You’ve set up a Twitter account, you’re up and running on Facebook, and maybe even started your very own YouTube channel. You’ve probably invested LOADS of time into pinpointing and building out an effective social media strategy to reach your business goals. You’ve got a system in place to continually be churning out content to your audience in the hopes of building up your brand and skyrocketing your social media presence.
You must be knocking it out of the park, right?
Well…not so fast.
It is definitely not that simple.
You can pour hours and hours into social media (not to mention boatloads of cash into Facebook and Twitter ads) but if you’re not checking in and evaluating how your social media posts are even performing… you have no way of knowing if you’re realizing a positive ROI with social media…or if it’s all just a big old waste.
Luckily, there are 4 insanely easy ways to check up on your social media efforts and see if they’re helping you, hurting you, or…doing nothing at all.
Here are 4 metrics you NEED to keep tabs on if you have any hopes of executing a killer social media marketing strategy.
What it is:
Exposure is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: how many people are being exposed to your social media accounts, posts, and overall brand presence on each platform. The more eyes you can get on your social media posts, the better chances you have of those viewers clicking through to your page, landing on your site, and converting into full-blown customers.
How to Check it:
Honing in on your exposure varies by social media platform, but for Twitter, looking at the number of followers you have, and the followers of any accounts who retweet your content is a great way to track your potential Twitter exposure.
Facebook Insights along with the number of “likes” your Facebook page has can give you a pretty detailed estimate of how your Facebook game stacks up.
What it is:
Measuring engagement is simple! Likes, shares, comments, and retweets are all considered forms of social media “engagement”.
How to check it:
The lifeblood of social media, engagement is easy-peasy to check up on.
This is exactly what notifications are there to notify you about – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and even Snapchat are all very overt when it comes to notifying you of any engagement with your social media posts and content.
You’d have to live under a rock to miss this key social media metric!
What it is:
A bit harder to read, influence is the effect your post has on your audience — is it positive, negative, or neutral?
This can be hard to quantify in some cases, but it’s an important thing to keep in mind, nonetheless!
How to check it:
Comments are usually pretty clear as to whether someone is reacting positively or negatively to your social media post.
Likes and shares can be more ambiguous, but generally indicate that the follower who “liked” your post agrees with whatever you’re saying. Again, it’s harder to quantify, but important to track nonetheless – you don’t want to do anything that hurts your brand’s image!
What is it:
The end goal with any marketing strategy, action refers to the “call to action” you’re including in your social media post.
If you’re asking your audience to leave a comment answering a question, that’s the action you want to watch for. If you’re asking them to click a link to learn more, then that’s what you need to keep an eye on instead.
How to check it:
This depends 100% on the specific action you’re asking your audience to take in your post, but looking at shares, likes, and comments can all give you the information you need.
If you’re asking your audience to click through a link, use a tracking URL (like bitly) [link to tracking URL post once it’s live] to make sure you can keep tabs on how many click-throughs each post is garnering.
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