You can't improve what you don't track. With ‘key performance indicators’ (KPIs), you can get a 360-degree view of your
social media marketing and identify opportunities to reach, engage, and convert your target audience.
Here are 15 engagement KPIs you should be tracking, from basic to higher level, to help you assess the impact of your brand’s presence on social platforms:
1. Reach and Impressions
Reach refers to how many unique users have seen your content, while impressions are the total number of times your content has been displayed. Tracking reach and impressions can help you understand the extent of your content's visibility and its potential impact.
2. Likes
The more likes (or “reactions” on
Facebook) your post receives, the more visibility it will have in newsfeeds. Additionally, users gravitate toward popular posts, which garner more engagement. Social media platforms — like Facebook and
Instagram — also show when a user’s friends interact with the post, driving extra interactions.
3. Shares
When users share your post, it’s like they’re giving a personal recommendation to their followers. A post with a high number of shares is a sign that your content strongly resonated with your audience, and vice versa.
4. Comments
At its core, social media is about conversations. Having posts that attract comments demonstrates to other users that your content is interesting enough to talk about.
Negative comments can also offer value to brands by providing constructive feedback and communicating customer pain points.
5. Engagement Rate
It’s vital that you track your engagement rate for your social media posts to understand the bigger picture of your strategy’s performance and see if it’s heading in the right direction.
To determine your engagement rate, calculate the total number of engagements (e.g. comments, shares, likes) and divide it by total followers, then multiply by 100.
Here’s an example engagement rate for a post:
20 comments + 50 shares + 300 likes = 370 engagements
(370 engagements / 10,000 followers) x 100 = 3.7% engagement rate
6. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR is a crucial KPI for social media campaigns — it measures the percentage of users who clicked on a link or call-to-action (CTA) within your social media post. A high CTR indicates that your content has connected with your audience to prompt action.
7. Conversions
Tracking conversions is vital for calculating your social media's ROI and understanding the effectiveness of your strategy. A conversion refers to a specific action that users take after viewing social media content, such as making a purchase, registering for an event, or filling out a
signup form.
8. Brand Mentions
When your account is tagged in a post or comment, it’s considered a brand mention. It shows that your brand is staying relevant in the conversation while also helping expose your brand to potential new followers.
9. Profile Visits
People who check out your profile show a higher level of interest than if they were to simply like your most recent post. If your social media analytics displays this KPI, take note of which posts drove profile visits.
10. Active Followers
A large follower count looks impressive, but it doesn’t really mean much if most of them are inactive. It’s crucial to increase active followers (i.e. those who have interacted with your content within the past 30 days) so you’re not wasting time and resources talking into a void.
11. Follower Growth Rate
Tracking the rate at which your follower base is growing can provide valuable insights into the health of your social media presence. Steady follow growth indicates that your content is resonating with your target audience.
12. Sentiment
Monitoring positive, negative, or neutral sentiment can help you gauge the overall perception of your brand on social media. Sentiment analysis tools can automatically categorize user comments and feedback to provide valuable insights.
13. Referral Traffic
The amount of website traffic generated from social media platforms can help you understand how effective your efforts are in driving website visits and conversions. Plus, referral traffic is relevant to
SEO because it shows search engines that your website is trustworthy and demonstrates authority, which can improve your rankings.
14. Response Rate and Time
Timely responses to user inquiries and comments demonstrate your brand’s commitment to
customer service and engagement. Tracking response rate and average response time can help you identify areas for improvement in your social media management strategy.
15. Hashtags
If you utilize hashtags in your social media posts, monitoring their performance can provide insights into trending topics, audience interests, and the effectiveness of your hashtag strategy. In turn, you can use this information to increase visibility and engagement.
Boost Engagement to See Tangible Results
Social media marketing won’t generate the leads or sales you want if you're not tracking engagement. That’s why it’s essential that you monitor the right KPIs to understand how your social media efforts are performing. From there, you’ll be armed with data to make better-informed decisions that lead to higher ROIs.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in September 2021 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.