Even though followers, likes and comments, or vanity metrics, can all make you feel like your social media is working, they are weak in driving business results. By “business results” I mean qualified leads, new clients or mortgage origination volume.
Doing well with vanity metrics should not be a focus, but a byproduct of a content strategy designed to drive revenue and a focus on higher-quality metrics. The wrong focus (vanity metrics) will have you quickly blowing through your social media budget with nothing to show for it.
Before you publish a piece of content, your first order of business should be to establish the business result you want to achieve. Is it to drive awareness of your company and your offerings? Is it to push people to a landing page so they can subscribe to a newsletter or your blog? Do you want them to go to a landing page and download a white paper, case study, or e-book?
If these are more in line with your purpose…
What are some of the key metrics you should be studying?
There are many, but here are a few to get you started:
Time on site:
This is a key indicator of how well your content is resonating with your audience. Typically, the average site visitor spends less than 15 seconds on a website. This means you have less time than that to get their attention so they are more likely to take an action you like.
Bounce rate:
The bounce rate is a measure of how many people hit the “back” button after visiting a page on your site. When too many people go back instead of drilling deeper into your site, this means that the content you’re offering was not important to them. Less often, however, it could mean they found the information they were looking for.
Social shares:
In 2014, there was a report from Shareaholic that showed that roughly 30% of website traffic was driven by social media. This number fell to 26% in 2017 but is still significant. Therefore, the number of shares you receive across platforms is still important to broaden your opportunity to drive traffic to your site and achieve a favorable result.
Landing page views:
Measuring website views is one thing but a landing page view is where the rubber meets the road. When people visit your website, the goal should be for them to funnel to a landing page where they can take a desired action like joining an email list, signing up for an event, downloading a white paper or any other goal you may have.
There are many more metrics to consider like leads per keyword, CTA click-through rates and backlinks to name a few.
If you would like to learn more about what metrics should matter most to you based on your goals, contact us for a free consultation.
