If you need to catch a flight for a business trip, would you willingly choose an airline with blindfolded pilots? Probably not. The same goes for your social strategy. If you are flying blind - not making decisions based on insights, not setting clearly defined goals - you are bound for failure. In a recent Socialbakers Survey, we examined the array of brands’ social media measurement preferences.

While brands spent the last several years mainly evaluating Fan Growth and Engagement Rates, they were doing so at the expense of other key metrics like Shareability and site visits from social - because there are dozens of metrics that define social performance, and it’s difficult to track them all. Our data shows that brands are not placing much priority on customer care and ads - this is a mistake. Customers asked brands nearly 22 million questions on Facebook and Twitter in 2014, and the social media ad spend was $8.5 billion in the U.S. alone.

Social media has matured, and companies have to thoroughly measure how social impacts their business goals at all times. It is crucial that the metrics they choose to measure are not just the most familiar ones, but those with the most impact on their business value. That’s what we would like to show you here: how to set up workflow and KPI measurement strategies for your social teams so that you get the right results.

Social media workflow and strategy

Your social media presence shouldn’t be devoted to one thing. Social media is an ecosystem of interconnected processes – a workflow. In this workflow, there are three key components to any smart, successful campaign:

1. Publish and Optimize Content - You want to drive engagement and conversions, and that starts with a smart publishing strategy.
2. Manage and Engage with your Community - Social is a two-way street, and effective community management breeds brand loyalty.
3. Promote and Amplify your Content - The News Feed is more competitive than ever, and you need to have your content seen

All three components MUST be present in every social strategy. The only thing that differs is the focus, which depends on your industry and your objectives.

Proactive Strategy

For brands that operate with a Proactive Strategy, the biggest concerns are driving high levels of engagement, growing social media audiences, and actively spreading their message and topics that relate to their brand. They do this by creating stellar, engaging content, and supporting it with paid ad spend.

In order to accurately measure their progress and improve their performance, these brands should analyze Fan Growth, Reach, and Interactions per 1,000 Fans.

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Reactive Strategy

A Reactive Strategy best suits brands that want to use social as a client care and/or advertising (via paid) platform. Typically, these brands don’t have such a large need to spread their brand message organically. Rather, they want to defend and bolster their brand reputation, focusing on client care and their audience’s needs.

These brands try to have a dedicated social care presence, answering questions posted by users on social networks quickly and efficiently. On top of that, many use social for segmented campaigns and hard sell offers, attempting to reach potential clients on social and generate sales.

Balanced Strategy

But what about brands that aim to be everything to everyone on social? Enter the Balanced Approach. These brands need an even-handed approach - one in which they are generating brand awareness with their content and promoted posts, and advertising their products and services, but also responding and engaging with their community at the same time.

All three components are crucial here, so that these brands can measure how effectively they are reaching their audience, how quickly and often they respond to large amounts of client questions, and how successfully they generate engagement with their content and interest in their products. For these brands, ads can take on multiple functions - both as a vehicle for smart offers that get delivered organically to the target audience, or as means of promoting their best content.

What It All Means

Different brands have different goals on social. Some industries focus more on brand awareness, others on direct sales. The key to success is to clearly define what you want to achieve on social, and then set a strategy that encompasses the entire process - from idea to publication to promotion to reporting. With Socialbakers Analytics you can track and measure over 100 different KPIs - each of which has its own place in your overall strategy. With clear goals, and the right tools, you can start giving your audience on social the content they want to see when they want to see it - and you can replicate it over and over again

If you’re still measuring vanity metrics and using native analytics tools, you’re selling your brand short - as well as your audience. Get in touch today to see how Socialbaker Analytics can help you stop flying blind on social.