Which KPI’s to Track, Based on Your Business Goals
Ready to stop looking at the numbers of clicks, impressions, page views, signups, shares, reach, cost per click, sales revenue, expenses, seconds left until the microwave is done warming up your coffee? Dude, why are numbers the actual worst? I’m not really sure, but it sucks way less if you know what you’re actually looking for in those numbers and that can change based on what your primary goal is.
Goal: Tell Everyone Everything
Alright, Gossip Girl, if you’re just looking to grow your audience and increase your reach, what you want is eyeballs. Many, many eyeballs.
Top Metrics to Measure Audience:
- Sessions
Tracking website sessions is similar to checking impressions on Instagram. The goal is always to grow traffic to your website through social media, other people’s platforms, SEO, Emails, etc. - Impressions
Impressions on social media tell you how many times a single piece of content, or your page has been seen in news feed, discover, hashtag followers & shares. A dip in impressions could mean you need to shift your content strategy, utilize new hashtags or analyze any changes you’ve recently made. - Audience Growth
The more people to pill the tea to the better, your audience size is an important metric, but audience growth is even more important. Track growth period over period, and if it slips, check out what you’ve been doing differently and assess your lead gen. strategy. - Reach
Reach is similar to impressions, but instead of number of times your content was seen, this tracks the number of individual accounts your content reached. I compare both Reach & Impressions on social media, as well as Sessions and Users in Google analytics to understand the difference between how many individuals I’m reaching and how many times they’re seeing my content. - Engagement Rate
Dude, Engagement rate is my favorite metric. Yes, I have a favorite metric, what of it? Anyway, engagement rate tells me a million different things, but in this case, it is important because the amount of engagement a page, post, story, reel gets determines how many more people the algorithm will choose to show it to. And everyone wants to be seen, especially my v. important obscure lyric references and food pics.
Goal: Start a Cult
Want to build a band of ravenous zombies that will consume whatever you tell them to? Me too.
If you’re looking to convert people who are vaguely aware of your brand to actual fans you’ll want to measure and strive for growth in these areas.
Top Metrics to Measure Brand Awareness
- Newsletter signups
Cults love spreading the lore, and frankly, so do good marketers. The more signups you have, the more high intent users are getting your message. Research has proven the more marketers can track, analyze and personalize, the more effective email becomes. Email gives you the opportunity to own your audience and get the right message to the right consumer at the right time. - Mentions, comments, shares and saves
Every Cult Leader’s (and brand’s) dream is to have their followers spread the word for them. Track your brand’s mentions on social media, review sites and other brand’s websites. Hearing nothing but crickets? Incentivize mentions with promotions, contests or giveaways. - Page views
The time people are spending on your website is a great indicator of how invested your overall audience is. So load up that website with high value content, and don’t forget the call to action – your followers need to know how they can work with you and keep getting that sweet, sweet knowledge. - Open Rate
Do they really even believe in your teachings if they don’t open that email? I know I’m losing my cult leading powers if my open rate starts to slip. - Time on site
Have I mentioned that I love attention? The more time your users are - Return visits
Goal: Get that Bread
In the immortal words of Cardi B, “I have a passion for music, I love music. But I also have a passion for money and paying my bills”. I’m sure you love what you do and you’re doing it for every single right reason… but I mean… getting paid is pretty cool.
Top Metrics to Measure & Grow Sales
- Actual sales, obvi
- Clicks through rate
- Abandoned Carts
- Repeat Customers
- Traffic Source
- Customer Journey
- GTM Source
- Survey results
