Measuring your social media performance metrics on a regular basis may seem like a lot of work if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like numbers (and who may or may not have flunked math) like I am.

Well, here’s the rub. Calculus and algebra pale in comparison to the relative ease of measuring social media performance. Defining the right metrics to show that your social media efforts are paying off is easy once you have your business goals mapped out.

Establishing a link between your social media efforts and your objectives can be achieved by monitoring the right metrics. As a result, you’ll be able to show how social media is helping your company achieve its goals.

To help you gauge the success of your social media marketing efforts, this article will discuss the five most important metrics to monitor. Here, you’ll learn about them.

1. Normal Rate of Commitment

Knowing how many people are engaging with your social media content requires monitoring the relevant engagement metrics. By monitoring these metrics, you can find out which kinds of content are the most successful at generating interest from your audience.

Keep tabs on your Average Engagement Rate if you want to have any kind of meaningful conversation about the frequency with which your posts are liked, shared, or commented on. You can use this as a yardstick for your next few social media posts to see if you’re connecting with your audience or if you need to make some adjustments.

Where to look for it:

Set a time frame for reports.
Total up the number of interactions for every single post, then divide that number by the total number of posts (Total interactions/Total interactions) and multiply that number by 100 to get the average interaction rate.

2. Influence in social settings

When compared to the competition, how popular is your brand?

Measuring your brand’s share of voice on a social network provides a clear picture of how well it performs in comparison to similar brands on that network. In order to gauge how well your brand is doing in comparison to others in your industry, you should look at share of voice metrics.

Where to look for it:

Find out how many times your name has been mentioned by using an analytics tool.
Compare the amount of attention you’re getting to the amount of attention your competitors are getting using the same tool (your share of voice = your mentions divided by the total number of mentions).

3. Does the number of “likes” on your latest post represent the success of your social media efforts?

Don’t think so.

Though it’s encouraging to see that your social media posts are receiving a lot of attention, it’s not quite enough if your audience isn’t responding in the way you anticipated. You can see how well your social media campaigns are doing by tracking the percentage of users who become leads or customers.

Where to look for it:

Find out how much social media traffic you’re responsible for overall.
Get the conversion rate by multiplying the number of conversions by the total number of visits.

4. Timing of a Reply

Customers today are less tolerant, and they expect instantaneous responses on social media. The question then becomes how to tell whether or your brand receive a swift response.

The speed with which your brand responds on social media is a metric that can help put that question to rest.

The average amount of time it takes for your brand to reply to a social media post or tweet can be calculated using response time metrics. Improve your social media response time (and earn a cool badge in the process) and delight your customers.

Where to look for it:

In Facebook, you can earn a badge that shows off your dedication to quick responses.
Gaining this badge requires a 90% response rate and a 15-minute response time.
You could automate your customer service processes by using chatbots.

5. Sentiment

What do people think of your company generally?

Happy? Unsatisfied? Neutral?

It’s impossible to tell from a few social media interactions.

You can find out how people feel about your brand by using social monitoring tools like Brandwatch.

Without the aid of a tool, gauging audience reaction will be a laborious manual process. However, it could be beneficial to periodically gauge the reaction of your target demographic. It’s priceless information for fine-tuning your social media tactics, product development, and customer service. There are many more examples.

Final Thoughts

I have no doubt that the next time your boss asks you to bring numbers to the table, you will seize the opportunity to discuss data that actually matters rather than the vanity metrics (likes, shares, and comments).

But can you justify your social media spending if questioned about it?

How do you respond to such inquiries from your superiors?

What effect, if any, are social media having on your company as a whole?
How might you prove social media marketing’s worth to our firm?
How much profit have we made?
Are there any statistics you could share with us?