Social media metrics that are more important than followers
Of course we all want more followers on social media because typically more followers should equal more money for your business, right?
Theoretically, yes, the more people in your audience should equal business growth, but if the people in your audience aren’t your ideal client/customers and/or aren’t engaged then you’re probably going to hear a whole lot of crickets when it comes to selling your products/services.
So it’s time to stop focusing on how many followers you have and how many likes your posts get and start focusing on these social media metrics instead:
POST SHARES AND SAVES
You’ll find these in your individual post insights or you can look at them in your Insights under Content Interactions.
Not only has Instagram said that saves and shares are favored by the algorithm over likes but it also is a great indication that your content is resonating with others. Think about it, if you love someone’s post that has a helpful tip you want to remember, you save it. If it really resonates, you share it with a friend or post to your stories.
Being favored by the algorithm and just generally having others share your content is exactly how more people see your content and you can organically expand your audience.
I like to keep an eye on the shares and saves when I post each piece of content so I can see how it’s performing live. But I also will go into my Insights and look at this overall to see if I can identify any trends in my content that get a lot of shares and saves, which leads me to…
TOP POSTS/TOP STORIES
This gives you insight into what is resonating with your audience so you can work to replicate that type of content. I like to sort my top posts in the Insights and look at them a bunch of different ways. For example:
What had the most impressions over the last 30 days?
What had the most shares over the last 30 days?
What had the most comments over the last 30 days?
What had the most website taps over the last 30 days?
And so on…
Then I’ll do that again but sort by year-to-date to see if they’re similar at all. I’ll make note of things I see in the posts (Is it of my face or a location? Are colors similar? Are the captions about similar topics? etc.) That way I can understand better what my audience likes and can use it to improve future posts.
I also will use this to guide my content marketing strategy. If I notice a post performed exceptionally well but I haven’t written a blog post about it yet, I’ll do that. Or I’ll share it with my email list, etc. Repurpose when you can!
NUMBER OF COMMENTS AND DMS YOU GET
If you ask me, this is what social media is all about… actual conversations! This is my top priority when it comes to my social media strategy and my clients’ social media strategies.
While I mentally keep track of this day to day, you can sort your Insights to show what content got the most comments and what stories got the most replies or interactions.
For me this is the real indication that your content is reaching the right audience and it allows you to continue conversations in a really authentic way because you know they already have something in common. As these comments and DMs roll in, make sure you’re responding to them and going and checking out their account (follow, comment, etc. if they’re your people to continue that relationship!)
Keep those relationships going strong!
PROFILE VISITS
You’ll find how many profile visits you get under Accounts Reached in your Insights. You can also see how many people visited your profile from one post by looking at your individual post insights.
This is another great indicator that your content is resonating with others or that your networking strategy is paying off!
If people are seeing your posts and then going to your account, that means they want more from you because that liked what they initially saw.
If you’ve been implementing a networking strategy and you notice an uptick in your profile visits, that means your networking strategy is also catching their eye and they want to check out who you are and what you’re all about.
If you are implementing a networking strategy and you’re seeing an uptick in your profile visits but not followers, continue what you’re doing but make a slight change to see if you can add a more personal touch. For example, instead of just liking a couple of posts, try leaving a thoughtful comment and see if that converts them to a follower instead. Or try changing up where you’re finding people to engage with… they might not be your ideal audience after all!
WEBSITE TAPS
The point of using social media as a brand is well, to grow your brand, right? Most of the time that means you want to convert those in your social media audience to customers, clients, or readers. And a lot of the time, that requires sending them to your website which is why I like to keep an eye on my website taps. Again you can see a broad overview of how many website taps you’ve gotten in a certain timeframe or you can see how many people tapped to your website from an individuals post’s (or story’s) insights.
You can see if your content is resonating and getting them to head to your website to learn more and/or purchase.
You can learn what CTAs are most effective with your audience.
And you can learn if your website might need a little TLC too.
If a lot of people are clicking over to your website but you’re not seeing any conversions (or not as many as you’d like) that may be an indication that your website needs a little help. This could be in your copywriting, visuals, user-experience, etc. What it is that needs the TLC will require more digging but this could simply be an indication that you need to look into it!
I think the most important thing to keep in mind when looking at your analytics is how does this all fit into your bigger marketing strategy. My best performing posts don’t promote my services at all. They’re inspiring and highly shareable graphics. My least performing posts are often tips like this that show off my expertise or are selling my services.
But you need both for a well-rounded social media strategy and for your overall marketing strategy.
Don’t get too hung up on the numbers. Use them as a tool to identify areas that are performing well, areas that could use some improvement, and areas of opportunity… all while keeping the big picture in mind!
Want More?
Light your brand growth on fire with one of my intensive marketing strategies.