Hung Up on Social Media Vanity Metrics? 3 Ways To Charge Forward
Social media can be a tricky maze to play.
It could be as easy as a straight path or a labyrinth, depending on how well you test the waters. With the way the world works right now, depending on the digital world to spread the word is critical, if not second nature already.
This not only includes building our online presence, but interacting with our guests and partners as well. So to speak, the partners you work with are influencers.
But if you are a new business or a traditional business navigating their way online, working with metrics to measure your success may be daunting. This is because it can be difficult to pinpoint what worked and what did not.
One of the ways to identify this is to work around vanity metrics.
VANITY METRICS: AESTHETICALLY PLEASING OR SALES CONVERTING?
To put it simply, vanity metrics are what make your digital presence “pretty.” What does that mean? They are the numbers you see on a person’s social media profile -- following count, views, and the like.
But while they make a person’s digital presence bright and shiny, they usually are not a very reliable benchmark for success. This is still not to say that following count and views do not matter, because they could, if they are combined with other metrics as a whole.
Ultimately, measuring success online depends solely on the goals or KPIs you wish to reach. Other than that, here are three metrics you can pay attention to instead.
1. IMPRESSIONS
These refer to the quantifiable amount of content exposure online. Impressions can be summed up in a sentence, too: they count the number of times people have seen your content.
Why is this important? Impressions define the impact your brand’s content makes on your audience. All analytics tabs of the most popular social media network have them.
With impressions, you can also -- more or less -- identify the kind of content that works for you and what does not.
2. ENGAGEMENT RATE
This is where following count comes into play. Engagement rate refers to the percentage of your audience’s interactions divided by the number of followers you currently have. Most businesses or brands use this to identify how effective an influencer is too.
Let us take a look at small business Hey Pie People. This pie brand has been making waves on Instagram for their instantly sold out pies, and Manila is here for it. But is their presence on the app for keeps? Here we go.
We take their most recent post and add up the likes and comments. They currently have 18,596 followers to date, so let us divide by that.
LIKES: 2,557
COMMENTS: 116
Engagement Rate: 0.14%
They are more or less enjoying a near industry average engagement rate. But still, their pies are sold out every week. So their marketing strategy is still effective.
3. AUDIENCE GROWTH
Let us clarify something here. We are not talking about following count per se, but the rate at which your followers are growing. This is especially important in identifying brands or influencers who purchase followers.
You can tell if the growth starts to do an extreme yo-yo -- where the amount rises and falls exponentially. The falling is an effect of social media’s way of eliminating bots, or fake followers.
Identifying and quantifying your audience growth can also help you pinpoint how well you are engaging with your community. After all, the key to growing online is through a communal mindset. It is when you do not only post for yourself, but also check in and listen to what your audience wants to say or share with you.
VANITY METRICS CAN STILL BE EFFECTIVE
We are not here to do away with vanity metrics. They are still key measures for a reason. But it is important not to be swayed by them so much. It is important to measure your goals for success accordingly and work with the metrics to help you achieve that.
No amount of vanity numbers can tell you otherwise, if you are producing the content that you and your audience both love.
Want to find out how else you can grow your digital footprint? Let Near Creative help you out with that.