Top 9 Social Media Metrics to Track in 2023

Social media metrics are the statistics that indicate how successful your marketing performance is. However, vanity metrics like likes and page views aren’t accurate indicators that your social media strategy is working. 

Instead, you need to start tracking the important metrics that would help you set achievable goals, find your baseline, understand your performance better and act promptly to changes. If you want to base your marketing decisions on data and evidence, read on to discover the top social media metrics to track in 2023.

Post Reach

Post reach informs you about the number of users who have seen your posts. It can help you determine whether your audience finds your content appealing and if you’re posting at the right time. To calculate the post reach percentage, you should divide the post reach number by the follower base number and then multiply it by 100. 

Impressions

Impressions display the number of times users saw your content. One user can count for multiple impressions. This is an important metric to measure because it reveals whether your content is optimized for the platforms you’re using. If you see the impressions rise, it’s likely due to your content popping up more frequently into the users’ feeds. Ultimately, higher impressions usually mean better brand awareness. 

Follower Growth Rate 

The follower growth rate gives you insight into expanding your reach and capturing new users’ attention. For instance, if you started with 500 followers and have gained 50 new followers in one month, your follower growth is 10% which is excellent. But if you’ve started the month with 5,000 followers and gained only 50, that’s 1% growth and means it might be time to try a new growth strategy. If you want to up your game on Instagram, for example, you need to connect with Instagram users that follow back, target the right people, create high-quality content, and maximize the use of the platform’s features. 

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is the number of conversions from social media. A high conversion rate reveals that your audience finds the content you share valuable enough to take the action you wanted them to. To properly calculate the social media conversion rate, you should use cookies to track users’ behavior. Then, divide the number of conversions for a particular post by the number of clicks it obtained and multiply by 100. 

Engagement Rate

The engagement rate shows if your content receives reactions through likes, comments, and shares. A high engagement rate suggests that your content appeals to your audience and entices them to actively participate. The more engagement your content gets, the bigger exposure it will get. If you want an accurate measurement of the engagement rate, accumulate the likes, comments, and shares and divide the total number by the number of followers. Finally, multiply the number you get by 100. 

Click-Through Rate

Click-through rate is the percentage of time a user clicks on the call to action in your content on social media. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of link clicks by impressions and multiplying by 100. Having a high CTR means you’re offering your audience content interesting enough for them to engage with. 

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of people who visit your page and leave without clicking on any other page. It reveals your social media ROI by comparing it to other web traffic sources. So, if your social media bounce rate is higher than the traffic you get from organic traffic or paid advertising, you should consider refining the strategy. Tracking bounce rate can be trickier to measure as it requires setting up an analytics provider like Google Analytics.

Conversation Rate 

Conversation rate is another important social media indicator to track. It gives insightful information about the ratio of post comments to the following number. Tracking the conversation rate will essentially help you understand if your content can spark conversation. You can calculate it by dividing the number of comments received during a certain period by the following number and multiplying it by 100. 

Applause Rate

Applause rate measures the approval actions such as likes and faves. It’s very important to determine whether your audience finds your content valuable and can be very helpful in developing a robust content marketing plan. The applause rate is calculated by adding up the number of approval actions a specific post got in a determined time period and dividing that number by the total number of followers and multiplying by 100. 

Conclusion

Tracking the social media metrics we’ve outlined here will give you a better picture of how your campaigns are performing. Accordingly, you’ll be able to make data-driven decisions that will enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns and help you reach your goals.