Social media platforms are constantly evolving and adding new features to engage their users and attract advertisers. As a social media marketer, you need to keep track of these features and how they affect your strategy, goals, and performance. In this article, we will discuss some of the most important social media platform features that you should be tracking and why.
Reach and impressions are two metrics that measure how many people see your content on social media platforms. Reach is the number of unique users who see your content, while impressions are the total number of times your content is displayed. These metrics can help you understand how well your content is distributed and how much potential exposure you have. You can use reach and impressions to compare different platforms, campaigns, and posts, and to optimize your content for each platform's algorithm.
Engagement and sentiment are two metrics that measure how people interact with and feel about your content on social media platforms. Engagement is the number of actions that users take on your content, such as likes, comments, shares, clicks, views, or saves. Sentiment is the tone and emotion that users express on your content, such as positive, negative, or neutral. These metrics can help you understand how well your content resonates with your audience and how it affects your brand reputation. You can use engagement and sentiment to evaluate the quality and relevance of your content, and to identify what types of content generate the most response and feedback.
Conversions and attribution are two metrics that measure how your content on social media platforms leads to your desired outcomes, such as sales, leads, sign-ups, or downloads. Conversions are the number of users who complete a specific action on your website or app after seeing or clicking on your content. Attribution is the process of assigning credit to your content for influencing or driving a conversion. These metrics can help you understand how effective your content is at generating and nurturing leads, and how it contributes to your revenue and return on investment. You can use conversions and attribution to track the performance of your social media campaigns and to optimize your budget and resources.
Trends and insights are two types of information that you can access on social media platforms to discover what topics, keywords, hashtags, or influencers are popular or relevant to your industry, niche, or audience. Trends are the current or emerging patterns of interest or behavior that you can observe on social media platforms, such as viral posts, memes, challenges, or events. Insights are the data or analysis that you can obtain from social media platforms or third-party tools, such as demographics, preferences, behaviors, or feedback. These types of information can help you understand what your audience wants, needs, or expects from you, and how you can adapt your content to match their interests and needs. You can use trends and insights to find new ideas, opportunities, or strategies for your social media marketing.
Features and formats are the different ways that you can create, publish, or consume content on social media platforms. Features are the specific tools or functions that each platform offers, such as stories, reels, live, polls, stickers, filters, or shops. Formats are the general types or categories of content that each platform supports, such as text, images, videos, audio, or interactive. These aspects can affect how your content looks, feels, and performs on social media platforms. You can use features and formats to experiment with different styles, formats, or techniques for your content, and to leverage the unique advantages or benefits of each platform.
Competitors and benchmarks are the other brands or businesses that you can compare or contrast with your own on social media platforms. Competitors are the brands or businesses that offer similar products, services, or solutions to your target audience, or that have similar goals, values, or positioning to yours. Benchmarks are the standards or criteria that you can use to measure your performance or progress against your competitors or yourself. These elements can help you understand how you stand out or fit in on social media platforms, and how you can improve or innovate your content. You can use competitors and benchmarks to analyze your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats, and to set realistic and achievable goals for your social media marketing.