In conversations with clients, we often notice the same pattern. The number of followers on social media becomes the primary measure of success. Our experience shows that this focus is misleading, which is why we decided to break this myth and help you identify the key indicators that truly make a difference.
Every industry has its own specifics. Every brand is at a different stage of development and sets unique goals in line with its marketing strategy.
Although the most commonly tracked metrics relate to engagement, brand awareness, conversion rates and sales growth, there are many other indicators that may be relevant to your business success.
If you are wondering whether this article will give you a universal answer to the question of which statistics and metrics you should track on social media, the answer is simple. No.
Instead of offering a one size fits all solution, this article will provide guidelines to help you choose the metrics that are most relevant to your brand and the goals you want to achieve.
Some industries and brands have a strong visual component that can easily be presented through images, video content and design. Others are more sales driven and focused on numbers that directly impact business results. There are also brands that must focus on educating their audience, creating a foundation for deeper understanding and stronger brand awareness.
It is important to recognize which type of strategy you need to apply, depending on the nature of your brand and the market you operate in.
When setting goals for your social media strategy and individual campaigns, it is essential to align them with your overall brand objectives. First, you need to think about what you want to achieve and how you can measure it in concrete terms.
Before you begin, ask yourself some basic questions. Is your goal to increase website traffic, drive physical visits to a location, build brand recognition, reach potential customers and increase sales, or perhaps collect email contacts from potential clients?
The next step is to define your target audience and understand their behavior patterns. Try to list as many demographic details, interests and habits of your audience as possible.
Once you know who your audience is and how you want to reach them, it becomes much easier to define your social media strategy and determine how to measure results.
In this article, the metrics are divided into two categories:
1. Reach
Facebook defines reach as the number of people who have seen your ad or post at least once. It is important to note that reach is different from impressions, which can include multiple views of your content by the same person.
However, many social media users still mistakenly use page likes or follower count as a measure of reach. This is a major misconception, especially considering changes in social media algorithms. Statistics show that organic content today reaches only a small percentage of followers.
Ad reach and comparing reach across previous months and years is an ideal metric for tracking audience awareness of your brand.
2. On target impressions
The number of ad impressions is not a universal figure that applies equally to every brand. For example, some of our clients, such as bars, advertise exclusively within a narrow micro location. On the other hand, large hotel chains aim to reach audiences worldwide. Naturally, these two clients cannot have the same targeting approach, as their focus and geographic reach differ significantly.
Different social media platforms measure impressions in different ways. On Facebook and Instagram, a video view is counted when someone watches at least three seconds of a video. TikTok counts a view as soon as the video starts playing in a user’s feed. On YouTube, a view is counted when someone watches 30 seconds of your video ad, or the entire ad if it is shorter than 30 seconds.
In addition to basic impressions, Google offers additional campaign statistics such as AVOC (Audible and Visible on Complete), which shows how many times an ad was fully visible and audible, meaning it was watched to completion with both sound and visuals enabled.
3. Engagement
Engagement rate measures the number of interactions, such as likes, comments, shares and reactions, that your social media posts receive from your audience. This provides insight into how actively your audience responds to your brand. This metric is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and shows how consumers interact with the brand.
It is important to note that not all followers see every post, and sometimes engagement comes from users who do not yet follow your brand. For example, if a follower shares your post and their friend who does not follow you comments on it, that comment is still counted as engagement.
4. Brand awareness
Most marketing campaigns are focused on increasing brand awareness. The goal of such campaigns is to reach a broader audience and make the brand more recognizable. Although this is a common objective, measuring the impact of these campaigns is not always straightforward.
YouTube and Facebook offer Brand Lift studies that allow you to track the impact of ads on brand awareness. These studies work by dividing respondents into random test and control groups and then comparing their results over a specific period of time.
5. Posts with the highest number of views and impressions
Posts with the highest number of views and impressions help us understand which content attracts the most attention from our audience. This metric shows which types of posts generate the most interest and also allows us to track how these posts influence conversions and sales.
By analyzing this data over time, we can better understand what works and adjust our content strategy to achieve better results.
6. Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
CPM measures how much you pay for every 1,000 impressions of your ad, regardless of whether users take any action after seeing it. This metric is essential for evaluating campaign visibility and comparing advertising costs across different social media platforms.
By tracking CPM, you can plan budgets more effectively for brand awareness campaigns and optimize your ad delivery strategy.
The formula is: (Total ad spend / Total number of impressions) x 1,000.
7. Completed lead forms or landing page forms
This metric measures the number of users who complete and submit a form on your landing page that is connected to a social media ad. It is crucial to compare the number of completed forms with the number of link clicks in the post to evaluate campaign effectiveness.
Completed forms or sign ups on a landing page are linked to the lead generation rate, which shows how many visitors turn into potential customers. This is a key metric for assessing campaign success.
8. Click through rate (CTR)
Click through rate shows how often social media users click on a link within your post, such as a link to a blog, online store or other content, to learn more about your brand or product.
A higher CTR means your post successfully captures attention and encourages users to engage further.
CTR benchmarks vary depending on content type, platform algorithms, placement and other factors. In general, a CTR above 5 percent is considered excellent for social media ads, while a CTR below 1 percent is considered low.
9. Cost per click (CPC)
This metric can vary significantly across social media platforms depending on the industry you operate in, which is the case with most marketing indicators.
Cost per click represents the amount you pay for each individual click on your ad, while cost per thousand impressions shows the cost for 1,000 ad views.
Tracking and analyzing average CPC allows you to optimize campaigns, improve audience engagement and manage your advertising budget more effectively.
10. Conversion rate
Conversion rate measures how often your social media content leads to a desired action, such as a subscription, download or purchase. This metric is crucial because it shows not only user engagement but also the real effectiveness of your campaigns in achieving business objectives.
It is used when you want to track how successful your social media efforts are at turning user interest into concrete actions. Conversion rate helps you understand how ready your audience is to take the next step, making it extremely important for optimizing marketing strategies and budgets.
Choosing the right social media strategy depends on the type of brand you are building and the market you operate in. It is essential to set clear goals, whether that means increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic or boosting sales, and to select the right methods to measure those goals.
Understanding the behavior of your target audience will help you create effective content and optimize campaigns. In this article, we have outlined metrics for tracking brand awareness and conversions, which are key to measuring the success of your activities.
Continue following the Vizualizacija column, as in future articles we will share practical tips on creating better content, analytics tracking tools and many other topics that will help you improve your marketing campaigns.
