The Vanity Metric Problem
1.2 million impressions. Sounds impressive. Correlates with almost nothing that matters to your business.
The social media industry has a measurement problem. Platforms optimise for the metrics they report. Agencies optimise for the metrics that make their work look good. Neither of those are necessarily the metrics that matter to your business.
The Three Measurement Tiers
Tier 1: Activity Metrics (what you can control)
- Posts published
- Posting frequency and consistency
- Content types produced
These tell you whether you're executing your strategy. They don't tell you whether it's working.
Tier 2: Engagement Metrics (audience response)
- Engagement rate (interactions ÷ reach)
- Saves and shares (high-intent signals)
- Comments quality (generic vs meaningful)
- Profile visits and link clicks
These tell you whether your content is resonating. Stronger signal than reach alone.
Tier 3: Business Metrics (what actually matters)
- Website traffic from social (GA4 source/medium)
- Leads or sign-ups attributed to social
- Revenue influenced by social touchpoints
- Brand search volume trends (Google Search Console)
- Customer acquisition cost over time
The Honest Attribution Problem
Social media rarely converts on first touch. It warms audiences who convert through other channels. This makes attribution genuinely hard.
Our recommendation: use a combination of:
- UTM parameters on all links
- Multi-touch attribution models (not last-click)
- Post-purchase or post-sign-up surveys ("How did you hear about us?")
- Correlation analysis (do social spikes precede business metric spikes?)
What Good Looks Like
A healthy social media programme, measured honestly:
- Engagement rate: 2–4% (Instagram), 1–2% (LinkedIn)
- Monthly website traffic growth from social: 5–15%
- CAC contribution lower than paid channels
- Brand search volume trending upward over 12 months
If you can't answer "what is social media contributing to our business?" then you have a measurement problem, not a social media problem.
