Social media, social networks and social analytics. The array of data that is available in today’s social sphere can seem endless, but the ability to gather and analyse this data is a highly effective way to gain insight into a specific target market.Three of our favourite social metrics are growth rate, referral traffic and conversions. With these metrics in mind, tracking the effectiveness of your campaign can be streamlined.

Engagement rates: if and how users are engaging with your content

• The most common form of engagement rate (ER) is calculated per post: (ER=#of impressions / the total amount of actions (likes, shares, comments, retweets))
• Engagement rate shows if your content resonates with your audience.  Likes, shares, comments, retweets etc. are all ways that consumers show brands virtual love.

Referral traffic: a sign of potential

• Although a user may not “like” a post, they still have the potential to convert.
• 90% of all people who use the internet are “lurkers” (people who don’t engage but click through) and make up the bulk of page visits.

Conversions: the most important metric to track.

•  Growth rate is important to watch but with the multitude of spam accounts, growth does not always equal conversion.
•  It’s better to have a smaller engaged base that converts than a large base that does nothing.

Now that you’ve identified which metrics are important, the next step is consolidating the data. Gathering social analytics requires extensive resources, specific knowledge and budget allocation. However, the effort and expense are necessary if you are planning on leveraging social media, because without analytics there is no way to measure ROI.

There are two routes to gathering data. The free method has a steep learning curve and requires time and a pre-existing knowledge base to work from. Tracking referral traffic can be done on Google analytics using goal tracking. Facebook and LinkedIn offer in-house analytics but Twitter lacks such a feature. The only way to get Twitter-related data is to use Twitter cards and use a combination of free tools such as Followerwonk, Tweetdeck, Social Mention, or as a last resort, manual counting.

The second method is outsourcing the work to an agency that specialises in social media. At Access Digital Marketing, we have experts that gather key statistics for you and highlight the actionable sets of data.

Individuals and companies alike have a social media presence, but not everyone may know which KPIs should be considered when determining the success, or failure, of a social media campaign. Determining those metrics and gathering the requisite data can be a taxing process. Done right, however, it can increase brand presence, drive leads, and ultimately optimise ROI.