The power of social media as a tool for boosting business sales cannot be overstated. With billions of users worldwide, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others offer unprecedented opportunities for businesses to connect with their target audience, build brand awareness, and drive conversions. 

However, simply having a presence on social media is no longer sufficient. To truly harness the potential of these platforms, businesses must implement effective social media campaigns and continuously do social media monitoring to gauge their success and make informed decisions. This article will explore the essential social media metrics that businesses need to understand and track in 2024 to optimize their marketing efforts and drive meaningful results.

What are Social Media Metrics?

Social media metrics gauge a brand’s performance across platforms, offering insights into audience engagement, reach, conversion rates, and overall campaign effectiveness. Analyzing these metrics enables businesses to refine strategies, identify improvement areas, and maximize their social media marketing ROI.

Why Metrics Matter in Social Media Marketing

In social media marketing, success isn’t just about post quantity or followers, but about impacting business goals and revenue. Metrics are crucial for evaluating campaign effectiveness, guiding decisions, tracking progress, identifying top content, understanding audience behavior, and optimizing resources, ultimately driving measurable results for the bottom line.

Key Social Media Metrics to Track

1. Average Engagement Rate (AER)

The average engagement rate on social media measures the interaction level between your posts and your audience. To calculate, sum up interactions on specific posts or all posts over a period, divide by followers, and multiply by 100.

2. Applause Rate

Applause rate is the tally of likes, favorites, or approval actions on each post. Calculate by adding approval actions on all posts, dividing by followers, and multiplying by 100.

3. Conversion Rate

Conversion rate assesses the revenue generated from social media efforts by dividing actions on your page by total visitors. By tracking conversion rates, businesses can assess social media ROI and optimize their conversion strategies accordingly.

4. Brand Awareness

Brand awareness gauges recognition, tracking mentions, impressions, shares, and clicked links over a reporting period.

5. Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

CPC measures advertising cost effectiveness on platforms. Check each platform’s ad manager for CPC regularly.

6. Click-through Rate (CTR)

CTR assesses the effectiveness of call-to-action links in ads and posts by dividing total link clicks by impressions, multiplied by 100.

7. Virality Rate

Virality rate balances unique views and shares, providing insights into campaign success.

8. Cost-Per-Mile (CPM)

CPM, or cost per thousand impressions, tests post variations cost-effectively through A/B testing. Check CPM on the ad manager regularly.

Social Customer Service Metrics

In addition to the aforementioned metrics, businesses must also consider social customer service metrics to ensure optimal customer experiences and satisfaction levels across social media channels. These metrics include

First Response Time (FRT)

More than 50% of customers on Twitter anticipate a response within one hour of contacting support. Timely responses hold more value than delayed yet effective solutions.

Calculate FRT by dividing the total time taken to respond to customer queries on social media (excluding automated responses) by the total number of responses.

Average Response Time (ASA)

ASA, or Average Speed to Answer, gauges the time your support agents take to respond to customer requests on average.

Calculate ASA by summing the waiting time for all customer queries in a chosen period and dividing it by the total number of answered tickets.

Average Handling Time (AHT)

Also referred to as Mean Time to Resolve (MTR) or Time to Resolution (TTR), AHT encompasses the time from query receipt to resolution.

Calculate AHT by dividing the sum of resolution times by the number of resolved issues.

Inbound Volume

Inbound volume monitors support-related mentions received within a specific time interval, providing insights into social customer service capabilities.

An escalating inbound volume, combined with high FRT and ASA, may suggest an overwhelming number of support queries, necessitating adjustments in staffing or support channels.

Call Deflection

Measures the number of queries not received, indicating effective customer service. Reduced ticket volumes result in decreased support costs.

Calculate call deflection by comparing incoming support-related messages on social media with phone or email ticket numbers.

Conversation Abandonment Rate

This rate signifies the number of conversations abandoned by customers. Divide completed conversations by initiated chats and multiply by 100 to calculate it.

When combined with other metrics, it helps estimate agent sufficiency for a social media channel and provides insights into follower quality.

Sentiment

Sentiment analysis tools assess customer mood when messages are implicit. They aid in identifying and prioritizing issues and contribute to social listening.

Sentiment numbers and mention counts reflect audience feelings toward your brand, facilitating timely responses to customer preferences.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

NPS measures customer loyalty and their likelihood to recommend your company. Derived from satisfaction surveys, it categorizes respondents into promoters, passives, or detractors.

Compare NPS values with industry averages and address product/service issues if a low score is observed. Regularly review lead generation and maintain relationships with brand promoters.

Conclusion

Successful businesses leverage social media for audience engagement, sales, and brand loyalty. Analyzing key metrics provides valuable insights into audience behavior, campaign performance, and customer sentiment, allowing for optimized strategies and meaningful outcomes. In the dynamic landscape of social media, staying agile and data-driven is essential to adapt to changing trends and outpace the competition.