Social Media KPI

10 Essential Social Media KPIs and How to Track Them

Table of Contents

Have you ever tried to determine whether your social media posts are engaging your audience? Are people liking, sharing, and clicking your content? 

Do you want to find out the right metrics for your content? You’re in the right place! Social Media KPIs can help you find all the answers. Social media metrics are your secret weapon in figuring out what’s right and what’s not. Whether just getting started or running full-blown campaigns, tracking the right KPIs can change your game.

Let’s break it all down — what they are, why they matter, and the best tools to help you track every platform.

What are Social Media KPIs?

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for social media are metrics that help you understand how your content is performing. The KPI metrics show that your content is reaching the right audience, getting engagement, and even making money through your posts.

Why is it important to track KPIs?

Tracking KPIs helps you:

  • Know which content is working
  • Improve your content strategy
  • Reach more audience
  • Grow your followers
  • Convert views into sales 

How To Set Social Media KPI?

1. Define Your Social Media Goals

The first step to plan an effective social media content plan is to ask yourself the following questions:

  • Are you trying to increase brand awareness?
  • Do you want more engagement?
  • Are you focused on lead generation or direct sales?

2. SMART strategy for Social Media KPIs

Using the social media KPIs, build SMART strategies for posting your content

  • Specific: Clear and well-defined
  • Measurable: Quantifiable with data
  • Achievable: Realistic based on your resources
  • Relevant: Aligned with your overall business strategy
  • Time-bound: Has a clear deadline

For Example:

“Increase Instagram engagement rate by 15% in the next 2 months.”

3. Brainstorming Post ideas

List down different topics related to your niche and then select the right one that matches your goals.  Things that you need to consider before writing the post ideas-

  • What are my competitors posting?
  • What unique content can you offer to your audience?
  • Check out the trending topics.

4. Decide – When to post

Now, you need to decide when to post your content. Choose the best time to post your content to drive maximum audience engagement. Moreover, you must keep a check on your posting time so that you can make a better strategy.

Read Also: The Best Times To Post On Social Media In 2025

5. Schedule your post in advance

Write captions, descriptions, and hashtags for your post and schedule it at the right time. Scheduling enables you to manage your posts most effectively.

6. Use of the right social media tools 

Choosing the right tool can help you optimize your content and make better content strategies. Here are some of the useful social media tools that you can use for real-time insights.

  • Google Analytics
  • Meta Business Suite
  • Sprout Social
  • HubSpot
  • Hootsuite
  • YouTube Studio / TikTok Analytics

Ten Essential Categories of Social Media KPIs

1. Reach

Reach KPI tells you how many unique or new users saw your content on social media channels. The reach of your content may change based on its quality and the timing of your audience.

Why it matters: It shows your potential audience size. It helps you to measure the visibility of your business on social media platforms, and this influences your brand awareness and engagement.

2. Impressions

Impression KPI is a metric that shows how many times your content is displayed on a user’s screen.

Why it matters: This metric allows you to measure the visibility of your content or social media posts.

3. Video Views

Video views show how many times the audience watched your video.

Why it matters: It allows you to understand the interests of the audience, which helps you to change your content strategy.

4. Number of Followers

Follower metrics allow you to measure the number of people who choose to follow your page or channel.

Why it matters: Measuring your followers will enable you to understand how much people are interested in your content. A growing follower count means more people are interested in your content.

5. Reactions

Reaction KPI includes likes, emojis, and comments. It allows you to understand the positive or negative sentiment of the audience towards your content.

Why it matters: Shows how people feel about your posts and if they’re engaging.

6. Comments

Comments represent more engagement with the content. These metrics show the in-depth feelings or preferences of the people.

Why it matters: Comment KPI allows you to understand the preference of the audiences, thus helping in identifying the improvements in your content.

7. Likes & Shares

Likes are quick signs of approval, and Shares mean users found the content valuable enough to spread.

Why it matters: Shares boost your reach and credibility. Thus increasing the number of viewers and followers. On the other hand, Likes metrics allow you to understand the preferences of the audience.

8. Engagement Rate

To calculate the Engagement Rate metric, use the given formula:

Engagement Rate = (Total Engagement / Total Followers or Reach) × 100

Why it matters: It shows how much the audience is interested in your content.

9. Conversion Rate

The conversion rate tells you how many people took a desired action after seeing your post.

Why it matters: This metric shows how effective your content is at driving action. In addition, using the conversion rates, you can identify the areas of improvement and enhance your content.

10. Revenue

If you run a business, this is a must-track KPI metric.

Why it matters: This KPI shows you how much money you’re making from social media. This is important for you to collect your revenue from your content.

Important Tools to Track Social Media KPIs

The following tools will allow you to track the social media performance of your content:

  • Sprout Social: This tool offers customizable reporting options, which means you get multiple options to get metrics. Moreover, you can assess multiple social media platforms with the use of this tool.
  • BuzzSumo: BuzzSumo allows you to monitor your content performance. You can assess the number of shares with the help of this tool, which will enable identify the most engaging content.
  • Google Analytics: It allows you to track the performance of your social media campaigns, ROI, and conversions.
  • Meta Business Suite: This is a free tool that helps you measure Facebook and Instagram analytics.
  • LinkedIn Analytics: This social media analysis tool is great for assessing your page performance. The tool helps in assessing metrics like followers, content engagement, shares, and more.
  • Hootsuite: Hootsuite will allow you to monitor your social media platforms, collaborate with team members, analyze performance, and more.
  • YouTube Studio / TikTok Analytics: These are free tools that can help you assess your video performance. It allows you to get metrics on click-through rates, shares, followers, views, and more. 
  • Hubspot: You can measure the performance of multiple social media platforms using this tool. Moreover, this tool provides more detailed information, allowing you to gain deeper insights, such as impressions, engagement, and number of views, etc.

Conclusion

Social media KPIs are about understanding what truly connects with your audience and what they prefer. From reach and engagement to conversions and revenue, each metric gives you valuable insights that can shape your content, boost your strategy, and grow your brand online. Whether you’re building your presence or optimizing existing campaigns, keeping an eye on the right KPIs can take your social media game to the next level. 

Need help creating a content strategy that delivers results? Contact us or get in touch with us today. Start using social media KPIs and find out what’s working on social media.

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