Social Media Measuring and Listening
Measuring the performance of your social media content allows you to understand whether your efforts are working or need to be adjusted. There are hundreds of ways to measure your data, and to avoid overload, it's best to choose what you'll measure and how to measure it ahead of time.
Beyond gathering numbers, social media analytics require analysis. Take time to really look at your data on a regular basis and see what you can learn from it. These metrics can help us really understand our audience, how we can speak to them, what kind of content they're looking for and more.
Assessment Categories
Reach
Reach metrics indicate how many people see your content on social media. The more people your content reaches, the more likely a greater number of people will be aware of your account and begin to form desired impressions.
Example social media metrics: Twitter reach; Facebook impressions; Instagram
Consumption
Consumption metrics will help you understand the amount of content people read, view, and watch. The more content on your account people consume, the more likely they are to interact with your content and messaging or refer friends to your service or social media pages.
Example social media metrics: link clicks; video views
Engagement
Brand engagement metrics provide insight into the reaction a person may have had after consuming content. The more people like, share, and comment, the more likely it is the content is making a deeper connection and elevating esteem. Those actions also extend content to the social networks of the individual who took a brand engagement action.
Example social media metrics: Twitter retweets; Facebook shares; Instagram comments
Sentiment
The ultimate measure of success is sentiment. What people say in comments or shares will give you a good idea of their feelings toward your service or account. Measuring sentiment can be tricky, but it's worthwhile.
Platform Analytics
Each social media platform provides some level of analytics for business accounts. The degree of analytics available varies widely, and there are few apples-to-apples matches. The social team can help you understand how to format your report to answer your questions and show where you are in meeting the account's key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals.
Facebook analytics are accessed from your Facebook page by selecting the Insights tab. There are many tabs of data available for you to explore. For more information on using Facebook Insights, visit the Page Insights section of the Facebook Help Center. Data can be exported, or viewed on the platform using their data visualization tools.
Twitter analytics are accessed by visiting the Tweet Activity Dashboard and logging in with your Twitter account information. The Home tab provides monthly summaries of your data, and other tabs provide information relevant to your messages and audience. Learn more about Twitter analytics in the Tweet Activity Dashboard section of the Twitter Help Center.
Instagram analytics are available to Instagram users with a business profile through Instagram Insights. Insights include impressions, reach, and engagement. Learn more about Instagram Insights through the Accessing Instagram Insights section of the Instagram Business Tools guide.
YouTube
YouTube analytics are accessed by visiting youtube.com/analytics and logging in to your account. There are many tabs of data available. Data can be exported or viewed on the platform. Learn more in the YouTube Analytics section of the YouTube Help Center.
Snapchat
Snapchat analytics are limited. When you view your account's story, small icons and numbers will appear next to each element of the story. The eye icon indicates the number of individuals who have viewed that story element. The triangle icon indicates the number of individuals who have taken a screenshot of that element. An easy way to log these analytics is to take a screenshot(s) of the analytics page. Snapchat analytics disappear with the story — 24 hours after they are posted. The social media team can help you understand metrics from Snapchat ads.