social media kpis that matter.

most social reports are full of numbers that feel good and mean little. the job of measurement is to guide the next decision — and only some metrics do that. here is what to track and what to quietly drop.

— 01the vanity trap.

follower count and likes are the metrics brands obsess over and the ones that correlate least with revenue. a big following that does not act is a costly illusion. stop leading reports with them.

likes and follower count survive as headline numbers because they are visible and comparable, not because they predict anything. an account can grow both while producing no enquiries at all.

impressions are the other trap. they always look better than reach — one person seeing a post four times is four impressions — which is exactly why suppliers lead with them.

and the tell is whether a number could change a decision. if a figure rising or falling would not alter what you do next, it belongs in an appendix rather than a report.

— 02metrics that guide decisions.

reach to non-followers (are you growing?), saves and shares (is it valuable?), profile and link clicks (is there intent?), and leads or sales (does it pay?). a good strategy reports these, with context.

saves and shares are the useful engagement signals, because both indicate intent rather than approval. someone who saved a post intended to come back to it.

hold rate at three seconds tells you whether video was worth making, separately from whether the hook worked. views measure the hook alone.

and enquiries with their source is the number almost nobody tracks properly. asking every new customer how they found you is imperfect, self-reported, and more informative than any dashboard.

— 03match kpis to the goal.

an awareness campaign and a lead campaign should not be judged on the same number. define the goal first, then the kpi. anything else is measuring for the sake of a slide.

a brand-building objective and a lead-generation objective need different kpis, and using one set for both is how a working channel gets cut.

for enquiries: cost per acquisition, enquiries by source, and the conversion rate between them. for credibility: branded search volume, saves, and returning viewers.

and agree the number with its current value written down before the work starts. without a baseline, month six becomes a discussion about whether the feed feels better.

— 04what a useful report contains.

the agreed number and its movement, what caused it, what changes next month, and what needs a decision from you. four things, one page.

and it should be written by whoever does the work. a report assembled from a dashboard by someone else carries no judgment, which is the only part worth reading.