KPIs or Key Performance Indicators are metrics that tell you – or indicate – how well your website or social media posts are performing. If you have used the built in analytical tools on any of your social media accounts to monitor things like reach or engagement, then you are examining your KPIs.
Here are the ones that you should be checking.
1. Impressions
Impressions are the number of times any content from your page or social accounts has been visible on a person’s screen. It tracks how many times your content has been shown on different social media feeds. Impressions can be counted for each instance of your content being seen, meaning that even if the same person views your posts multiple times, it will still count as 2 impressions for each occasion.
2. Reach
Reach can provide more accurate information than impressions about the number of people that saw your posts. As reach increases it can indicate higher interest or awareness in your social accounts, products, or business. Reach can be useful when monitored alongside other KPIs like engagement to measure the effectiveness of your social content and posts can be made that encourage more reach.
3. Followers
The number of people that follow your accounts. The higher this number the more visibility your posts will have, leading to a better chance of likes, saves, and shares. This number can rise or fall based upon your content and how it resonated with your audience. It is a good indicator of growth and overall success of your social media accounts. Monitor the number carefully, if it starts to drop rapidly it could mean that you are doing something that is turning off your audience.
4. Clicks
When someone clicks on your content this action is recorded and a high instance of clicks can mean that a particular post is popular with followers. For content creators this can be helpful information when attempting design posts that resonate with an audience. More clicks mean the post was well received, less clicks means that it missed the mark. Many businesses invest in professional social media management to increase their number of clicks and followers.
5. Likes
As your social accounts grow and collect more followers the rate of clicks and likes should increase. If they don’t it can mean that something isn’t working and it might be time to reassess your strategy. As followers of your accounts increase you should experience organic growth of your post likes.
6. Comments
If someone is commenting on your posts or asking questions that could mean that they have an interest in your brand. Comments provide a great opportunity to connect with your audience and each comment should be responded to; it’s great PR. Speaking directly with your audience gives you an opportunity to build brand loyalty and trust. The more comments you receive, the more opportunities you have to make a real connection and pitch your product or services.
7. Shares
When you first start building your social media accounts, getting people to share your content can seem almost impossible. Shares indicate that your content has been really well received and is resonating at a high level with your followers. Number of shares are important as they can expand your reach substantially, placing your content in front of an entirely new audience to raise awareness of your brand.
8. Click Through Rate
Click through rate or CTR is a way of measuring the amount of clicks that a call to action or external link acquires. It is an important metric for paid advertising KPIs. For example, if you have made a post that includes a link back to your website the click through rate will show as the total number of clicks divided by number of impressions. The resulting percentage is your click through rate. Higher numbers mean that your content or ad is successful, low numbers mean it is not relevant to your intended audience.
9. Bounce
Bounce is one of the few metrics where a low number is better. Unlike follows, clicks, and impressions that strive to reach large digits, your bounce rate needs to be low. It is used to measure the amount of visits to your website or blog and how quickly the user leaves again. So a 100% bounce rate means that visitors click on and click away from your website in under a couple of seconds. This can mean that your site content is not relevant or that it loads too slowly resulting in visitors exiting swiftly.
10. Conversions
This KPI records the success of a desired action. If you have run an ad that requires a lead form filling in, or that is designed to make customer’s complete a purchase, your conversion rate measures the success of that action. This metric can help marketers or content creators design content and ads that possess a higher chance of success. Once you understand what compels your audience to take action you can use it to your advantage and craft content that achieves strong results.
Final words
While reviewing KPIs can yield lots of valuable information they are not much use if not acted upon. KPIs can provide reasons, root causes and indications of positive or negative behaviour, so it is important to drill down into the ‘why’ of success or failure to uncover the underlying causes. This information can then be used to chart a successful course for your social media accounts, paid advertising, or website content.
Smarcomms can help you tailor a successful social media strategy for your business. Learn more about our expert social media services and partner with us here.