Social media measurement
Through social media measurement, organizations can better understand and optimize the performance of their social media initiatives. By collecting social media data and using various metrics and KPIs to analyze this data, businesses can evaluate their social media campaigns and quantitatively demonstrate the impact of their social media efforts to key stakeholders. Social media measurement is a way of uncovering what’s working and what’s not on social channels and finding evidence to show decision-makers that a particular social media strategy delivers real-world results.
Metrics used for social media measurement
There is a wide range of metrics used for social media measurement. They can be divided into three main categories: awareness metrics, engagement metrics, and lead generation/conversion metrics. Metrics used to measure awareness of a brand or campaign include Impressions, which represents the number of times a brand’s content has been displayed to a user, and Reach, or the total number of users who have potentially seen a piece of content. Metrics used to estimate how many users have engaged with a piece of content include the total number of likes, shares, or comments. And metrics used to demonstrate the number of users responding to a brand’s calls to action include Click-Through Rate and Conversions, which could represent online purchases, newsletter signups, downloads, and other actions.
“Vanity metrics” vs. meaningful metrics
However, not all metrics are equally valuable. While simple counts and totals—what some refer to as “vanity metrics”—are easy to understand and useful, more complex metrics allow you to dive deeper into your data, extracting actionable social media insights that drive smarter decision-making. For example, an Audience Growth Rate metric can help you assess your brand’s momentum on a social channel or evaluate a social media campaign over time, as opposed to follower counts, which may be useful for boasting but not for substantive social media measurement. Similarly, Social Media Conversion Rate rather than your total number of conversions can make it easier for you to calculate your social media ROI.
Effective, efficient social media measurement starts with the right metrics
Before embarking on a social media measurement program, you’ll want to define your goals for social media. Are you focused on improving brand awareness? Increasing engagement? Building an online community? Generating more leads? Maybe all of these are important to your brand. However, to carry out social media measurement effectively and efficiently, you’ll want to select appropriate metrics and KPIs based on what’s most important to your business, that is you’ll want to select metrics and KPIs selected because they reflect your strategy and priorities for social media.
Robust social listening platforms like Synthesio’s Social Intelligence Suite provide users with meaningful metrics right out of the box. These include metrics such as Earned Media Value, Share of Voice (SOV), Engagement Rate, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Social Reputation Score, which measures overall consumer sentiment around your brand or product on social channels and is one of Synthesio’s proprietary metrics. On top of that, leading Social Intelligence Suite providers such as Synthesio should help your organization select which metrics will be most helpful depending on the goals you are trying to achieve.
Social media measurement made simple with Synthesio
To implement social media measurement, you can use the native analytics tools provided by social networking services as well as third-party digital analytics tools, CRM software, and your favorite spreadsheet application. The faster, easier way to measure your impact on social media, however, is to use social media monitoring tools, which supply you with social listening capabilities and dashboards designed to provide you with at-a-glance access to crucial social media insights.
Synthesio’s Social Intelligence Suite is a powerful social listening and audience insights tool set complete with a social listening dashboard that makes social media measurement simple. By measuring the KPIs most critical for your brand, Synthesio dashboards show you the real-time impact your brand or campaign is having on social media—and the degree to which it’s negative or positive. With Synthesio’s social listening platform, which is highly customizable and scalable, you can measure and analyze brand health, content performance, and all conversations relevant to your brand. Use fresh, honest feedback from online audiences to adjust campaigns on the fly while keeping an eye on content being posted about your brand across social channels. Never fly blind on social again.
