The one metric to obsess over, when compiling your social media analytics reports
If your life consists of monitoring or managing your company’s social media efforts, then it’s highly likely that you stress out over a vast array of different social media metrics.
Perhaps, you worry that your tweets are not getting retweeted enough. Or, you’re thrilled that your last email campaign generated an above average open-rate. Maybe your mood goes up and down with the sentiment towards your reputation. And, you get a mini high when your web analytics shows an increase in Pinterest traffic for the day.
Well, stop it!
OK, perhaps that’s a little harsh, but none of those should be at the top of the list of social media metrics to obsess over. So, what should be the most important number in your social media analytics reports?
[highlight color=”yellow”]Conversions.[/highlight]
You see, conversions is why your business is, well, in business. Sure, we all know the importance of brand awareness, social media engagement, and building a brand that is one of the most loved in the world. However, at the end of the day, shouldn’t the most important number be how many conversions you achieved?
If it’s not, then you can quickly find yourself chasing the wrong metric. Take a look at this segment of traffic from earlier this year:
While getting mentioned in a popular newsletter was great for our Google Analytics report–and our egos–it hardly converted at all. Sure, that buzz, over time, adds up to a better brand–which attracts more conversions–but that’s not what we achieved directly from this link.
So, while you should definitely take pride in the number of news mentions, tweets, Likes, and such that show up in your social media analytics, don’t forget the most important metric of all: [highlight color=”yellow”]did we achieve our business goals from this?[/highlight]
Whether that conversion is a sale, a sign-up, a donation, or a click on an ad, that’s the one metric to obsess over!
Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments!
