So – you’ve crafted a social media strategy, created quality content people will love, and optimized your content for social platforms. You’ve implemented your strategy with high hopes. But how can you be sure if it’s working?
While determining social media “success” is not an exact science, there are a few indicators that may help you determine if your strategy is indeed succeeding. Here are just a few of them.
Website Traffic
Website traffic is a quick and easy indicator of social media success. If your analytics tells you that your social media accounts are bringing visitors to your website, then it’s a clear and obvious sign that what you’re doing is working. However, keep in mind that not all web traffic is equal. Check to see where your visitors are coming from, and more importantly, what they are doing as a result of their visit.
Conversions
Conversions refer to turning your website’s visitors into action takers. In other words, how many people purchased something, downloaded a file, signed up for a webinar, or took some other action after visiting your site? Getting conversions should be the main goal of your social media strategy. If your strategy is not bringing traffic to your website and converting visitors into those ever-elusive action takers, then it may be time to recalibrate your strategy.
Vanity Metrics
Vanity metrics include the number of likes, shares, retweets or favorites your posts receive on social media. Though vanity metrics are often criticized for giving a false picture of success, they can be quite useful. For example, vanity metrics allow you to quickly and easily see which posts are working and which aren’t. Additionally, if a new social campaign sees a big boost in likes or retweets, it’s a clear sign you’re doing something right and helping to grow your audience.
Engagement
Take a quick look through your posts. Are people commenting? Are people tagging their friends and family in the comments? Are they sharing your content? In other words, is your audience engaging with your posts? If so, then it’s a good sign that you’re not simply throwing content in the void with the hope that someone takes notice and listens. Engagement is important to building trust and increasing awareness of your brand and can be a reliable indicator of whether or not your social media strategy is working.
Of course, social media “success” is a broad subject and almost impossible to base on any one indicator. We recommend looking at these indicators as a whole to determine if your strategy is working for you. Let us know in the comments if you have other useful ways to measure social media success!
