Any social media strategy worth its salt needs to be measured properly. However, you may be surprised how many marketers don't think to look beyond the data found in the "Overview" tab.

While no one would argue about the importance of tracking these statistics (which is why they are at the forefront), more valuable information can be gathered by taking a deeper dive.

Let's look at the top platforms and discover the best social media metrics to track for each to increase brand awareness and improve social media ROI.

Facebook metrics: the basics

Facebook (owned by parent company Meta) remains the most popular social media network according to Statista despite competition from newcomer TikTok and second place YouTube. For businesses, Facebook offers a range of advertising options that are highly targeted and have a wide reach. So how do you use Facebook analytics to grow and engage?

1. Facebook - Engagement

Engagement measures the number of times people took an action on your post. Actions include clicks, shares, comments or reactions.

This is a valuable metric for measuring how much your audience likes your content. Learning the types of posts people interact with will help inform your content strategy. Better engagement also helps your post reach more of your followers' newsfeeds.

2. Facebook - Outreach

Reach indicates the number of people who have seen your post. Changes to Facebook's algorithm have made it more difficult for posts to be seen organically. So even if a company has a large number of followers on Facebook, it does not mean that your posts will be visible to many of them.

You can access the main reach information on the "Overview" tab of your Facebook Insights page and get more details on the "Reach" tab. This is a useful metric to help show how many individual people saw your campaign or content.

3. Facebook - Impressions

While reach is the number of people who saw your post, impressions are the number of times your post was seen. If one person saw a single post on three different occasions, that person represents a one increase in reach and a three increase in impressions.

Twitter metrics: the basics

Despite the ongoing changes to Twitter, it is a platform that can offer much to marketers and brands. Its real-time nature means hashtags can trend quickly and businesses can leverage tweets to increase brand awareness and drive engagement. Let's look at the metrics to see how Twitter analytics are being used.

1. Twitter - Tweet impressions

This metric is the number of times the tweet was shown, either on your followers' timelines, as a result of a like or in a search. This data can be found by selecting 'View tweet activity' in your Twitter analytics and can help show how your content or campaign has been sent to audiences outside of your follower list.

3. Twitter - Main tweet

On the account home page in the Twitter analytics, you will find the top tweet for the current month. That's the tweet that got the most impressions and includes the top card tweet (includes a card) and the top media tweet (includes a photo or video). It's an important indicator of what works well with your audience, whether it's the type of content, the hashtag used, the day and time of the tweet or a combination of some or all of those factors.

Instagram metrics: the basics

More than two billion people use Instagram once a month, making it the fourth most popular social app worldwide according to Business of Apps. With a new focus on video formats, Instagram can be an effective platform for brands looking to drive brand awareness and engagement, especially among the 35+ demographic. Let's take a look at the key metrics for monitoring Instagram analytics usage.

1. Instagram - Impressions

This is the number of times your post was shown to your audience. Instagram analytics breaks this data down further by showing impressions coming from hashtags, from home or profile. Good hashtag use will help improve the impressions of your posts.

2. Instagram - Outreach

Another key metric for measuring campaign or post performance on Instagram is reach. This refers to the number of individual users or unique accounts that saw your post.

3. Instagram - Content interactions

This analyses the actions people take when they interact with your content, including likes, comments, shares, shares, saves and replies. This is the total number of user actions taken directly on your post.

4. Instagram - Explore

Instagram's Explore feature allows users to find new and relevant content from accounts they may not currently be following. It works through Instagram's algorithm that selects content based on similar accounts or content that has been interacted with and includes photos, videos (see a guide to IG video formats for more information), reels and stories. Instagram stats will show the number of users reached through the feature who are not currently following you.

If you want to boost your social media metrics, contact us!