The best thing about social media analytics is that they give you so much data. The worst thing about social media analytics is that they give you SO. MUCH. DATA. So, how exactly are you supposed to make sense of it all?
To get the true measure of your social media marketing success, there are really only a few key statistics you should be paying attention to. They are:
Followers/Page LikesThe daily increase (or decrease) of your followers (‘Page Likes’ on Facebook) is an indicator of how effective your social media strategy is. You may not need to be a digital marketing guru to know you need to keep an eye on this one; however, you’ll definitely need to know the best ways to boost your audience growth if your growth rate isn’t looking good.
Reach & ImpressionsMany people make the mistake of thinking Reach and Impressions are the same thing, but they aren't. Essentially, your Reach how many unique users your content has been seen by, while your Impressions indicate how many views your combined posts have had in a given period (most platforms will also provide stats for individual posts).
You could have a social media audience of 2,000 followers. However, if the content you post proves to be extremely popular and receives lots of Shares, your reach could be well over 2,000. But if your content is poor and receives low engagement then your reach/impressions might just barely scrape the hundreds.
EngagementEngagement covers all interactions with your social media pages and posts. Everything from Likes and link clicks to Comments and Shares are included in your engagement metrics.
This is arguably the most important statistic of all, as your engagement rate directly impacts both your reach and audience growth. In other words, the more people engage with your posts, the more your posts will be seen by people outside of your own audience, thus increasing your chances of gaining new followers.