engagement...
For increasing brand awareness/growing your following...
We hope this blog post was helpful for you in learning more about social media analytics and how they can inform your social media strategy! Want more organic social media analytics tips? Check out our latest course on social media analytics, Decode Your Data. Enjoy!
xx- The Homies of Homemade Social
