6 Key Metrics for Measuring Social Media

There are a large number of social media monitoring tools available to monitor any discussions that have relevance to your company or brand. While these tools make social media engagement far simpler to manage, in order to have a full understanding of the impact of your social media labours, it is important for you to have a proper social media measurement dashboard. The following are six key metrics that should be incorporated into this dashboard.

1. Connections

This is a calculation of anyone who has expressed a clear interest in your company or brand. By showing this interest the user has taken a further step beyond merely being exposed to your company, to a place where a relationship has been formed and a conversation can take place. Some examples of metrics that fall under the connection calculation are:-

• Facebook fans/likes
• Blog subscribers
• LinkedIn group members

2. Gross Views

This refers to the combination of views across your different social media channels. Gross views represents how many times users were exposed to your brand by means of social media channels. Depending on the channels that you use, the calculation will vary. Some of the metrics that go into this calculation are:-

• Facebook page views
• Blog page views
• YouTube video views

3. My Engagements

This is in relation to your activity within the social media space and is rapidly becoming a form of metric that is included in social media monitoring. When combining this with other metrics that you have included in your dashboard you can start to see the impact of your social media efforts. Some of the metrics that should be incorporated in the engagement calculation are:-

• Facebook posts
• Internal and external blogs
• Twitter retweets

4. Audience Engagements

This is a measure of how actively your audience is talking about your company or brand or engaging with it. Some key metrics that go into the calculation include the following:-

• Blog comments
• Facebook interactions
• YouTube interactions

5. Social Media Referrals

It is very possible that one of your main goals with your social media campaign is to drive visitors to a site where conversions can be carried out. It is very important therefore to measure social media referrals. In order to properly measure these referrals, you will need to have some set up and configuration with your web analytics tool. You will then be able to measure social media referrals that can be linked directly to your efforts and social media referrals not directly attributed to your labours.

6. Social Media Conversions

People are likely to judge you depending on the business value that you deliver by means of your social media efforts. Therefore simply showing metrics such as audience engagement will not be sufficient for making a very good impression. You need to demonstrate how these metrics translate into conversions and therefore are of value to your company. You are ready to measure conversions once your web analytics tool to measure social media referrals has been correctly set up and configured and you have defined some site goals.

By creating your personal social media dashboard that can demonstrate the impact that your social media efforts have made, you will find yourself in a great position. Although these metrics are not going to provide a full picture of your social media efforts, you will soon find yourself heading in the right direction towards shaping your company’s social strategy.

If you would like more information on how to maximize the effectiveness of your social presence, then why not give us a call and speak to one of our digital strategists.