We’re big believers that a solid social media strategy is crucial for businesses in order to be effective in the online space. However, we also understand that a strategy is more like a guideline or roadmap rather than a hard and fast rule; it might need to be altered as you gather more data (which is one reason we recommend performing a quarterly audit!)

If you’re working with a social media manager or an agency, they *should* be reviewing your content regularly and sending you a monthly analytics report, which contains your insights from the content that’s been posted as well as their recommendations for any adjustments that should be made moving forward.

Or maybe you’re DIY-ing your social media and feel like you’re wasting your time and efforts because you’re not seeing the results you’ve hoped.

Regardless, you may be left wondering what in the world your insights mean and how you should interpret them. Look no further!

REACH

The number of users (unique accounts) who have seen your post/reel/story/etc. at least once.

IMPRESSIONS

The total number of times your post/reel/story/etc. was viewed. Think of it this way: reach is the number of users who saw your piece of content; impressions is the number of times that piece of content was viewed (ie: some users may come back to view your content more than once because it left an impression on them).

PAGE/PROFILE VISITS

The number of times your page/profile was visited.

PAGE LIKES/FOLLOWERS

The number of people who like or follow your page/profile.

Note: this value is a complete vanity metric; it means nothing if those users are not actively engaging with your content. However, it can still be a good insight to track periodically if one of your goals is to build brand awareness/grow your following.

PROFILE VISITS

The number of times someone viewed your profile.

WEBSITE TAPS/VISITS

The number of times the link to your website was tapped/the number of times someone visited your website from your profile.

BUSINESS ADDRESS TAPS

The number of times your business address was clicked (from your profile).

CALL BUTTON TAPS

The number of times your phone number or “Call Now” bottom was clicked (from your profile).

EMAIL BUTTON TAPS

The number of times your email button was clicked (from your profile).

TEXT BUTTON TAPS

The number of times your text button was clicked (from your profile).

ENGAGEMENT

Likes: the number of users who “liked”/double tapped/hearted your content.

Comments: the number of comments your content received.

Saves: the number of users who saved your content.

Shares: the number of users who shared your content (either to their stories or to someone through a DM).

Replies: the number of replies your story received (ie: when someone views your stories and sends you a message from it).

Content Interactions: the number of actions (ie: comments, like, shares, saves, replies) that people take when they engage with your post.

Profile Activity: the number of actions people took when visiting your profile after engaging with your content.

Engagement Rate: the amount of interaction your content receives relative to reach, followers, or audience size (usually calculated as a percentage).

Knowing your engagement rate is a key factor in analyzing whether or not your efforts are being well-received by your audience, and is also an indicator to how well your content is performing against the algorithm (ie: a high engagement rate is usually indicative that your audience finds value in that piece of content; the higher the engagement rate, the higher the chance that your content has in going “viral” because the algorithm will continue to push it to people’s feeds and explore pages).

• Your engagement rate = [your engagement ÷ followers (or impressions)] x 100
• Your engagement = likes + comments + saves + shares

How to Interpret these Insights with Your Strategy in Mind

Now that you know what these insights mean, you might be wondering how this influences your strategy. Depending upon your goals, there are a few metrics that you’ll want to pay particular attention to:

• If you’re focused on brand awareness, you’ll want to pay attention to reach, impressions, followers, shares, and profile visits.
• If you’re focused on nurturing (ie: building relationships) your current audience, you’ll want to pay attention to your engagement rate (remember that this is influenced by your likes, comments, saves, and shares).
• If you’re focused on sales/conversions, you’ll want to pay attention to website visits, business address taps, call button taps, email button taps, and text button taps.

Remember that a large part of social media is trial and error, especially with ever-changing algorithms and new features being introduced. If you’re repeatedly seeing that one type of content is not performing well (ie: low number of likes, comments, saves, shares, etc.), then try experimenting with something else! Your focus should be on creating content that resonates with your audience in order to support your larger marketing goals (ie: brand awareness, increased sales, etc). Reviewing your monthly analytics will allow you essential insight in to what your audience is liking and disliking, and allow you to better connect with them, in turn enabling you to reach your goals!

Need help performing an audit and developing a strategy? Check our our Content Strategy Embracive, which is our exclusive 30-day experience designed to help you analyze and re-design your content marketing strategy. Have a strategy in place, but still found this helpful? Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Instagram for more tips and tricks!