Believe it or not, social media is a science.
Sure, your small business social media feed can include photos of the office pet (in our case, our “Morale Officer” Russell) or other fun, lighthearted content. But whatever you’re posting, there are lots of variables to be tracked and numbers to crunch.
So before you design your first graphic and write your first post, the number one thing you need to decide is what variables you care about most, and what you want your numbers to add up to.
Whether you’re doing your own social media or you hire a boutique marketing agency like ours, your first step is to establish your social media KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
What is a KPI?
A “key performance indicator” is a measurable sign of how well you’re doing.
There’s a lot of subjectivity in marketing. We deal with esoteric qualities like “tone” and “appeal” and “How does this logo make you feel??” And these things are important! But you can’t measure ‘em.
So we need to focus on the things you can measure, like followers, views, impressions, likes/reactions, clicks, engagements, shares, and so much more. These are just some of your social media KPIs.
Which social media KPIs are most important?
Well, that’s what you need to decide! Of course, we will have some suggestions based on what you’re starting with and your company’s goals, both short-term and long-term…
Our primary KPIs are “New Followers,” “Post Reach,” “Post Engagement,” and “Engagement Rate.”
Of course, we look at what you’re starting with—whether it’s 25 followers or 250,000. And then, through the engaging content we create, we look to see if your accounts are improving in all those areas.
Other important criteria we look at:
- What specific posts generated the highest engagement rates?
- What kinds of posts are most consistently successful? (We use post tags and hashtags among other qualifiers to help sort our data.)
- What days and times generate the best engagement?
- Are posts to some of your company’s accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) doing better than others?
We also strongly recognize the link between successful social media and a successful small business website. When it comes to measuring website visitor success, we use analytics to see where your visitors are coming from, and what percentage have clicked through directly from social media.
There are also things called UTMs (Urchin Tracking Modules), and these help us measure through analytical data. UTMs can give us even more metrics to explore, based on the customized data we put into them. UTMs are great for ads and for specific social media posts made to act like ads.
When can I expect to see my KPIs improve?
Well, there are two ways to answer this.
One: You will start to see small improvements almost immediately.
Two: Big growth is measured in months and years. Stick with it.
Growing your social media is like growing your business. You do it steadily and by building sound practices. That way the growth will be earned and maintainable.
The Final Word on Social Media KPI
Generally speaking, we want your social media to be consistently active, first and foremost. When people see your company’s account page, whether they searched for it or clicked through a post they happened to see, they need to know that your company is actively engaged in your social media accounts. KPIs only matter while your account continues to thrive.
And after that, the thing to remember is to pick a goal and stick with it. Social media is a marathon, not a sprint.
If you want more followers, then a single viral post won’t do you any good. (A single viral post won’t do you a ton of good anyway, but that’s a different conversation.)
If you want more clicks through to your website, then self-contained posts with no links or prompts won’t go anywhere.
If you want to increase awareness about your business, then sharing funny memes and cute puppies won’t help your brand, no matter how many likes they get. (That’s why we pick our KPIs before we go indiscriminately fishing for likes.)
If you don’t already have a social media account plan for your small business, contact Deckard & Company today. We’ll make sure your KPIs are trending upward for the foreseeable future.
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