Why Is “Engagement” The Most Important Social Media Metric Of All?
Social Media Engagement is referred to by many as the single most important social media metric. At Lucé Media, we believe that and preach it from every mountain top we can. First, however, let’s make clear everyone knows what defines Social Media Engagement and how it should be measured. This blog will discuss how engagement is measured; through applause, conversation, amplification, and the three reasons it is essential.
What is social media engagement anyway?
Social engagement is an action people take once exposed to your online content and how they interact with it. Therefore, engagement is not necessarily one unified metric; instead, it is based on many different actions (for example, clicks, shares or comments) and different levels of interaction. These levels of interaction depend on how much effort your readers/viewers put into their interactions with you and the net impact of their actions on your brand.
In McKinney, TX, tracking your social media engagement will help you see which posts are working and which posts are not. This will help you stay on track with posting content your users will be interested in.
People in McKinney, Plano, and Frisco buy from brands they like and trust, and your engagement rate is a great way to check in on how your followers feel about you and your brand.
What does an example of measuring social media engagement look like? Well, you could take the average number of likes for your last three usual Instagram posts—don’t include promoted content as it could skew your numbers. Then divide that average by your total number of followers, and multiply the result by 100. That’s your engagement percentage.
At Luce’ Media, we like to divide engagement into three main groups of actions:
- Applause
- Conversation
- Amplification
Each of these categories incorporates different types of metrics and represents varying levels of interaction.
Applause
Applause is typically low effort – low impact actions. They may include actions like likes on Facebook, favorites on Twitter, and plus ones on Google+. Again, these should be considered a simple, low level of engagement because they require a small effort on the part of your audience and have a relatively low impact on your brand.
Applause actions indicate that your post was appreciated and well received by your audience. Still, it did not necessarily trigger enough emotion or impact on the part of the consumer to take deeper or more meaningful activities such as a click, a share, or a comment.
Conversation
Conversations are types of actions such as mentions on Twitter and comments on Instagram. Consider the actions a medium level of engagement. These actions take more effort than just a click of a button. After all, if someone is moved enough to think about the post and write a comment or response of some sort, then they are certainly at a higher level of engagement than those in the Applause category. Their comments could potentially have a medium to significant impact on your brand, given that they could trigger other discussions by other consumers.
Amplification
Amplification is BOLD ACTION. These are actions like shares on Facebook, Retweets on Twitter, or Sharing on YouTube. It is NIRVANA – the highest level of social engagement. Even though a retweet or a share do not necessarily require much effort as they are just a matter of a click, they are meant as social actions. It is your consumer saying – this is interesting or important enough to me that I want to share it with my friends, families, and others.
Sharing is all about the content going VIRAL. People see sharing content on social media to appear helpful to others and, at the same time, feel that sharing certain content helps them define their personality and profile online. In fact, 70% of people share content on social media to bring attention to issues they find important.
Therefore, retweets and shares define the individuals who perform these actions and communicate the fact that they indirectly endorse it or align with it in a certain sense. Thus, amplification is a significant metric for your brand as it contributes to brand awareness and boosts your visibility, allowing you to extend your reach to new audiences.
“Amplification is the most meaningful form of Social Media Engagement.”
Why measuring engagement still matters
- It gives you an overview of how your community-building is going.
“Measuring Social Engagement helps you gain perspective on your overall marketing goals.”
- Engagement is the entry point of your sales funnel
It all begins with customers becoming familiar with your brand and products. This increases your “brand awareness.” Social media can be an excellent tool for creating awareness around your brand and generating traffic and referrals. Once you achieve a good level of success in brand awareness, you will quickly see potential customers falling into your sales funnel. Engagement metrics should give your company a clear indication of how many people enter the funnel and ultimately become customers. When social media users become frequently engaged with a brand in social media, they also become Brand Ambassadors for your brand.
Social engagement measures your brand’s very existence on Earth!!!
Ok, well, that may be a little overstated. Still, measuring social media engagement will help you reflect on your existence and performance on different social media platforms. The fact of the matter is that not all platforms are for everyone. Given that the audience growth does not tell the whole story, how else would you be able to reevaluate your presence on an individual social media platform if not by tracking engagement?
If you are a new company or startup looking to boost your sales, you first need to understand social media engagement. Here are 5 other strategies for boosting your startup.
For a look at specific types of social engagement metrics to track, check out The Six Most Important Social Engagement Metrics.
We would love to hear your thoughts surrounding social engagement. What are the best examples of engagement you have witnessed? Please share them here with the community.
