How to Measure Success on Social Media

In a perfect world, all your social media posts would be flawless and exactly what your audience wanted to see at exactly the right time. But if this was a perfect world, we'd be having a good hair day right now so since we’re clearly grounded in reality, it’s time for some truths: 
 

1. Not every social media post is going to be perfect. 
2. Failure and success are both unavoidable in social media marketing. 
3. You have to learn from your failure AND success. 

But how do you know when you’ve truly failed with your content? And what the heck can you learn from the stuff you did right? To fully evaluate your social media efforts, you must know which metrics track, what they mean and why they matter.  

We outlined the nine most important numbers to measure when checking the performance of your social media strategy and sorted them based on where they stand in the customer journey.

Ready to learn? 

 

Awareness 

Seeing is believing and awareness metrics measure all those eyes on your content, including current and potential audiences.  

• Reach 

  • What is it? The total number of unique people who see your content. 
  • Why does it matter? Reach measures your potential audience size and is the foundation to know how far your content can go. 

• Impressions 

  • What is it? The total number of times your content was on a screen, including repeated views. 
  • Why does it matter? Impressions can indicate how interested viewers are in your content. Multiple views = more interest. 

Engagement 

No, we’re not proposing, but after we explain how engagement metrics are the actions taken by your audience, you’ll want to put a ring on it.
 

• Follower growth rate (FGR) 

  • What is it? The measurement of followers lost or gained over a set period of time. 
  • Why does it matter? Your FGR can tell you if your content is good enough to turn casual viewers into followers. When you have a higher FGR, you are building your audience quickly and efficiently.  
  • How to calculate it: 

 

• Applause rate (AR) 

  • What is it? The number of positive actions your content receives from your followers. 
  • Why does it matter? AR refers to how much your audience values your posts, meaning you can learn the types of content followers prefer.  
  • How to calculate it:  

 

• Engagement rate (ER) 

  • What is it? How many interactions your content receives in relation to your audience. These actions include comments, likes, shares, saves, profile visits and more.  
  • Why does it matter? ER can be an indicator of brand resonation, and which posts your audience favors. 
  • How to calculate it: There are multiple ways to find your social media engagement rate, so choose the type you value most: 

Conversion 

Conversions are all about when audiences do what you want them to do. Simon says, anyone? 

• Social media website traffic 

  • What is it? The number of times people go to your website from social media. 
  • Why does it matter? Website traffic turns casual social media followers into potential leads who are interested in learning more about your brand. 
  • How to calculate it: You can view all your website activity through your site or Google Analytics, including session duration, bounce rate, conversion rate and more. 

 

• Conversion rate 

  • What is it? The measurement of people who completed a specific goal, like a purchase, landing page view or engagement.  
  • Why does it matter? Conversion rate can show you how efficient your strategy is at guiding customers through the buying journey.  
  • How to calculate it: 

 

Community 

We’re all in this together and in 2022, you should be looking into how your content creates fans and builds a community. 

• Mentions 

  • What is it? When your brand is referenced or tagged online, outside of posts you created.  
  • Why does it matter? Mentions drive positive and negative brand awareness and can help you stay on top of perception. 

• Shares 

  • What is it? The number of times someone broadcasts your content on their own page or profile.  
  • Why does it matter? Shares are a great indicator for which messages or campaigns engage your audience the most and the content they want from you. 

 
Now that you know how to measure your social media strategy’s performance, check out our 2022 Social Media Playbook for this year’s top trends and over 500 holiday and content ideas to breathe new life into your plans.