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We all know that we need to be looking at our analytics at least weekly, right? (Let’s clarify that yes, you do want to be looking at them often!)
But what should you be looking at?
Well, you want to be reading the analytics that educates you and informs you about your audience.
The other metrics, such as follower numbers, are for vanity.
Don’t worry though, if that’s what you have been watching! You’re not the only one (you won’t be the last one) and it’s not too late for you!
But if you continue to read the wrong metrics, you know, the ones that feed your ego and not inform you, you’ll continue to struggle to build your accounts.
Because unless you’re making content that your audience loves consuming, they will remain unengaged and uninterested. Meaning you won’t be making any sales or fostering relationships with your audience.
What are Vanity Metrics
Vanity metrics are the ones that don’t help anything but feed your ego.
This includes followers and views.
Why do I say that?
Because what do you learn from those numbers?
Nothing that is going to help you curate better content, that’s for sure!
Yes, seeing that you have a huge following might make people stop and think about buying from you, but once they start to scroll and see that a small handful of people engaged with your content, you begin to lose your appeal.
Then, if they’re expecting a specific value from your brand and they scroll to see nothing but irrelevant content, you’ve lost them.
So What are Value Metrics
Value metrics teach you about your audience. Plain and simple.
I’d suggest that your number one metric to watch is ENGAGEMENT.
Trust me. If you’re building an unengaged audience, the algorithm will punish you. If people are not liking, commenting, sharing, and saving your content, the algorithm will start showing your content to less and less people.
The lower the engagement the fewer people who see it.
See, the number of followers you have doesn’t matter. It’s about quality over quantity.
Value metrics teach you what your audience thinks is quality content. Remember, your account is not about you, it’s about serving your ideal customer/client avatar (ICA).
I had to learn this the hard way myself! I am telling you, once I got clear on who I was serving and how I was going to serve them (and got consistent), I started to really see results.
I still have a small account, but my followers are growing more steadily as my engagement went up.
Social media is for sharing your brand in an authentic and valuable way so you can build and foster relationships with your ICA. If they don’t like what you are sharing, you will see little to no growth.
And if you’re looking to grow your account, you have to test various types of content and check in with the analytics. Try video, carousels, reels, lives, graphics, etc. Test everything and see what resonates with your audience. (For real, no one audience is the same. EVER. You have to know your audience to produce great content. Check out Going Beyond Branding Basics Part 2 for more information on learning your audience.)
The other thing you want to check out in analytics is the part that goes over your past posts/reels. It’s a great way to reference which content has been thriving!
Review
So going forward, commit to sitting down one day a week for 15 to 30 minutes to review the analytics for all of your content: social media, email, blog, youtube, etc. Look at all of them and pay attention to which ones have the least amount of engagement and look at the ones with the highest engagement.
Is there any way you can improve the low engagement content? If you don’t think so, don’t continue creating content like that.
And continue creating content similar to the content that’s getting high engagement.
Alright, so commit to watching your analytics once a week (I’d recommend keeping track –I use a simple Google Sheet) and use that information to create better content each and every week!
You can do it!!!!
Until next week, I wish you nothing but success, happiness, and prosperity.
-Jordan