How much is a like worth on social media? What about a comment? Is a share on TikTok or Snapchat more valuable? What about in a Facebook group?
Most marketers struggle to prove their work’s return on investment (ROI). Despite mountains of ad data, it’s hard to follow the thread from that first view or tap to the eventual checkout.
But better reporting is possible when you find the right metrics to track. You’ll need to sift through vanity metrics to get to the hard numbers and layer link tracking into your social media monitoring.
It’s worth the extra investment of skill and effort to show the true value of your paid social media. Below, we’ll dive into what your business should track for the best campaign results—and show you how Bitly can complement these efforts with additional performance insights.
Why do metrics matter in paid social campaigns?
Paid social media is all about the numbers.
For example, what’s your social media ad budget? How many ad sets do you have live right now? How many sales can you attribute to your social media campaign?
But when it comes to reporting the results of your campaign, things get less clear. A significant amount of ROI reporting is inaccurate or focused on irrelevant metrics.
In the best-case scenario, ad performance data can go back into your paid social strategies, creating a positive feedback loop. But that only works when the data is good.
10 essential paid social metrics to track
Vanity metrics, such as the number of impressions and likes, are always going to be popular with marketers, especially those who are new to paid social.
But the simpler the metric, the less relevant it is to your bottom line. You need to use data points that loop back to your business goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), such as sales, sign-ups, and the costs of customer acquisitions.
Here are the 10 key metrics that actually matter to your paid social strategies.
1. Click-through rate
Your click-through rate (CTR) is the total number of clicks divided by the number of people who saw it (clicks/impressions). The higher your CTR, the more effective your ad is—people click on it most of the time.
However, CTR is not always a simple calculation.
The CTR you see on built-in social media analytics may not be reliable. For example, on Facebook, every click on an ad counts toward the CTR—not just the clicks on the link to your website. These numbers might make it look like your Facebook ad is outperforming your ads on other social media channels that count more accurately.
The easiest way to clean up your CTR data is to use UTM parameters on every link you share. This way, you’ll be able to see all clicks in your Google Analytics page—and divide them reliably into different referral sources and ad campaigns.
2. Conversion rate
Your conversion rate is closely related to your CTR. A high conversion rate means your ad was compelling enough to motivate customers to take a desired action. Your ad could have prompted customers to purchase a product, fill out a form, watch a video, or download software.
The conversion rate is a metric that takes a broader approach to customer behavior—without losing sight of essential business objectives.
Many social channels provide tracking pixels to add to your website, which allows you to track a user’s journey from the channel to your site.
3. Cost per click
Cost per click (CPC) is exactly what it sounds like: how much it costs you every time a user clicks on your ad. This metric lets you instantly see how fast social ads are burning through your budget.
However, CPC isn’t the whole story. The gap between the CPC and conversion rate matters. For example, on Instagram, a post in the main feed has the highest CPC—but it will also get an excellent CTR. So for some brands, the expense will be worth it.
If you’re paying for a high number of clicks but don’t see them move your bottom line, you might need to reevaluate your post-click experience. Using a link-tracking service such as Bitly can give you more insight into how customers are behaving after that first click.
4. Engagement rate
Another way to track paid social media performance is by keeping tabs on your engagement rate. A high engagement rate indicates that your content is resonating with your audience.
There was a time when brands cared more about organic engagement rates, but on most social networks now, organic reach has plummeted. Paid social is the content that actually gets in front of your audience—so that’s where the engagement is.
You should track this engagement metric alongside likes, retweets, and favorites, giving you insights to gauge the success of specific content pieces. In addition to using built-in engagement stats, you can add link tracking to your content to see how users behave after they click.
5. Return on ad spend
Return on ad spend is the metric that defines success or failure in social media advertising. But it’s also one of the hardest to calculate.
For example, someone might see your business’s ads on Instagram for years without clicking. Then, ultimately, they end up making a purchase after searching TikTok for product reviews, and they remembered your Instagram ads.
In this example, it’s hard to say which social platform owns that sale—Instagram or Tiktok—and even harder to show evidence for it.
Using trackable links can help you see where referrals are coming from. With enhanced data from Bitly, you can also see which content, link placements, and times of day work best for your audience.
6. Impressions
Marketers often view impressions as a vanity metric. There’s no clear link between the number of times you display your ad and how many sales you make. What’s more, impressions include repeat views.
However, impressions are a helpful metric for specific information you might want.
First, they can give you an indication of your audience’s brand awareness. In addition, if your number of impressions is low, this could be a sign that your audience parameters are too strict.
Second, comparing your impressions to your CTR can help you get an idea of whether you’re showing your ads to the right people.
7. Reach
Reach in a paid social campaign means something different than it does in organic social. And unlike the other social media metrics on this list, reach is just an estimate.
Your potential reach is an estimate of the number of people your social media post will reach. It doesn’t include repeat views, only unique impressions.
This metric can be helpful for setting your target audience and planning your ad account budget. For example, if your potential reach seems very large, you could tighten up your ad parameters so you don’t exhaust your budget too early.
8. Cost per acquisition
Although cost per acquisition (CPA) and CPC are closely related, they’re different metrics.
There are many reasons why users might click on an ad, such as following a call to action, looking for more information, and tapping accidentally. But there will always be a gap between the total number of clicks you get and the number of customers you acquire.
If your CPA is exceptionally high, you’ll burn through your budget and only get a few customers in return.
9. Lifetime value of a customer
Social media strategy isn’t just about customer acquisition. It’s also a way to retain customers and increase their lifetime value (LTV).
For example, brands that sell high-value goods will often acquire customers through a small, lower-value purchase. Then, brands can follow up with ads and engagement to entice customers to purchase more valuable goods.
It’s always worth factoring in a customer’s LTV when you calculate the CPA of your ads. You can better justify a high CPA if you know more sales will come down the pike.
10. Quality score/relevance score
Some ad platforms have built-in assessments of your content. Companies design the platforms in this way to keep them engaging—and help you improve your digital marketing results.
Facebook uses an assessment called the Relevance Score. Based on the audience’s likely reaction, Facebook gives your post a score between 1 and 10. If Facebook scores your post poorly, you can make changes before or during the ad campaign.
Google offers something similar called the Quality Score. For this assessment, Google scores your ads between 1 and 10 by comparing your and your competitors’ likely CTR, search relevance, and landing page experience.
Tips for utilizing metrics to optimize social media platform campaigns
Social networks give you an abundance of marketing metrics. But all that data is only helpful if you know how to use it.
Here are five ways to make sure the data works for you:
- Always view metrics in context. Measuring your CTR, CPA, or LTV in isolation won’t be helpful. Look at those numbers together to decipher whether your ads are worth the budget.
- Add link tracking to built-in metrics. External link tracking with Bitly can help you verify your social media data—and learn more about your website traffic.
- Keep refining content. Use metrics such as engagement and Google’s Quality Score to improve your ad placements and creative assets.
- Monitor your audience growth rate. When analyzed together, your impressions and CTR can give a good indication of whether you’re reaching enough people in your target audience.
- Keep your goals in mind. Every business is different, and each one’s social media goals will reflect that. There’s no template that tells you the “right” number to score on every metric, so keep your unique audience and objectives in mind.
Navigate paid social with the right metrics
The way you use paid social metrics will vary depending on your goals and which social channels work best for you. For some businesses, success means social media engagement; for others, it’s all about their sales funnel.
No matter which metrics you prioritize, be sure they’re relevant to your goals. You won’t get accurate data if your goal is to increase your conversion rate, but you’re focused on measuring impressions. In paid social, you’re making a financial investment. Focusing on relevant metrics helps ensure that you get the most accurate insights into the return on that investment.
Whatever you want to achieve with your social media efforts, you’ll need high-quality, accurate data for your metrics. You can instantly upgrade the quality of your data by viewing metrics in context, verifying numbers without outside analytics, and using Bitly to follow customers through their whole journey.
Upgrade your paid social metrics with easy link tracking from Bitly.