30 Sep Tracking Followers: Which Social Media Metrics Actually Matter?
Although it’s fun to watch your follower count grow and see likes pour onto your page, tracking followers and likes aren’t that important when it comes to your business’ social media accounts. It’s better to pay attention to the more valuable metrics so you get the most out of your social media efforts.
Vanity Metrics
Vanity metrics are things like followers, page likes, photo likes, downloads, views, and more. Tracking followers and other vanity metrics may be exciting if you’re seeing significant growth, but they don’t reflect well on your tangible business goals. It’s also likely that bot accounts or “dead” (unused) accounts are following you, which will not do anything to further your business objectives. Some people buy followers, which ultimately decreases the number of active accounts engaging with your brand which can be harmful. Bot accounts and bought followers are not going to bring you any closer to your sales goals.
Why Tracking Followers Isn’t Important
Tracking followers fail to represent your online marketing decisions and efforts. Followers do not equate sales or give you analytical insight on how well your social media campaign is doing. You may see an increase in followers or likes on your Facebook page, but your sales and revenue won’t budge. This is because there are other metrics that are more closely aligned with your social media business efforts.
This summer an Instagram influencer with over 2.6 million followers shut down her clothing line after just 13 days because she failed to sell 36 units of each of her 7 products for sale. Selling 252 units to an audience of 2.6 million people comes out to a 0.009% conversion rate. That number is shockingly low, yet the influencer was unable to meet her mark. Though her follow count exceeds a million, she did not have an engaged audience. Her extremely large audience distracted her from focusing on the parts of social media marketing that actually matter.
Focus On What Really Matters
Instead of tracking followers and pining over likes, focus on other social media metrics that will help you reach your business goals:
- Engagement Rate: Shows how many people interacted with your post. This includes likes, comments, shares and more.
- Brand Awareness: The social media attention your brand receives during a select time period. This includes mentions, shares, links, and impressions.
- Conversion Rate: The number of people who take action on your page after viewing your post. This includes subscriptions, downloads, registers, purchases, and more. You can increase your conversion rate by including a call to action link in your posts.