Data creates a better understanding of performance in every aspect of life. Arguably, our civilization and modern society could not exist or be successful if it were not for analytics. The indispensable dependence we have on data measurement influences all areas of our lives, from quantitative to financial. Collecting and analyzing data is essential to measure and track the success of a campaign and gauge its performance. This is where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in. A KPI is a measurement overtime of the performance of a specific objective that is quantifiable. KPIs are pivotal because they provide clear goals for teams to work toward and help organizations make better decisions. KPIs are not exclusive to a specific industry and are an important strategic aspect in all areas of business including digital marketing. Where it gets tricky is when KPIs are diluted with vanity metrics. It’s important to note the difference between a vanity metric, like follower count, and a KPI. A vanity metric is data that doesn’t directly lead to a course of action and is not a clear indicator of the health of an organization. In this article we will explore a few popular examples of social media KPIs and vanity metrics.
SOCIAL MEDIA KPIs
Social media has proven to be a key puzzle piece for digital marketing strategies. It has been a valuable tool for organizations to reach their target audience. Social media’s most significant benefit is allowing organizations to collect data and gauging their campaigns performance like never before. Digital marketing consists of different tactics like email marketing, pay-per-click, and social media. KPIs help organizations understand how their digital marketing strategies are performing and if goals are being reached. Social Media KPIs help organizations understand effectiveness, ROI and contribution to their overall digital strategy goals. How a digital campaign is implemented differs by tactic, and as a campaign is executed it can change drastically in order to ensure goals are accomplished. Since KPIs are determined by goals, indicators that work for one campaign may not suit another. Regardless, some KPIs are more frequently used than others. Social media KPIs that are applicable to virtually every campaign include: engagement rate, clicks, and conversions.
Engagement Rate:
An engagement rate is typically the most significant KPI and is an umbrella term that many social media subset metrics fall under. Shares, post clicks, profile visits, mentions, comments, and likes are all key engagement rate factors that when welded together creates a picture of the way followers interact with content. A higher engagement rate is equivalent to increased reach potential and means the content is truly resonating with the platform audience. An important engagement rate submetric is a Share. Its name varies by platform but they all do the same thing: share information from one profile to another profile's audience. Shares cannot be overlooked in the process of measuring your engagement rate. When posts are being shared this means your audience finds the content appealing which contributes to producing a higher engagement rate.
Clicks:
No matter your campaign objective, social media advertising clicks are an important KPI. Looking at click-through-rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC) in particular. CTR is a percentage that indicates how many times a piece of content was clicked by the audience it was served to. CTR is important because it measures the effectiveness of your ad creative and placement. The well-known CPC is another KPI used to gauge clicks. It exemplifies the price to pay for a click and it helps to understand how much one click costs and what competition may be around driving up or down the price.
Conversions:
Conversions are one of the most watched KPI’s and are simply the amount of visitors who perform an action. It could be anything from scheduling a consultation to buying a product or filling out a webform. Conversions help organizations accomplish their goals so if a social media campaign is producing a high conversion rate, this means the creative and strategy is working well. If a social media campaign is producing little conversions then this tells the organization to revisit the strategy and make adjustments.
SOCIAL MEDIA VANITY METRICS
Virtually all users desire a spectacular presence on social media. Many organizations tend to care deeply about followers, mentions, and impressions because it appears to make them look successful. Although such metrics do matter, they are considered vanity metrics. Vanity metrics are measurable data sets that outwardly make the account look authoritative. However, on the contrary to KPIs, vanity metrics can be misleading when calculating an organization's overall growth.The glitter on these figures fade quickly when it comes to reporting significant outcomes such as the organizational growth, revenue and return on investment (ROI).
Follower Count:
A commonly tracked vanity metric is follower count. From a social proof point of view, followers matter to prove authority; however, from lead generation or sales standpoint, an account requires more than just a bunch of followers. Follower count is easy to manipulate because, most of the time, it’s regarded as intrinsically having a value on its own. On the surface a large number of followers seems great, but if very few of them are engaging or purchasing, how successful are you?
Mentions:
In social media, "mentions" refer to the amount of times a brand is talked about. A mention is when a brand is tagged in a post, story or comment. No matter what it is, negative or positive mentions do raise brand awareness and are an effective supporter for brand recognition. Mentions are a lot like follower count, it adds value but the data can’t be solely relied upon as a way to make strategic business decisions.
Impressions:
The measurement of Impressions refers to the number of people who have seen a post but didn’t necessarily click, comment or engage with the content. Impressions have value because it measures the ability to get content in front of people, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into informed decision making therefore making it a vanity metric.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In order to move the needle on business goals, KPIs need to be distinguished from vanity metrics. It can be hard to sort through data and decide what actually helps versus what looks good on a report. Vanity metrics do hold some value because they are indicators on how content performs, but at the same time they need to be understood as what they are. If you find yourself unsure if a piece of data is a vanity metric or a KPI ask yourself, “does this data lead to a clear actionable business decision?”. If the answer is no, then you’re probably dealing with a vanity metric. A true KPI is going to allow a business to make informed decisions that satisfy business needs and goals. Looking for assistance with defining social media KPIs for your organization? Email samantha@s-alchemy.com.