In today’s increasingly digital age, the success of a brand can hinge on its social media strategy. Having a social media presence is no longer enough, brands need to get into the metaphorical metric trenches and gain a solid grasp on tracking in order to leverage data to their advantage.

In this blog, we explore the essential social media metrics for each social media platform in 2024, as well as distinguish between vanity metrics and meaningful data that’s aligned with a brand’s KPI’s.

Getting clued up: what are social media metrics and why do they matter?

Social media metrics use data to evaluate the effectiveness of a brand’s marketing strategy on revenue generation. They act as a very useful barometer in providing insights into engagement, content performance, and overall brand impact. Tracking and analysing the metrics of each post enables brands to gauge whether their strategy is achieving its desired impact. Metrics expose audience preferences and provide companies with relevant data to refine their products in an informed way. These insights are a powerful arsenal for any brand, equipping them with a greater understanding of content impact and ROI, which in turn enables growth, enhanced engagement and optimised performance.

Getting on track: tracking metrics to achieve performance goals.

There are a host of platforms on the market that analyse tracking metrics to offer insights into engagement, reach, and audience demographics. Tools such as SocialPilot provide streamlined monitoring for multiple clients’ accounts, as well as effective tracking to enable businesses to gather data to inform actionable insights, informed decision-making and strategy refinement.

Getting to grips: key social media metrics to track

Average Engagement Rate (AER): Measure of interaction level between posts and audience, indicative of marketing effectiveness.

Applause Rate: Evaluation of approval actions ( i.e. favourites) on posts, reflecting perceived value by the audience.

Conversion Rate: Key indicator of revenue generation from social media marketing efforts, including various user actions.

Brand Awareness: Assessment of brand visibility and recognition, crucial for word-of-mouth marketing.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC): Calculation of advertising expenditure per click, essential for optimising ad spend allocation.

Click-through Rate (CTR): Measure of post/ad effectiveness in driving user clicks, indicating the relevance and appeal of content.

Virality Rate: Evaluation of content shareability and potential to reach broader audiences, essential for amplifying brand reach.

Cost-Per-Mile (CPM): Assessment of advertising cost per thousand impressions, helping with efficient budget allocation and performance optimisation.

Bounce Rate: Indicator of landing page/user engagement, critical for evaluating content relevance and audience retention.

Follower Count and Growth: Monitoring of audience size and growth rate, helping to assess brand influence and market expansion.

Getting it right: using metrics in core social media platforms 

Instagram (IG): Beyond counting likes and followers, the focus should shift towards engagement metrics such as comments, shares, and saves. These metrics reflect genuine interactions with content, indicating audience interest and resonance. Additionally, by tracking profile visits and website clicks you can gauge the effectiveness of your call-to-action (CTA) strategies. IG Stories metrics (i.e. completion rate and swipe-up response) offer insights into the effectiveness of content, as well as user engagement.

Facebook (FB): Engagement metrics are the greatest indicator of the impact of content on Facebook. Tracking likes, comments, and shares, enables you to assess content performance and audience engagement. Whilst, the reach and impressions of a post provides understanding of the extent of how visible your content is, and video metrics (i.e. duration and completion rate) provide valuable feedback into the effectiveness of video content. Tracking conversion metrics ( i.e. purchases and revenue) is imperative for measuring ROI for businesses with Facebook Shops.

Pinterest: This platform is driven by discovery and inspiration, which is why it’s important to prioritise metrics such as clicks, saves, and outbound link clicks. These data indicate content relevance and audience intent, whilst pin engagement rate and virality metrics offer insights into content amplification and resonance with audience. 

TikTok: TikTok’s unique format calls for specialised metrics beyond the traditional social platforms we’ve explored. Completion rate, average watch time, and shares offer the most insight into the effectiveness of content and audience engagement. Tracking follower growth rate and engagement rate provides understanding of how content is resonating. On TikTok, it’s crucial to delve into audience demographics and interests to tailor content strategy for maximum impact.

LinkedIn:  Since LinkedIn caters to a professional audience, the focus on metrics must be aligned with the B2B objectives. Tracking likes, comments, and shares will help you gauge content resonance and audience interest. Whilst, tracking click-through rates on shared links allows you to assess the effectiveness of your content in driving website traffic and conversions. The platform also offers valuable insights into audience demographics and job titles, enabling targeted content and outreach strategies.

X (formerly Twitter): The most effective way to track metrics on X is through platform-specific functionalities and business goals, and by prioritising metrics that reflect audience engagement, content resonance, and conversion actions. The task is to continuously iterate and adapt metrics to reflect these data and insights into evolving user behaviours. 

Getting aligned: ensuring metrics line up with KPI’s

While prioritising metrics like followers and likes may be tempting, focusing solely on these vanity metrics distracts from meaningful insights that could be driving business objectives. The key is to align metrics with your KPI’s – whether it’s raising brand awareness, driving sales, or improving user loyalty – to ensure ROI and the achievement of core business goals. 

For example, if the goal is to drive awareness, you should focus on reach-related metrics such as impressions and shares. Whilst, if the goal is to drive conversions, you should prioritise metrics like click-through rates and conversion rates.

Final thoughts… 

In order to survive and thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of social media, businesses can no longer rely on social presence alone. They must leverage data-driven insights, aligning them with their KPI’s in order to maximise impact and ROI. By tracking and analysing key metrics across platforms, brands can make iterations, refining their strategies to enhance audience engagement, and, ultimately, drive sustainable growth. 

In 2024, the only option is for a strategic approach that exceeds surface-level metrics. Prioritising metrics that align with core business goals, and reflect genuine audience engagement, enables brands to unlock valuable insights. This will inform their social media strategies and drive tangible results. By steering clear of vanity metrics and prioritising meaningful insights, brands can set themselves on the path to success on their social media journey.