How Do You Prove Your Social Media ROI?
If you are interested in building brand equity and showcase your business in a way that will attract the right audience, you can utilize social media to meet your business goals. To measure social media ROI for your business, you should create a budget, define clear social objectives, track actionable metrics that align with those objectives, and make adjustments as needed to maximize social media ROI.
Not Vanity Metrics Anymore!
A vanity metric is an analytics item that can be measured but is not a signifier of real return on investment (ROI). Until a few years ago, social media metrics were considered vanity metrics, for the most part. These metrics were offering positive "feel-good" real-time reporting but not contributing to the bottom line of the businesses. This reality has changed though, to the point where social media metrics such as reach and engagement rates are becoming more actionable these days. Let's cut through the industry jargon and explain clearly and effectively what each of the terms “engagement”, “reach”, and “impressions” mean to the common person, and how each of them affects your social media marketing campaign ROI.
On the most basic level, these terms are defined as follows:
- Engagement: The number of interactions your content received from users (likes, comments, shares, saves, etc.)
- Impressions: The number of times your content is displayed
- Reach: The number of people who see your content
