Figuring out which performance metrics to track for your content has become increasingly confusing. Many social media metrics are helpful for growing a community. Conversely, there are a lot of rumors about which ones define your post’s success (such as the number of Likes).
Retailers should have two main pillars of focus when it comes to creating content and tracking its success:
- The content types that help you grow your community.
- The content types that lead to sales.
Keep in mind that each social media platform is fighting for attention. Each platform (whether Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok) wants their users to stay on their app longer—and they’re willing to reward content that helps them reach their goal.
Hence, focus on how your content can help your favorite social media platforms extend their users’ visits to the app. Are your posts engaging, entertaining, or educational? Are they keeping the user from scrolling to the next piece of content or leaving the app altogether?
These are the social media metrics you should be tracking on Facebook:
Audience Retention (found in Video Metrics in the Creator Studio). This provides a good look at the average time viewers are watching your videos, and when the average viewer is dropping off. From this metric, you can determine the best video length for your future videos. In addition, you can get into the nitty-gritty to see the most common times viewers are dropping off—allowing you to do things differently the next time you press “record”.
Total Followers (found in Audience Insights in the Creator Studio). Get an overview of how your page grows each month. Notice a bump from last month? Tailor your social media strategy going forward based on those findings. This metric also allows you to see the age and gender of your followers, which helps with creating ad audiences.
Plus, in Total Followers, you can find when your Facebook followers are most active. This is an important metric because it gives you insight on when to post on the platform to maximize the amount of views you get. Ideally, post about 1-2 hours before your most engaged hour.
These are the social media metrics you should be tracking on Instagram:
Most Active Times (found under Total Followers in Insights). Almost identical to Facebook’s Total Followers, this metric allows you to see when your audience is most active. Use this tool to determine when your best time is to post on this highly saturated app. Don’t worry about the “sweet spots” you hear about for the best posting times. This is an ever-changing and completely unique metric. Your audience is specific to a location, active online hours, and work schedules of your PCGs, so there’s no “one size fits all” approach to posting.
Reach (found in Content You Shared Insights). Reach identifies how many unique accounts have seen your post, thus helping you track brand awareness.
Post Insights (found directly under a post). This includes metrics like Likes, Comments, Saves and Shares. While Likes and Comments always feel good, it’s Saves and Shares that offer more insight to retailers. Both Saves and Shares are ways of telling Instagram that you, or another account, will be looking at this content again soon. A viewer has enjoyed it enough that they want to circle back or share it with a friend, helping Instagram keep eyes on their platform for longer!
Check out this post that received no Comments, but several Saves and Shares!
These are the social media metrics you should be tracking on TikTok:
Views. Perhaps the most important metric to keep an eye on in TikTok. Views help you measure how many accounts your video has come across—from your followers as well as the powerful algorithm on TkTok, the “For You” page.
Comments. Comments help you find your engaged community. Monitor the Comments often to figure out which content you should create more of. (PS You can reply to a Comment with a TikTok video, creating a whole short-form video from a viewer’s Comment)!
For future content creation, check “Average Watch Time” and “Watched Full Video” metrics to see how many seconds people are watching your videos. From these metrics, you can determine the perfect length of time your videos should be. TikTok suggests videos under 15 seconds long, but it’s good to test different lengths for your audience!
What I Want You To Take Away From This Blog:
- Social media metrics help you track what’s working so you know how to plan more effectively for future content.
- You can see where your time is most valuable with metrics.
- Reach your SMART goals faster by tracking your metrics.
Okay, over to you…
Had a post that has far out-performed the others? Share what was different about it. We’d love to know!
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