Social Media Metrics For Dummies

Following Metrics Protocols

Best practices and protocols are always a touchy subject. Best practices, especially, can differ from individual to individual and medium to medium. For example, clear rules govern e-mail campaigns to help prevent spam, and these rules include metrics.

After someone has opted in to your e-mail campaign, acceptable e-mail metrics include

Acquisition (subscription)

Behavior (open and click rate, bounce rate, unsubscribe rate)

Outcomes (retaining subscribers, reaching goals, conversion rates)

You can find similar goals in social media metrics (and, in fact, I would argue that e-mail is a form of social media that should be included in your metrics dashboard). E-mail metric measurement has best practices as well — notice how the e-mail metrics rules don’t allow invasive practices? You should apply that noninvasive policy everywhere — don’t be invasive or predatory when gathering your metrics data.

The first part of your metrics protocol should be determining whether the metrics you’re tracking are right for you and for what you and your brand need to know to effect positive results. While Parts I and II advocate “measure everything,” the amount of data pouring ...