\n Ready to track your social media metrics? <\/p>
Paying attention to metrics is essential for understanding what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not so that you can make smart decisions moving forward. Metrics also play a big role in competitive benchmarking. If you want to know how well you\u2019re doing in comparison to your competition, having quantitative data to compare side-by-side is invaluable.<\/p>\n
The tricky part, though, is identifying which metrics are the most important ones to track for your brand.<\/p>\n
The social media metrics that matter most to your business will depend on your social media goals at that moment in time. Maybe you just launched your account and want to focus on building your follower base. Or perhaps, your main priority is to get your audience more invested in your brand on social. Whatever your goal, you can bet that there are metrics that\u2019ll provide insight into how well you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
So, to help you identify your brand\u2019s most important metrics, let\u2019s go through the most popular ones to measure and dive into why they\u2019re so useful.<\/p>\n
Top 10 social media metrics to know<\/h2>\n1. Audience Size and Growth<\/h3>\n
As you can probably guess, audience size<\/b> is all about how big your social media audience is. It can be easily identified by looking at the number of followers you have on a particular social platform. (To get your cross-channel audience size, simply add up the number of followers you have on each platform.)<\/p>\n
On the other hand, audience growth <\/b>focuses on how many new followers you\u2019ve gained within a certain period of time. This is often presented as a percent growth rate, but some platforms will simply report your net change in followers.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the difference between the two formats? Net change is a flat number (e.g. you\u2019ve gained 5K followers in the past 30 days), while the growth rate is a percentage that reflects how significant that change is when you consider what your total follower count was. Therefore, if you had 100,000 followers and then gained 5,000 in the past 30 days, then your audience grew 5% during that time.<\/p>\n
Audience Growth Rate = (Net Change in Followers \/ <\/i>Starting Follower Count) x <\/i>100<\/i><\/p>\n
While having a lot of followers certainly isn\u2019t everything, tracking audience size and growth can be helpful if your goals for social are focused on:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Brand awareness and perception. <\/b>Positive audience growth could suggest that more consumers are becoming aware of your brand and are interested in what you have to share on social.<\/li>\n
- Community building. <\/b>There\u2019s nothing quite as powerful as having a community of supporters behind your brand. Each follower gained is an opportunity to develop and strengthen the relationship between you and a potential or current customer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Want to know how you measure up against your competition? Compare your audience size and growth to industry peers for more context on your performance. You can track the growth of your competitor\u2019s audience manually or have social analytics platforms do it for you automatically. As an example, check out how Rival IQ displays the audience size and growth of popular coffee brands.<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/A-Audience-Leaderboard-Coffee-Landscape-700x347.png\")
<\/p>\nBy seeing your numbers alongside your competition\u2019s, you can get a clearer picture of how well you\u2019re doing, as well as establish appropriate goals based on industry standards.<\/p>\n
\n Dig deeper: \n<\/strong> Explore and compare metrics for a sample set of companies using our Coffee live benchmarks<\/a>.<\/div>\n\n\n2. Impressions<\/h3>\n
Impressions refer to the number of times your post has appeared on a user\u2019s feed, regardless of whether they actually interact with it. It also includes multiple appearances: if a tweet is shown 20 times to just one person, the impressions of that tweet would still be 20.<\/p>\n
While your impressions are largely dependent on a social media platform\u2019s distribution algorithm, impressions can also go up if users keep going back to look at it or share it with others.<\/p>\n
As a metric, impressions are most useful when you observe it in relation to other metrics like follower count, reach, or engagement.<\/p>\n
For example, a level of impressions that corresponds with or exceeds your follower count is a good sign that your brand\u2019s content is being well-distributed to and seen by your followers. Drops in impressions could suggest that the platform no longer shares your posts as frequently as before or that your audience is no longer actively seeking out your posts.<\/p>\n
3. Reach<\/h3>\n
Reach is a metric that measures the number of unique users (i.e., individual people) who have seen your post.<\/p>\n
Like impressions, reach is dependent on the social media algorithm feeding your post to users on the platform, as well as organic sharing from user to user. Unlike impressions, though, reach does not<\/i> count multiple views by the same user. So, if your LinkedIn status was seen 100 times by 80 users, then its reach would simply be 80.<\/p>\n
Considering one of the primary uses of social media is to connect with your audience, reach is essential to track. Compared to impressions, reach is a more accurate measure of how many people have encountered your brand\u2019s content, which is especially helpful if you\u2019re focused on boosting awareness.<\/p>\n
Additionally, since your reach can change based on when and what you post, you can track this metric in order to figure out when are the most optimal times to reach your audience and what kinds of content they enjoy most.<\/p>\n
4. Mentions<\/h3>\n
Mentions refer to the number of times a particular brand (or product, topic, industry, etc.) is mentioned on social media.<\/p>\n
Keeping track of this metric is a critical part of social listening, which is when you monitor and analyze online conversations that are relevant to your brand. After all, the impact of social media goes beyond what your brand posts. It includes user-generated content (UGC) where consumers mention you.<\/p>\n
Mentions are important to track if you want to boost the visibility of and conversation around your business on social media. Generally, the more people talk about you in a positive light, the better. Most brands dream of regularly seeing a high volume of positive mentions.<\/p>\n
Of course, what\u2019s considered \u201chigh\u201d is relative. If your mentions have consistently been at zero and then suddenly bumped up to one, then that\u2019s a big deal! If you saw 100K mentions in the last 30 days while your competitors had more than 500K, then you clearly have room for improvement.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to establish benchmarks against which you can compare your own data. Keep track of your past performance to see if your numbers are improving. Assess how large your share of the conversation is by observing your competitors\u2019 mentions with social analytics tools.<\/p>\n
\n Try it: \n<\/strong>To perform this analysis, we used the Twitter mentioners report<\/a>\u00a0in Rival IQ.<\/div>\n\n\n5. Potential Reach from Mentions<\/h3>\n
Beyond mentions, you can also take a look at your potential reach from mentions. As the name suggests, this refers to the potential number of people that your brand could have reached because of posts that mentioned you.<\/p>\n
The simplest way to calculate potential reach from mentions is by adding up the follower count of each account that mentioned your brand. For the New York City Ballet<\/a> below, its potential reach from Twitter mentions within the last 30 days was a whopping 3.99M, which was notably bolstered by a mention from Design Boom, which has 1.3M followers.<\/p>\n
![\"Rival](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/C-Potential-Reach-from-Mentions-Ballet-Landscape-700x239.png\")
<\/p>\nThink of this metric as an extension of your own reach, which isn\u2019t limited to just what you put out online but includes activity from the countless other users on social.<\/p>\n
6. Engagements<\/h3>\n
If you asked us what makes social media so special compared to other marketing channels, the answer would have to be engagements. Without the social interaction aspect, these social media platforms would consist of just one-way communication like TV ads or billboards.<\/p>\n
Engagements, which are social media interactions such as likes, comments, shares, etc., validate that your audience is actually paying attention to what you post. They provide insight into how your audience feels about your brand and content, as well as strengthen the relationship between you and your customers.<\/p>\n
To get a better idea of what kind of insights engagements can provide, let\u2019s look at the three subsets of engagements: Applause, Conversation, and Amplification.<\/p>\n
Applause Engagement (Likes and Reactions)<\/h4>\n
The first type of engagement to know is applause engagements, which are interactions such as likes and reactions. Applause can tell you about the quality of your content. For the most part, a user liking your post is a show of support and positive interest.<\/p>\n
You can compare the likes of each post you publish to get an idea of what resonates most with your audience. Is a particular TikTok racking up more likes than all of your other videos? Maybe it\u2019s time to lean into that type of content more!<\/p>\n
You should also benchmark your applause engagements against your competitors. How do you stack up against similar brands? Are you at least earning as much as the average of your industry peers? Competitive benchmarking data, like in the chart below, can provide you with more context on how well you\u2019re doing on social and give you goals to reach for in the future.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/D-Cross-Channel-Applause-Airlines-Landscape-700x271.png\")
<\/p>\nConversation Engagement (Replies, Comments, Quote Tweets, etc.)<\/h4>\n
Conversation engagements are the replies or comments that you get on your post. These are meaningful because they indicate a higher level of engagement (it takes more effort to comment than simply like) and clarifies whether the sentiment behind the engagement is positive or negative.<\/p>\n
While conversation engagement is typically more difficult to rack up than applause, there\u2019s no doubt that it\u2019s an invaluable metric. Not only can you better understand how people feel about your brand and its content, but comments and replies present an opportunity to actively engage with your audience and build that customer relationship.<\/p>\n
Want to boost the amount of conversation engagement you\u2019re getting? Create content that encourages active responses, such as by asking your viewers questions or for them to share their own stories. Look to your competitors and observe what the brands with the highest level of positive conversation engagements are doing.<\/p>\n
Conversation and applause are not directly tied so don\u2019t assume the rankings will be identical. Hawaiian Airlines, for example, garnered impressive levels of applause compared to industry peers in the chart above but ranked lower when it comes to conversation engagements (below).<\/p>\n
![\"Hawaiian](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/E-Cross-Channel-Conversation-Airlines-Landscape-700x272.png\")
<\/p>\nAmplification Engagement (Shares, Retweets, Reposts, etc.)<\/h4>\n
Finally, amplification engagements are when a user shares, retweets, or reposts your content. This type of engagement is powerful because it boosts your brand exposure. Your audience isn\u2019t simply liking or commenting on your post. They\u2019re actively sharing it with their own network of followers, initiating a snowball effect in which your reach is amplified.<\/p>\n
While most social platforms will report how much amplification a post gets in the native app, you can use your social analytics platform to get a total number based on all of your posts within a given period of time. With some platforms, like Rival IQ, you can even contrast your data with the competition\u2019s to see how you stack up.<\/p>\n
![\"Hawaiian](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/F-Cross-Channel-Amplification-Airlines-Landscape-700x271.png\")
<\/p>\nAdditionally, you can use your amplification engagement data to see what types of posts are resonating most with your customers and tailor content around those topics. Do your followers tend to share tutorials? Article links? Infographics? Let your audience\u2019s actions influence and shape your strategy.<\/p>\n
\n Dig deeper: \n<\/strong> Explore and compare metrics for a sample set of companies using our Airline live benchmarks<\/a>.<\/div>\n\n\n7. Engagement Rate by Follower<\/h3>\n
Engagement rate by follower is a metric that measures the number of people who have engaged with your brand’s posts. Expressed as a percentage, it\u2019s calculated by dividing the total number of engagements on your post(s) by the number of followers you have and then multiplying that by 100.<\/p>\n
Engagement Rate by Follower = (Total Engagement \/<\/i> Follower Count) x<\/i>\u00a0100<\/i><\/p>\n
Engagement rate by follower is important for competitive benchmarking since it takes into account how many followers each account has. In other words, it\u2019s a much more comparable metric than just total engagement.<\/p>\n
For instance, if you simply compared your 10K monthly engagements to a major brand\u2019s 100K monthly engagements, it may seem like you\u2019re doing poorly. When you take into account the fact that you only have 50K followers compared to the other brand\u2019s 1M followers, though, your level of engagement is actually quite high. Your engagements were equal to 20% of your follower count while the major brand\u2019s engagements equated to only 5% of its audience size.<\/p>\n
You can see this play out in the below Instagram posts from two ballet companies. While Pacific Northwest Ballet<\/a> garnered more than double the number of engagements that Ballet West<\/a> did, the engagement rates by follower suggest a different story. Ballet West\u2019s post seemed to have resonated with a greater percentage of its followers than Pacific Northwest Ballet\u2019s.<\/p>\n
![\"Comparing](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Social-media-metrics-image-700x263.png\")
<\/p>\nEngagement rate by follower can also be used to assess the performances of your own posts. What is your average engagement rate by follower? Which posts have exceeded that? What kind of content trends do you notice among your posts that have performed well? Use those insights to optimize your content strategy moving forward.<\/p>\n
8. Social Media Sentiment<\/h3>\n
Social media sentiment refers to how positive or negative the online conversation surrounding your brand is. Going beyond the number of mentions, replies, and comments, sentiment measures the emotion behind each post or reaction. After all, not all attention is good attention.<\/p>\n
- Community building. <\/b>There\u2019s nothing quite as powerful as having a community of supporters behind your brand. Each follower gained is an opportunity to develop and strengthen the relationship between you and a potential or current customer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Huge](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/H-Social-Media-Sentiment-TikTok-comments-350x356.png\")
<\/p>\n