Vanity vs Meaningful Metrics: What Are You Focusing On?

We all know it. That sudden heady rush when the likes flood in and your follower count blows up.

It’s the instant gratification, right? The “oh hell, I must be doing something right”.

But have you ever stopped to think what those little red hearts really mean for your business?

Vanity metrics are the ones that look grand on paper but, actually, have little influence.

Here’s the thing: Likes. Mean. Jack.

There. I said it.

And soon? Well, they’re going to be taken off of our social channels anyway. So it’s time you started focusing on the metrics that really matter.

I’m talking about the metrics that influence future marketing decisions. Metrics that support and propel your business model. Metrics that provide real opportunity for growth.

You might be thinking; what’s the difference then? Why you getting so aggy?

I see far too many incredible businesses getting down trodden by how they “measure up” against their competitors. They see them boasting tens of thousands of followers and triple figure likes while they struggle to get past a hundred.

This leaves them feeling inadequate and, frankly, a tad crap.

What they don’t realise is that there’s so much more to it.

You need to dig deeper and use all the crayons in the colouring box.

Here are 5 vanity metrics you need to leave at the door and the ones you should welcome in instead.

Facebook fans

Having heaps of fans is all good and well (who doesn’t want to be adored?). But did you know that a huge majority of those fans won’t even see your content?

Picture a Facebook feed as a bit of a Where’s Wally (bear with me on this one, okay). Everyone is bustling for attention. Endless people, companies, pages and brands all trying to squeeze in.

As the page gets busier and busier, Wally becomes impossible to see. No matter how damn hard you look.

Simply put, Facebook cannot feature it all. Which means, sadly, even if someone likes your page… they may never even see your content.

Instead… track engagement rates

Regularly look at which content is getting the most engagement; you can do this on all platforms. Is it content around a particular theme? Is it branded content? Video? Blogs? Personal posts?

Use these insights to drive your marketing activity and adapt.

Similarly, look at what isn’t getting engagement. Maybe it’s time to reevaluate whether it has any value?

This will also give you some powerful information on the type of people who are engaging with your content: their age, gender, interests and even when they are most likely online. All valuable *stuff* you can use to ensure your content has as big an impact as possible.

Twitter followers

Similarly, Twitter followers (and Instagram to a large extent) say very little. Several will be ‘bots. Even more will only be following you so you follow back… quickly to unfollow a few days later.

In fact, that’s why it’s so useful to regularly “clean up” your followers. Chuck out any that seem…spammy. All they’re doing is messing up your engagement rates, buddy.

Instead… track who’s talking about you

Who’s tagging you into content? Who’s sharing your posts? Better still, who’s jumping in on your hashtags?

Some of the best metrics I’ve ever been able to track were related to a charity campaign I managed which ran two days a year. Throughout those two days, participants were invited to share their experiences with our campaign hashtags.

Not only did this provide quantitative data from the amount of times it was used (and the amount of followers those individuals all had), but the qualitative data (the actual content and feedback shared) was incredible.

Instagram post likes

Most of us will know that this is on its way out. But, it still needs talking about.

Think how many times you scroll mindlessly through your Instagram feed and double tap anything that catches your eye. How often do you actually read the caption alongside it? Even better, how often do you follow up with an action of your own?

My guess… not so often.

Whenever you’re measuring your impact, you always need to remember to come back to your business goals. Whether they are brand awareness, to be seen as an expert, to sell or to build long term relationships, you need to be sure that your content is helping you to tick those boxes.

Do likes REALLY tell you whether you’re doing that or not?

Instead… look at how many people are saving your posts

You want to know that your content is actually being considered properly. That it’s being read and absorbed. What better a sign that’s happening than when people are saving it?

The fab thing about Instagram Insights is they are super insightful and easy to use. Tracking your “saved” posts is just one of maaaaaany useful filters; 1000000% more useful than like tracking.

You can also see which posts are driving the most traffic to your website and bringing the most individuals over to your page.

Once you’ve figured this out, you can once again mould your content to fit neatly into those boxes.

E-newsletter open rate

While knowing your email open rate isn’t redundant (it can be a good sign of how effective your headers are), it isn’t the most important metric. Because let’s face it. The purpose of your e-newsletter is to drive traffic elsewhere, right?

Simply opening the email does diddly squat for that. No. You need to go a layer further.

Instead… look at your click through rate

You’ve guessed it. That layer is your click through rate.

Consider how many people are actually clicking on further. Which of these links are getting the most attention? Is it direct sells? Value adding content? Competitions? Social media accounts?

And how have you designed those links? Are they big, bold and beautiful? Or subtly sprinkled into the body of your text?

Find the pattern and run with it.

Blog post views

Again, this does hold some weight. It shows you how well your SEO is working, which topics drive the most interest and what type of title format catches the most eyeballs.

But… grabbing their attention is one thing. Maintaining it is a whole different kettle of fish.

Instead… find out how long people are sticking around

What is the average time people are spending on your blog posts and what is your bounce rate?

This is a great way to map your desired customer journey. You don’t want people to land on one blog post and then saunter off into the distance. You want them to check out another one. And then find out more about you. Maybe they’ll then take a sneaky look at your services.

It’s this pathway that really counts.