KPIs That We Track For Clients

Social media KPIs are measurable metrics that reflect social media performance and prove social’s ROI for a business. Put another way, tracking specific numbers allows RLS to ensure its social strategy is connecting with the target audience and that your brand is achieving its business goals.

Tracking social media KPIs makes reporting back to you easier — it’s a reliable way to prove that your social media strategy is working.

Keep reading to find out more about different types of social media KPIs and how we track them.

What are social media KPIs?

KPI stands for key performance indicators.

We use KPIs to determine performance over time, see if goals are being met and analyze whether changes need to be made.

Social media KPIs are the metrics used to determine if a business’s social media marketing strategy is effective. Basically, they’re tracked data related to a company’s presence on individual platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or across all social platforms collectively.

Social media KPIs should also be SMART:

• Specific: Be as clear as possible. For example, do you hope to increase the brand’s Facebook follower count by 500 in the next month? Do you want to increase your click-through rates by 20% by the end of the year?

• Measurable: Will you be able to track and quantify your progress? For example, during a monthly check-in, you should be able to determine how close you are to meeting the goal.

• Attainable: Keep it real. Set KPIs that are within an achievable scope.

• Relevant: Make sure each social media KPI connects to the business’s larger goals.

• Timely: What’s the timeframe for achieving this goal and determining whether success has been met? One month, six months, one year?

Important social media KPIs Roaring Lambs Social tracks for clients.

Reach KPIs

Reach KPIs measure how many users come across your social channels. These users might only interact with the channel passively — reach and engagement are two different things. Think of reach as a quantity measurement — reach data demonstrates your existing and potential audience, growth over time and brand awareness.

Impressions

This is the number of times your post was visible in someone’s feed or timeline. This doesn’t necessarily mean the person who viewed the post noticed it or read it.

Follower count

The number of followers your social channel has at a set time.

Audience growth rate

You want to make sure you’re gaining followers, not losing them. Audience growth rate demonstrates how follower count is changing over time.

Reach

This is how many people have seen a post since it went live. Reach changes depending on when your audience is online and how good your content is. It gives you an idea of what your audience finds valuable and interesting

Potential reach

This measures the number of people who could see a post during a reporting period. Put another way, if one of your followers shared your post with their network, between 2% and 5% of their followers would factor into the post’s potential reach.

Social share of voice

This metric tracks how many people mentioned your brand, compared to the number of people mentioning your competitors. Simply, it shows how relevant your brand is within your industry. Roaring Lambs Social does social listening to measure your own and your competitors’ mentions during a specific timeframe.

Social media engagement KPIs

KPIs for social media engagement measure the quality of the interactions with your social followers. They show you whether your audience connects with what you have to say and is willing to interact with your brand.

Likes

The number of times followers interact with a social post by clicking the Like button within a given social media platform.

Comments

The number of times your followers comments on your posts. Remember: comments can have a positive or negative sentiment, so a high number of comments isn’t always good!

Applause rate

Applause rate tracks only positive interactions or approval interactions. This includes likes, saves, retweets, favoriting a post, etc.

Average engagement rate

This metric divides all the engagement a post receives — including likes, comments, saves, and favorites — by the total number of followers on your social channel. It shows how engaging, on average, your piece of content was.

Conversion KPIs

Conversion KPIs measure how many social interactions turn into website visits, newsletter sign-ups, purchases, or other desired actions. Conversion metrics reflect how effective your social media strategy is and whether it’s leading to actionable outcomes.

Conversion rate

This is the number of users who perform the actions outlined in your social media CTA (visit your website or landing page, subscribe to a mailing list, make a purchase, etc.) compared to the total number of clicks on that given post. A high conversion rate shows that your social media post delivered something valuable to your audience that made them act!

Click-through rate (CTR)

CTR is the percentage of people who viewed your post and clicked on the CTA (call to action) it included. This provides insight into whether your content captures your audience’s attention and inspires them to act.

Cost per click (CPC)

CPC is the amount you pay on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram per individual click on your sponsored social media post. Roaring Lambs Social tracks this to see if the amount you’re spending is a worthwhile investment.

Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)

This is the amount you pay every time 1,000 people scroll past your sponsored social media post.

Customer satisfaction KPIs

Customer satisfaction KPIs are tracked to see how social media users think and feel about your brand. The sentiment of their interactions with your brand online is direct feedback for your business.

Customer testimonials

Reviews typed up by your customers and posted to social channels like Google My Business or Facebook reviews clearly demonstrate how customers feel about an experience or product. Star rating also provides a good snapshot of how customers feel about your business.

Customer satisfaction score (CSat)

This metric shows how happy your followers are with your brand’s products or services.

Roaring Lambs Social collects this data through a Twitter poll or Facebook survey, for example, asking one simple question: How would you describe your overall satisfaction with this product? Depending on how we set up your poll, respondents would rate their satisfaction either numerically (e.g. on a scale from 1 to 10) or through descriptors like poor, average, or excellent.

Net promoter score (NPS)

Your net promoter score measures your followers’ brand loyalty. We use a poll or survey on your brand’s social channels, to ask one question: How likely would you be to recommend this product or service to a friend? Give respondents the chance to answer using a numerical scale or through descriptors like unlikely, likely, or very likely.