SOCIAL MEDIA VANITY METRICS NEED TO DIE
There's no shortage of metrics out there that marketers can track in social media, but not all of them are created equal. Some metrics, such as page views and social media followers, are what
we call vanity metrics. They may look good or make us feel accomplished, but they don't actually help us move the needle on revenue or brand awareness. Vanity metrics can waste our time and resources, so it's important to be able to identify them.
So, how can you tell if a metric is a vanity metric? Here are a few key indicators:
- The metric doesn't directly impact revenue or brand awareness.
- The metric is easy to game or manipulate.
- The metric is heavily
influenced by outside factors beyond our control.
If a social media metric meets any of these criteria, it's likely a vanity metric. The idea of vanity metrics is nothing new. In fact, it's been around for more than a decade. Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup, talked about them already in 2009 on his personal blog. He said vanity metrics are dangerous because they're easily manipulated and don't necessarily correlate with the numbers that actually
matter.
By that, he was referring to the cost of acquiring new customers and, ultimately, revenue and profit. However, even though vanity metrics have been around for a while, they're still a huge problem today in social media marketing.
Why is this a huge problem? Simply put, every company and brand learned they should be on social media years ago, so many companies just hire a “social media expert” that tells them they can increase their followers, likes
and shares in months and can prove it through metrics.
When it comes to social media metrics, it's important to distinguish between vanity metrics and meaningful metrics. Vanity metrics, such as likes, follows, and impressions, may make your campaign look successful on the surface, but they don't necessarily reflect real engagement or conversions.
As a marketer, it's easy to get caught up in vanity metrics. After all, who doesn't love seeing those big
numbers go up and to the right? But when you try to plug in these vanity metrics to describe significant business outcomes like ROI or customer lifetime value (CLTV), they lose their luster and become hollow digits that provide little substance to proving your marketing is profitable.
Basically, vanity Metrics are good for feeling awesome but bad for action. So instead of wasting your time in such low hanging fruits, identify the data points which really matters to your
business.
Regardless of how many people are following you on social media, not everybody is going to see the content on their feed or engage with it. The average engagement rate for brands on Instagram is about 1-2%. That means that if you have 10,000 followers, only 100-200 people are engaging with your posts.
Instead of worrying about getting more followers, be curious if they are commenting and sharing your content. In
other words, it tells you how engaged your audience is with your content. If you have a high engagement rate, that means people are interacting with your content in a positive way.
They're sharing it, commenting on it, and clicking through to learn more about it. On the other hand, if you have a low engagement rate, that means people are ignoring your content or finding it uninteresting.
Either way, your engagement rate is a valuable metric
that can help you understand what kind of content is resonating with your audience and what isn't. So if you're scratching your head over why your sales are suddenly dropping, take a look at your engagement rate and see if there's room for improvement.
This will give you a better understanding of your audience and you can try to replicate these high engagement posts. If you can get even a small percentage of your followers to engage with your content, you’ll be doing better
than most brands on social media.
Monitoring your competition is an important part of any social media strategy- after all, you can't guard against what you're not aware of. Share of voice is a metric that lets you see how visible you are in your industry compared to other companies. It's a mix of social listening (tracking conversation about your brand and competitors) and competitor analysis (seeing how much they're being talked
about). Keep an eye on your share of voice to make sure you're always ahead of the curve. Who knows, you might even find some new strategies to try from seeing what's working for them!
It gives you a competitive edge by allowing you to tap into the market sentiment and giving you a peek into the customers’ needs. This is extremely helpful when it comes to building a brand voice and crafting campaigns that will resonate with your audience. Additionally, a share of voice can
help you track your progress over time and see how your brand is performing relative to your competitors.
This is an invaluable tool that can help you make strategic decisions about your marketing efforts. So, if you’re not already doing so, be sure to start tracking your brand’s share of voice. It could just give you the competitive edge you need to succeed.
Conversions should ALWAYS form a key metric for every
business’ social media performance. How effectively you can convert users into your customers shows the success of your social media efforts. The conversion rate depends on the criteria you are using to determine conversion. It can be a purchase, a subscription to your newsletter, a download, or anything related to your business goals.
If you have a low conversion rate, it means that you are not reaching your target audience or that your offer is not tempting
enough.
In order to increase your conversion rate, you need to analyze your current rate and make changes accordingly. You can split test different platforms, tweak your copy, or change your call-to-action. Increasing your conversion rate is essential to the success of your social media campaigns.
Let's say you're running a campaign to promote your latest ebook. You've been busy creating social media posts and have been doing a great job of driving traffic to your
landing page. But how do you know if people are actually following through and downloading your ebook? The answer lies in calculating your conversion rate.
Here's how to do it: first, add a call-to-action (CTA) in your posts along with a trackable link. To track these, you’ll need a publishing strategy that incorporates UTM tracking and a website traffic analytics program like Google Analytics or a built-in one if you’re on an e-commerce platform like Shopify.
This could be something as simple as "Click here to download my ebook." Next, use cookies to add every lead to your campaign. This way, you can track the number of clicks and conversions you receive.
Vanity metrics, such as the number of followers or likes you have on social media, can be
deceiving. They may make it seem like your business is doing better than it actually is. Instead, focus on more meaningful metrics that can give you a better understanding of how your social media campaigns are performing.
There are many other good metrics to use for social media that are often ignored. The ones we’ve listed should help get you started. What other metrics do you find useful for measuring the success of your social media campaigns?
