It is no secret that having a social media presence for your brand is important. However, equally as important are the brand’s social media metrics, which demonstrate the overall success of a post over time. Brands that track, analyze and understand their social media metrics benefit by obtaining a better understanding of their business goals, social profile and overall brand health.
Among the dozens of social media metrics available to track, it is common to feel overwhelmed or unsure of which metrics are actually relevant to the brand’s success. Below are five simple, yet essential social media metrics your brand should be watching right now.
Engagement
When an interaction occurs on your post, such as a public share, comment or like, it is referred to as engagement. Being able to interact with an audience is one of the biggest benefits of having a social media presence for your brand. Because of social media, brands have the ability to connect and engage with customers like never before; and an increase in shares, comments and likes boosts brand awareness.
Impressions
Impressions measures the number of times your content is displayed in front of a user. Often confused with reach, a post’s impressions are a great way to measure brand awareness because it shows the number of times the content has been seen by users, whether they engaged with the post or not.
Reach
If impressions measure the number of times the content is displayed, reach measures the number of people who see the content. For example, if one user sees the same content displayed on two different occasions, then the reach is one and impressions, two.
Followers
In some cases, the number of followers a page has isn’t always as important as how engaged the followers are. However, there are many benefits to growing a following on social media, such as extending the brand’s network, increasing reach and more.
Mentions
Tracking mentions are a great way to measure brand awareness and learn who is talking about the brand online. Tracking mentions allows you to get to know your customers, react in real time, find and engage with new customers, track hashtag performances and more.
In the end, having a presence on social media and tracking metrics should go hand-in-hand. Without tracking metrics, your brand will not reap the benefits from the digital world of social media.