The Social Media Metric Every Business Should Track

Social media is filled with metrics to follow, and it can be overwhelming when you first step into a world filled with endless acronyms (VTR, CPM, NPS, ER, CTR, etc). While followers are a popular way to track growth, many social media marketers consider it to be a vanity metric. The key to growing your audience, increasing loyalty with existing followers and paving the way to conversions is engagement. 

In my very humble - but simultaneously highly-informed and somewhat self-important - opinion, engagement is the single most important metric. Every platform varies on the level of engagement one can expect; for example a 5% engagement rate on Instagram is relatively attainable, but almost unheard of on Facebook. And if somebody is telling you they can deliver 80% engagement rates, they are almost definitely lying or buying said engagement. The quality of engagement varies too - a ‘like’ is great to see, but a lengthy ‘comment’, an Instagram ‘save’ or a TikTok ‘duet’ are of much higher value. Regardless of the type of engagement, it does provide a great indicator of brand health, and here is why. 

1. Engagement shows what your audience are, and are not, interested in
   If a piece of social media content was good enough for somebody to stop scrolling and like, comment, share or save then it lets you know that they actually care about the content. This lets you know which content has had the greatest impact on your audience - meaning they’re more invested in your page and more likely to convert down the line.

2. It allows for a more personalised insight
   Reach can tell you how many people saw your content, but engagement lets you know what they actually thought of it. Your audience share their valuable thoughts in the comments section, allowing you to respond and engage with potential new clients and customers. Their likes show you it was approved by the user, and angry reactions or negative comments can guide future posts to ensure you don’t receive negative reactions again. Taking the time to interpret and analyse engagement data can guide you towards more successful content in the future.

3. Higher engagement means higher reach (sometimes)
   This varies deeply from platform to platform, but often the more engagement a post receives, the more people who will also see that post. This is especially true for high value engagement, such as comments, or shares that allow users to share the post directly with their friends or followers. By aiming for great engagement on your BAU posts you are more likely to grow your existing fan base, and increase reach as you go. 

4. The ways in which you can interpret engagement is (almost) limitless
   You can count the number of engagements, and type, but the fun (for data nerds like myself) doesn’t end there. Engagement rates are the best way to learn how successful a post was in terms of engagement, amplification rates indicate how willing your followers are to share and be associated with your brand, and virality rate shows how “viral” by analysing impressions and shares. Once you know what to look for you’re able to equip yourself with knowledge that drives engagement on future posts.

There are many ways to increase your engagement online, from prompting your audience to answer a question, starting a discussion of relevance and importance, or creating content that resonates deeply with your audience’s existing values, but that’s a conversation for another day (and with my amazing paid clients). I’m just one voice in the social media world though - what metric do you follow most closely and why?

If you’re interested in learning more or just want to know exactly what YOUR business or brand could be doing to increase engagement then please get in touch here.