(This article is part 3 of a 3-part series on social media marketing for beginners.)
In part 2 of this series, you learned about free resources to create and schedule social media content. Now that you have started posting on social media, you should learn how to determine what content is working and what content isn’t. Read this article to learn important social media marketing terms and how to track and measure analytics.
5 Social Media Terms to Know
Before analyzing your metrics, you’ll need to know the terms commonly used in social media marketing.
Clicks: The number of times your audience has clicked somewhere on the post. A click could be on a photo, video, or URL within the post.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of people who completed an intended action, such as completing a form or following an account.
Engagement Rate: The amount of interaction a piece of content receives. Examples of engagement are likes, comments, or shares.
Follower: A person who subscribes to your account in order to receive your updates. Generally, the more followers you have, the more engagement you’ll receive.
Impressions: How many times a post is viewed. Receiving 700 impressions doesn’t necessarily mean 700 people saw and read the post. For example, the same person can view a post more than once. Additionally, a reader may skim the post or skip over it without a glance, but that still counts as an impression.
For a full list of social media terms and definitions, check out this helpful glossary on HubSpot.
How to Find Your Metrics
If you use a content management tool like Hootsuite or Sprout Social, you can easily pull analytics reports for each social media platform you use. Select the period of time you want to look at and view or download your report.
If you don’t use a social media management tool, you can find your account’s metrics on each social media website. For example, analytics.twitter.com will show you Twitter metrics. Other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest have an analytics section.
Analyze Your Metrics
When you created your content strategy, you should have set goals for your business. Even if you don’t have a specific number of followers or website clicks in mind, you should still have a basic idea of what you’re looking for in your data. Do you want to see a consistent increase in website traffic coming from LinkedIn? Or an average of 20 likes on your Instagram posts? Having a baseline will help you determine what’s working and what isn’t.
You may want to create a spreadsheet to track your metrics month-over-month. This way, you can easily see an increase or decrease in numbers. Read this article for more ways to analyze your data.
Typically, engagement, clicks, and conversion rates are the most important metrics to track. If people aren’t engaging with a post, the content you’re posting probably isn’t resonating with your audience. Furthermore, if no one is clicking or taking the action you want them to take, you may not see an increase in sales or website traffic from your social media strategy.
Set New Goals
Looking at your metrics is great, but if you don’t adjust your strategies, you can’t expect to improve. Analyze your metrics at least once a month and determine which posts performed the best and which performed the worst.
Then, adjust your strategies and goals. If your videos are receiving more engagement than photos, post more videos. If you initially wanted to gain 10 followers per week and you’ve been gaining 20, increase your weekly goals.
Social media is constantly changing, so it’s important to stay on top of trends and adjust your strategies accordingly. Analyzing your social media metrics is a great way to continuously improve your strategic marketing plan and grow your business.
Creative Spot is a full-service marketing and advertising agency in Columbus, Ohio. If you would like to learn more about how we can help your organization with social media marketing, please contact us.