Social media KPIs: the metrics to track based on your goals
Social media apps show you dozens of numbers. Most of them won’t help you make a single decision. The better approach: start from your goal, and track only the few metrics that match it.
Here are the KPIs to watch depending on what you’re after, plus a simple method to review your results once a month.
The metrics worth knowing
- Reach: the number of unique accounts that saw a post.
- Impressions or views: the total number of times your content was displayed, including repeat views by the same person.
- Engagement rate: interactions (likes, comments, shares, saves) divided by reach.
- Saves: a strong signal that people found the post useful, especially for carousels.
- Shares and sends: people liked the content enough to pass it along.
- Watch time and completion rate: for video, how much of it people actually watched.
- Clicks: to your website, your link in bio, your booking page.
- DMs and inquiries: the signal closest to revenue.
- Follower growth: useful, but only when read alongside the other metrics.
Which KPIs for which goal
- Build awareness: reach, views, new followers, share of non-followers reached.
- Build trust: saves, comments, shares, watch time.
- Generate leads and sales: clicks, DMs, quote or appointment requests, attributed sales (UTM links help here).
- Hire: applications, careers page visits, shares of your job posts.
Pick two or three KPIs at most for your main goal, as defined in your social media strategy.
Where to find these numbers
- Instagram: the Insights of a professional account (in the app, or in the professional dashboard).
- Facebook: Meta Business Suite, which also includes your Instagram data.
- LinkedIn: the analytics of your company page, plus per-post analytics on a personal profile.
- TikTok: the analytics of a business or creator account.
- Your website: your web analytics tool, for traffic coming from social media.
The monthly review method
- Pull your key metrics for the month and compare them with the previous month.
- Rank your posts from best to worst on your main KPI.
- Look for what the top three have in common: format, content pillar, hook, platform, day of the week.
- Do the same for the bottom three.
- Decide on two or three changes for next month and add them to your content calendar.
This review takes about half an hour, and it’s worth more than any industry benchmark: it tells you what works for your audience.
Common traps to avoid
- Judging a format on a single post: give it three or four tries before drawing conclusions.
- Comparing yourself with accounts of a different size: engagement rates naturally drop as an audience grows.
- Chasing followers: a thousand followers who could become customers beat ten thousand who will never buy.
- Checking the numbers every day: daily swings are mostly noise.
Tracking performance without a spreadsheet
My Social Manager keeps a history of your posts and their numbers, then writes a performance review before each new calendar: what worked feeds straight into next month’s plan. You can start with a free assessment.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good engagement rate on social media?
It varies a lot by platform, industry, and account size. Rather than aiming for a general average, compare your rate month over month and across your own formats.
How often should I review my social media analytics?
A monthly review is enough for most small businesses, with a closer look during a launch or a campaign, such as the weeks around Black Friday.