If you check the metrics of your website on a regular basis, then you will know that it is sometimes difficult to know exactly what the numbers are telling you. You could spend a long time looking at them trying to figure out what they are telling you to do next and find no answers at all.

That is why it is important to look beyond the numbers every now and then and try and figure out which parts of your social media strategy are proving to be effective, and which ones are getting you and your website absolutely nowhere. Remember, no marketing campaign is perfect, so there is always something that can be improved or refined.

Here we will take a look at how you can use metrics to improve your social media marketing strategy, and how the numbers can help you identify problems that need fixing.

Know What You’re Looking For

Before you even start diving headfirst into the metrics to see what they are telling you, the most important thing to do is decide what you are looking for. Not all of the numbers that are being presented to you are necessarily important. In fact, if you have planned a very precise social media marketing strategy, then some of the numbers will be totally irrelevant to your campaign.

Make sure that before you start analyzing the numbers that you have a clear understanding of what you are looking for. Analyze the metrics you have first and then see which are the most important. Using systems like Google Analytics is a good way of keeping track of the numbers, then you will know which ones are worth giving plenty of attention to. At this stage, it’s really all about deciding where your priorities lie with your campaign. Don’t waste time examining the metrics of something that means nothing to your campaign. Remain focused and you should find the numbers you need.

Examine Your Content Strategy

Once you have decided which numbers matter to you the most, it is time to turn to your website. Take a look at all of your posts on the site and see how much traffic they have generated. Then compare them and see which of your posts were very popular and which barely received any views. A good way to manage this would be to draw a chart where you list the different posts and then track the numbers that show how the post is performing. These numbers tend to be things like conversions and site visits.

Once you have done this, do another table that details how well your competitors’ sites are performing. Do that same for guest posts on your site, and even do the same for social media. The metrics you have should then give you a clear indicator of which of your posts have been performing well. You can then see what part of your content strategy is working and what needs changing. You can also see how your competitors are doing in the same area.

This is probably the area where metrics really have the best effect. By drawing up detailed charts, you will be able to see how well your site is performing based on how well the social media marketing campaign is going. Make sure you keep a track of what methods you used on social media so then you can relate them back to the posts that did well, or crashed and failed.

Keep A Track Of How Your Posts Perform

Once you have figured out which metrics are important to you, then you can start monitoring how your posts do every time you post something. Using systems like Analytics you can see which of the social media sites you are using have the best effect on your site traffic.

This is probably where keeping track of metrics plays its biggest part with social media marketing. By monitoring how your page is doing once you have shared it on various social media platforms, you will be able to see which outlet is proving to be the most effective. For example, you may find that Twitter works best for you while Google+ doesn’t generate much traffic at all. You could even find that it’s the other way around. There is no way of predicting which social media site is best for you, but once you get results from several posts, you will have an idea of which social media platforms work best for you.

Once you have identified the sites that are not really generating much traffic, then you can start planning how you can change your strategy. Have a look at your competitors and see how they approach sharing their posts through that particular outlet. See what’s trending and try and find a way to incorporate it into your posts. Even on social media sites where you are performing very badly, there will be a way to improve the amount of hits you are getting.

Metrics can tell you a great deal about your social media marketing campaign, but only when you use them properly. There is the risk that you will find the numbers confusing and hard to follow, but it’s something that you can organize quickly. As long as you take the time to use programs like Analytics to decipher which metrics are important to you and your site, you can then start analyzing the impact your social media campaign is having. After that, you essentially need to keep track of how your posts perform after social media sharing, and then you will be able to see how your marketing strategy is performing.

Your social media marketing strategy is designed to be changed a lot. It should never stay the same. When you want to make changes, however, you want them to be educated decisions. That is why using metrics can play such a huge part in your strategy, and can help you find answers to problems you have been struggling with for a while.