Today, we find ourselves in an era where anyone can share their thoughts and activities on the internet. It’s as though we’re all connected via this huge web where physical distance doesn’t matter at all.
In this day and age, social media is a part of nearly everyone’s daily lives – for personal matters, for business, and for everything in between. It’s something we all tend to participate in at some point within the day, which is why to a lot of people, measuring the value of their activity on social media is extremely important.
Measuring social media in 2023 is definitely a different ball game compared to previous years, as social media algorithms and the manner we all interact with one another continues to evolve at a rapid pace. In fact, what we can call the “best social media metrics” can vary from person to person, as each person’s purpose and expectations in utilizing these metrics is different.
An important thing to consider is social media metrics entirely rely on us, the people. We tend to overlook our own power to shape and change things, which leads to us feeling constrained by what we already perceive as the norm. This is why having your own personal metrics of social media success is important.
Let’s take a look at what social media metrics we think you should be more conscious about this year.
Let’s Make Social Media Measurement About Value Instead of Vanity
When measuring our metrics on social media, there is a vast aspect of it we call “vanity metrics.” Vanity is, simply put, “excessive pride towards one’s achievements or appearance.”
This means “vanity metrics” are these aspects of our social media campaigns that we tend to focus on unhealthily, such as the number of likes, shares, and comments.
Another reason why these are called vanity metrics is that they tend to show a high state of achievement online, when most of the time, the majority of these numbers aren’t even converted into sales or into the set purpose or outcome of creating a social media campaign.
Hence, these kinds of metrics shouldn’t be seen as primary metrics of success when it comes to sales; rather, they should realistically be seen as metrics of online reach. And as we know, reach often does not equate to transactions.
Of course, success metrics should vary from purpose to purpose. If the purpose of your social media feed is to gain a wide reach and following over increasing demand and sales, then it is a valid success metric.
However, it is wise to consider that most marketing campaigns are run with business outcomes such as ROI and customer lifetime value in mind. It’s also good to note that hyper-focusing on likes and shares can be an unhealthy obsession in the long run, especially if these numbers don’t have any corresponding business (or personal) value attached to them.
At the end of the day, although vanity metrics certainly look good on paper, measuring the value of these online interactions is better, as it means that you can focus on getting what you want out of interactions with others.
Personal Metrics You Can Use to Measure Social Media Success
So, what personal metrics can you use to measure social media success? Leave your obsession with high counts behind – here are a few healthy measures you can focus on instead.
The Number of Facebook Friends Who Are Real Friends
Measuring Facebook value, even just for personal consumption, has taken a huge toll on everyone, as the numbers game has turned friendship into a popularity contest.
The thing is, the more friends we have on Facebook, the more “polluted” our feeds tend to look, compared to simply seeing our like-minded friends’ content. There will also be a far greater number of spam posts showing up on your feed.
Spring cleaning your friends, and, in turn, your feed, will help you see content about the people you truly care about AND will keep your mental health in good balance and harmony. Unfriending people on Facebook might actually be the best self-care activity.
The Number of People You Follow on Twitter and the Quality of Their Content
Twitter is another source of stress and hatred for most of us internet-savvy folk, especially since it’s a social media platform that focuses more on reading thoughts and consuming content of total strangers rather than Facebook’s idea of keeping updated with friends you already have in real life.
Similar to having too many Facebook friends, however, following too many people on Twitter can lead to a terribly managed feed full of a hodgepodge of content you may not even want to consume.
Make sure you only follow people you truly care about, like your favorite celebrities, your real-life friends, some artists whose are you like. We might not realize it, but we are the curators of our reality now, and if we tend to get stressed out a lot because of social media, then perhaps we have to curate it a bit further and set a few more boundaries to find solace in our feeds instead of hate.
Also, focusing on sharing content you like not for the numbers but for the sheer reason that you want to share it to the world will make you feel more at peace with yourself compared to when you hyper-obsess over numbers.
How Many New, Helpful Experiences You Shared on Instagram
Posting valuable Instagram content isn’t unlike the previous social media giants on this list. The numbers game can also get a bit heavy on the mind, especially since we subconsciously equate the number of likes to people’s attractiveness or to how popular people are – which isn’t the case in real life.
Focus on using Instagram as your personal journal – curated by you! Post the photos you want to post; don’t make it a photo feed of experiences you think other people will like or enjoy!
Trying to impress people will only come back to bite you. Having your posts liked and loved for what they are is infinitely more rewarding.
However, adding a few hashtags here and there won’t hurt.
Joining TikTok and Sharing Something Fun and Funny
Getting started on TikTok might be intimidating for a lot of people, especially since most of us internet users have been serial keyboard users for a long time now. Sharing videos may seem to be a more personal method of sharing your thoughts and content to the world, but when used in a fun and light way, it can be rewarding – even for your mental health.
Find something cute or funny? Video it then hit share! You might find a new love for video creation. The measurement of value here is that you tried something that might be a bit out of your comfort zone – which is an important experience to have from time to time.
Gaining followers and seeing those numbers grow? They’re only secondary to the fun you might have on TikTok.
Start a Blog That You Want to Turn into a Business
Another good thing to start this year is a blog! You can turn it into a business later down the line, but for now, you will have to get used to building it and publishing content with consistency.
Once you’re ready to take blogging seriously, you can have the following metrics for success:
- Securing a new URL for your blog
- Setting up a content management system like WordPress for your blog
- Publishing your first blog post
- Reaching 40 blog posts – a milestone that many believe signals to Google that you’re serious
- Receiving your first payment from a paid partnership or via ad revenue
Notice how none of these metrics relate to any sort of numbers that are out of our control, such as visit counts and sessions. These success metrics are more important to improve on to feel and be truly successful in the blogging industry.
After all, anyone can buy services that can provide website traffic (thanks to bots), but tell me, are they really all that valuable in the long term?
At the end of the day, publishing high-quality content that can attract and retain visitors is the best way to get paid for ad revenue instead of spending money on bot traffic.
Let’s Make Our Social Media Metrics More Meaningful
Vanity metrics might look good to the casual observer, but in reality, they don’t hold much meaning. At the end of the day, we want our efforts, be it physically or virtually, to matter to us.
Sure, having so many likes on a post can give a huge boost to our ego, but if its overall result is to have you chase the next big post, then maybe you should reconsider what you consider valuable and meaningful to you.
Indeed, focusing on producing high-quality and meaningful content can help make the web as a whole a better place.
I hope this post has made you think about what social media metrics are most important, and, as always, I encourage you to share any additional tips, tricks, and experiences you might have related to social media measurement down in the comments.
— Sean