We hear all about statistics and analytics when it comes to social media but what exactly is social media analytics and what is the purpose of keeping track of it? In this post, we’ll be talking about the reason why you should track your analytics on social media and the reason why we should be keeping tabs on them! As a small business owner, one of the biggest mistakes I made, in the beginning, was not tracking my analytics. Ever since I started tracking my analytics I’ve seen a huge growth in the number of followers and engagement I’ve received.
I always thought that it wasn’t important but I’m not ashamed to admit that I was wrong! Tracking analytics is the key to keeping your business and brand on track while continually making sure your content is being well received by your viewers, especially when you’re just starting out and you might have a smaller following that isn’t always vocal about their needs and wants.
So first off, let’s quickly talk about what analytics are. Analytics are patterns and meaningful knowledge that we gather from data. Data in its rawest form is information. Social media analytics is data (or information) that is gathered from our accounts to track and improve our performance on social media.
Now let’s talk about WHY you want to track your analytics. When you are building a small business and using social media and online sources as a way to grow and market yourself, it can be hard to tell what content your consumers are responding positively to. When we keep track of what content is doing the best each month, then we have the information on what our viewers are responding to in particular.
Let’s use an example, I noticed that my Instagram posts weren’t receiving the engagement that I would have liked, so one day I decided to get vulnerable and talk about my struggles with body image and used a picture of myself. That post did better than any other post I had that month! I then knew that being more open and showing more of my face was resonating with my audience! And when you start taking notice of what particular content it resonating well, you can then start creating more of the content that your consumers love which then naturally will lead to more engagement which then leads to growth!
Keeping track is also important not just for your followers but also for your own mental state! Just this past month I felt like I hadn’t really grown the way that I had wanted to and was starting to feel upset with myself until I sat down and looked at my analytics from last month compared to the previous month only to realize that I had tremendous growth! I gained 20 new Instagram followers and double my watch time on YouTube. It gave me a huge boost in my momentum and I wouldn’t have known all that information if I hadn’t been tracking my analytics!
Now let’s jump into the HOW of tracking analytics. Nowadays we have so many resources at our fingertips that allow us to track our growth from month to month. You can always track your growth weekly but I prefer monthly as I feel it gives me a more well-rounded perspective on what I’m doing well and where I can improve.
At the beginning of every month, I sit down and I pull up the social media accounts from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube onto my computer. All three of these have wonderful analytics already tracked within them that I find incredibly helpful. With Facebook, you can only track your analytics with a business page or account, the same as Instagram. But once I’ve pulled up these accounts of mine, I just pull up the specific area that shows my analytics and see the monthly overview. With Facebook it’s under the Insights section, YouTube is under Analytics in YouTube Studio, and Twitter is under their more tab and then under the analytics section.
Now with Instagram, I use a third-party app to keep track of my analytics. I use Planoly which is how I schedule out my Instagram posts and this is how I get my monthly information such as the most-liked post, the number of followers I gained, and what was my most engaging post. You don’t have to use Planoly, you can always just use Instagram’s insights to view and track your progress within the app itself.
Now that I’ve pulled up all my analytics within each social media outlet, I will then write all my information down. I typically keep track of my followers, views, comments, watch hours, etc. I also keep track of the most popular posts so I know which content did the absolute best for that particular month and then come up with a way to continue it in the following month. Tracking your monthly analytics isn’t difficult and it only takes a few moments at the beginning of every month but it makes a huge difference when you’re a small business owner and content creator and genuinely helps aid in your growth!
So now you’ve learned all about the importance of keeping track and you’re ready to start keeping track of your monthly statistics but you need an easy and cohesive way to keep track of it all? I created a PDF of the very sheet that I use at the start of every month to see my growth on my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. And you can download this guide for free when you click the image below and become a part of my email newsletter family!
