Social media marketing KPIs vary from business to business and they aren’t industry dependent.
Your social media marketing KPIs might be completely different to your competitors and that wouldn’t mean that either of you are doing anything wrong.
Social marketers say that the top 3 challenges they face include identifying and reaching their target audience, measuring ROI and supporting overall business goals.
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators. And they’re often used incorrectly.
If you want to smash your social media marketing campaigns this year, dominate the world’s most popular digital marketing networks and take your brand to the next level online, you’re going to need social media KPIs.
But before we get into our recommended social media KPIs, you must understand something…
A Key Performance Indicator is exactly what it says on the tin, a metric that indicates how well you’re performing in your key areas.
In order to truly understand what your ‘key areas’ are, you’re going to need some social media marketing objectives – otherwise, there’s no point in having any social media marketing KPIs!
For example, if your core social media marketing objective is to make more sales, ‘post likes’ is probably not the best social media KPI for you!
1. What are Social Media Marketing KPIs?
KPIs are the important numbers that we look at to measure our performance. They come in two categories, ‘key objectives’ and ‘key metrics.’
Key objectives detail what you want to accomplish with your social media marketing efforts, while key metrics tell us how well you did.
Some examples include:
2. Why Use Social Media Marketing KPIs?
Social media marketing KPIs are important for three reasons:
BTW: If you want to improve your social media marketing results, check out the FREE video lessons, ebooks and step-by-step action plans inside the . Sign up for free and gain access to tons of social media marketing lessons!
3. How Can You Measure Social Media Marketing KPIs?
Your social media marketing KPIs will be measured with ‘key metrics’. These are the numbers that show you how well you’re performing in terms of your key objectives.
For example, if your key objective is to increase engagement, then your key metrics will include:
The number of likes, comments, and shares on your posts over time will give you an indication as to whether or not your posting strategy is successful.
If the post received a lot more engagement than usual, then it would be considered successful. If those numbers are much lower than average then there is work that needs to be done in order for future posts to succeed.
After deciding upon your key social media objectives, search for relevant metrics that will allow you to track your performance over time.
Measure your results intermittently – try weekly or monthly, and don’t obsess over the numbers on a day-to-day basis.
Success on social media takes time – measure your social media marketing KPIs with a long term perspective.
4. The Advantages of Measuring Social Media KPIs
For some, tracking social media KPIs might sound like a lot more work – but its advantages outweigh the negatives.
Here are a few of the biggest advantages of measuring your social media KPIs:
4. The Disadvantages of Measuring Social Media KPIs
In the interest of fairness, and providing a level opinion, here are some of the biggest disadvantages of measuring your social media KPIs:
6. Examples
Let’s look at some of the most common social media KPIs.
Use these examples to guide your own campaigns, but ensure that you select the ones that fit best with your business’s objectives.
Fit your social media objectives into your overarching business objectives to achieve real success.
This list is nothing more than a handful of metrics unless they are aligned with real objectives. Don’t make the mistake of aiming for everything – create specific objectives that you can achieve with your resources.
If you run a small business, narrow your aims to those that are most important to you.
Here are a few typical social media marketing KPIs:
There are many more social media marketing KPIs that could be added to this list. If you have any that you’d like us to add, leave your suggestion in the comments!
Social Media Marketing KPIs: A Guide to What Matters
With the right KPIs, you can measure your success and adjust as needed.
Social media marketing is a complex beast with many different goals that are tailored to fit your brand’s objectives.
Once you’ve identified what your objectives will be, it’s time to use metrics or KPIs to see how well they’re working for you.
At times, it may seem overwhelming when trying to find social media KPIs that work best for your business, but by focusing on measuring the results that are specific to you, you’ll have more clarity in no time at all.
What do you think about social media marketing KPIs? Are you tracking your brand’s performance on social? Let us know in the comments!
