Ace the Analytics with Top Social Media Metrics Worth Tracking

Katie Cooper

Crafting that killer post for a social media channel can leave even the most experienced marketer scratching his or her head. Factor in analytics and measuring the effectiveness of your efforts without a firm grasp of what your business gains from a “like”, and putting together a social strategy can seem like an impossible task. Many of these terms are common in the world of traditional marketing, but understanding how they are considered relevant online becomes key. Short, sweet and easy – let’s get back to basics with these key social media metrics to become familiar with when digging into data:

• Conversions: From post to action, this metric refers to the number of people that made it from point A to point B successfully on your social channels. Based on the goals driving your brand’s social efforts, this could be seen as an individual signing up for a newsletter, purchasing a product, completing a promotion form, etc.
  
• Engagement: For any particular post, this is seen as the total number of likes, shares and comments received. Naturally, the more people engaged with a post, the more effective the messaging. Shares hold most weight since they expand your audience, with comments and likes falling next in line respectively.
  
• Funnels: Paths taken by a user towards conversion. A user may start at a Facebook post with a link to your website’s homepage, move from your website’s homepage to your website’s online shop and then from shop to checkout. Hello, sales. Thank you, Facebook.
  
• Organic Reach: The total number of unique people who saw your content in a select time frame based on both people who have liked your page and people who haven’t. Reaching eyeballs organically, especially on Facebook, has become increasingly difficult, which is why ads and boosted posts are important tactics to factor into any social media strategy.
  
• Paid Reach: The total number of unique people who saw an ad or Sponsored Story created by your page.
  
• Viral Reach: The total number of unique people who saw a post from your page after it was shared by a fan.
  
• Impressions: The total number of people who a saw a post by your page in conjunction with the number of times the post was shown.

Once you’ve got a grasp on the basics, make sure you’ve got the right tools in place for compiling the numbers. Setting up Google Analytics for your website and social channels is a no-brainer and will generate reports essential for building out a full-blown plan for social media victory.

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