Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are quantifiable measurements that reflect critical success factors for an organization. They are the handful of key metrics that help you understand how your company or brand are doing against objectives. KPI’s are the actionable scorecard that keeps your strategy on track.
In the Harvard Business Review, Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, says social media measurements are “vanity metrics,” and are a waste of time. Why? Because a million Twitter Followers or Facebook Likes is always going to fail the “so what” test with any CEO.
But even CEO’s would be interested to know social media has proven marketing isn’t a monologue, but a conversation. And marketing is more effective that way.
KPI’s prove this conclusion because KPI’s are set up to explain:
- ACTION: Revenue, sales, retention and growth rates
- INFLUENCE: Perceptions and attitudes of customers
- ENGAGEMENT: Participation, interaction and frequency that secures new customers
- EXPOSURE: Reach and awareness
Are social media measurements “vanity metrics?” Or do they pass the stricter criteria required of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) that keep business strategy on track?
Decide for yourself. Here are 45 KPI’s every social media marketer should know:
ACTIONS: Key metrics that explain and recurring revenue (not on a one-time basis). Possible KPI’s include:
- Sales Volume
- Profit (Net, Gross or Margin)
- Customer Retention
- Subscriptions
- Registrations
- Downloads
- Conversion Rate
- Operating Expense Ratio
- Debt-to-Equity Ratio
INFLUENCE: Key metrics here explains insights into customers. What keeps them coming back or why do they leave. In addition to customers, employees fit into this category as actions of employees also have recurring revenue value.
- Customer Satisfaction Rate
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Customer Retention Rate
- Customer Turnover Rate
- Customer Annual or Lifetime Value
- Customer Reviews
- Customer Ratings
- Customer Advocacy (testimony regarding customer experience reflected in blogs or on social networks)
- Customer Influence (impact based on Followers, Friends or Klout score )
- Sentiment Analysis (positive or negative, objective or emotional reaction)
- Text Analytics (Specific text or words that trigger influence)
- Employee Turnover Rate
- Company Reviews and Ratings by Employees (on social network or sites like Glassdoor)
ENGAGEMENT: Metrics in this area explain who is most likely to pursue a relationship with the organization or brand.
- Leads
- Cost Per Lead
- Unique Visitor to Website
- Bounce Rate from website
- E-mail Open Rates and Click-Through Rates
- Social Share of Voice (SOV)
- Participation Rate (in online, social conversations and in LinkedIn discussion groups)
- Comments
- Mentions
- Shares
- Re-Tweets
- Likes to People Talking About Ratio (on Facebook)
- Clicks on Links (that lead to website or actions)
- Time of Response (to people participating and engaging with organization or brand)
EXPOSURE: Measurements track awareness and preliminary interest in a company or brand
- Search Engine Ranking (SERP) by primary keywords
- Indexed Pages (on search engines)
- Links (to website)
- CPC (Cost-per-click) for paid search or social advertising
- Email List Size
- Followers
- Likes
- Connections
- YouTube Views
Social media measurements have a role in any organization to explain influence and engagement that produces primary business actions. They also have value for audience profiling and listening.
With this perspective, maybe even Likes and Followers, could pass the “so what” test with a CEO.
Do you think social media measurements are “vanity metrics?” Do you have KPI’s in place for your business?
