Are you watching the right social media metrics?
The world of social media is a confusing one to those who are not active on the different platforms on a day-to-day basis. As a result, this can create some misconceptions as to what you should be looking for when it comes to engagement on social media.
First of all, let’s define what social media algorithms are looking for when they’re deciding whether to boost your post or not. The main thing to remember here is that social media platforms are also businesses, they make their money through ads that are posted on their platform. The way they make more money is by keeping you on their platform and having you look at more ads. With this in mind, we can figure out that the algorithm is built to keep you on the platform for as long as possible.
Tik Tok is the real king of this as it personalises the content you watch by keeping track of how long you watch specific videos. Since all the content on Tik Tok is less than 60 seconds long, it can do this extremely quickly.
So now we know what these platforms are looking for, how can we track that the content we’re posting is going to help keep people (your audience) on the platform? Let’s find out what the different metrics we can look at tell us about the content we’re posting.
Likes
We’re all familiar with likes, or “reactions” as some platforms have taken to calling them. These are usually ranked as the “lowest scoring” form of engagement. This means it takes minimal effort for the user to do and doesn’t show if your content has been valuable to them.
As a result, this doesn’t support the platform’s goal to keep users on their platform, it offers no incentive to other users to do so.
Don’t get me wrong, likes still show that people enjoy your content, just not to the same extent that other forms of engagement do.
Comments
Another form of engagement we’re all very familiar with. Unlike, likes/reactions, this takes users more time to do, keeping them on the platform for longer.
It also allows you to engage with followers directly and engage your audience. Your followers can interact with you and leave feedback on the content you’re posting, allowing you to continue upgrading it in the future.
The downsides are that your audience can leave horrible comments instead and one user leaving a comment doesn’t necessarily make other users want to interact with your content more.
Saves
This might be a new one to those of you who spend most of your time on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn but will come as no surprise to those of you who use Instagram ad Pinterest daily. Saves show when someone has found your content valuable enough that they want to make sure they can come back to it in the future. For example, it could be a tutorial on how to bake a cake. The user might find this useful enough to want to come back to it later so they save it. This helps bring an incentive to the user to come back on the platform for that post they saved. When they do so, the platform will be ready to show them more ads. It also lets you know that the content you’re posting is valuable.
Valuable content means that your audience will trust you are an expert in your field and will be more likely to buy from you. Think about it, would you hire a photographer for your wedding if it looked like they had never shot a wedding before? No! But if they post about their process or even tips relating to their chosen niche, you’re probably more likely to convert.
Saving content is extremely valuable for us, but the platform still isn’t quite served as well as it could be…
Shares
I know this is a radical idea but if you want to grow your business, you need people to know about your business! Weird, right? Shares are more valuable than ever when it comes to modern social media strategy. Not only do they show that your content is engaging enough to one person that they want to share it with their connections, but it also encourages more engagement on the platform and keeps people on it for far longer. By making shareable and saveable content, and using the right call-to-action, you can massively increase your engagement among new and current followers. You’re also serving the platform which means that they’ll serve you too!
This is also the best way to support your connections if you don’t have the money or the need for the services they provide yourself. Send their content to other connections who you think could get value from what they provide. Maybe they’ll do it for you in the future too!
If all of this is sounding like too much to take in or you just don’t have the time to implement a social media marketing plan for yourself, why not get in touch with us? We’ve successfully helped countless customers grow their businesses through organic social media marketing. On top of that, we also provide other digital marketing services at an affordable price. Find out more about our small business digital marketing packages here.
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About Autus
Autus provide Revenue Growth Platforms, Marketing & Sales Automation and Digital Marketing services to help sales and marketing personnel and teams build efficient and effective sales and marketing best practices and automate their marketing and sales processes by leveraging personalised content, various digital marketing tactics, segmentation and behaviour of their prospects and customers.
Autus recommend various products for automation, such as Active Campaign, Hubspot, Mailchimp and SharpSpring…it will vary on your requirements and budget the best option for your business.
Find out more here.
Our founder, Tom Berry, also provides selective fractional CMO services and is a member of some client boards.
Let’s keep in touch!
If our team at Autus can help advise further, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our founder, Tom Berry.
