With more than three billion users, social media offers a wide variety of opportunities for businesses to build and engage their audience. Social media is a juggernaut and has become an integral part of our lives. It is no longer just a medium to keep in touch with the people who matter.

Businesses around the world leverage social media to effectively connect with their audience, build their brand, drive website traffic, and increase sales. Whether you are present on a single or multiple social media platforms, tracking your progress should be your top priority.

With this thought in mind, let’s take a look at some important social media benchmarks every business with social media presence must track.

Engagement

Engagement, unarguably, is one of the most important social media metrics you need to track. It tells you how many people are interacting (sharing, rating, or liking your content) with your content. Higher engagement indicates that your content is resonating with your audience.

Critical Engagement Metrics to Track

Here are some important engagement metrics social media marketing companies in Sonoma County recommend tracking:

Engagement Rate

Every social media platform where you are running ads should show you the engagement rate of your advertisements. Testing multiple ads would allow you to determine a typical engagement rate for your account.

Get rid of non-performing ads. Keep the performing ones running, and try to figure out why they’re working so that you can recreate the magic. Observing the ads performance over a set period of time provides the perfect opportunity to compare the strengths of each ad.

Post Frequency

Does your engagement decline if you reduce your posting frequency? Or does it increase if you post more frequently? Seek answers to these and other important questions related to post frequency to unlock insights.

Trending and Top Hashtags

This metric applies to two social media platforms – Twitter and Instagram. Keep an eye on popular hashtags. Keep your hashtags easy to remember and spell. Capitalize on hashtags that people often use when talking about your brand. Partner with influencers and give people a reason (can be a tangible prize or recognition in the form of a retweet) to use your hashtag.

Benchmarks Based on Industry

Influencers

An influencer is a person who possesses the power to influence the purchasing decisions of others because of their knowledge, expertise, position, or relationship with their audience.  Businesses collaborate with influencers to increase brand awareness and promote their products and services indirectly.

The average engagement rate of Facebook influencers is 0.12 percent. The average engagement rates of Influencers on Twitter and Instagram are 0.036 percent and 1.97 percent, respectively.

Retail

Businesses around the world use social media to sell their products and services. With an engagement rate of 0.97 percent, Instagram is the most effective platform for retailers. Posts on Twitter and Facebook have engagement rates of 0.041 percent and 0.08 percent, respectively.

Want to streamline your existing digital marketing strategy or build a new strategy from scratch? Let WSI Smart Marketing help. We are a trusted social media marketing agency in Sonoma County. Our unparalleled expertise in creating custom strategies that address specific pain points gives us an edge. To talk to one of our digital marketers, call us at (707) 843.3714.